Bark Avenue Foundation: Helping Los Angeles Pet Parents

This Jersey girl had the chance to spend a day out in Los Angeles for Seen=Saved, an all day event where every animal in all 7 of the Los Angeles county shelters were photographed and shared socially. I specifically spent some time at the Downey shelter and while I was there I had the chance to meet some great people from an organization called Bark Avenue Foundation.

They offer a variety of resources and services to help pet owners and local Los Angeles communities to help reduce the number of abandoned animals.

The organization was founded in 2004 by Melanie Pozez – who also founded Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation in 1999, but gave that to another person when she moved to Los Angeles with her husband.

Below are some of the programs they offer!

Spay & Neuter

They offer both Free and Low Cost spay/neuter opportunities to pet owners in specific Los Angeles areas. Because the cost of spaying and neutering can be too expensive for many families, this is a great way to help these families keep their pets healthy and free from future unwanted litters.

They post on their website when and where their low cost clinics are taking place and if you bring proof of your residence and that you are low income your spay/neuter costs will be greatly reduced.

Homeless Pet Owners

There are many homeless people in the Los Angeles area – and Bark Avenue Foundation wants to keep them together with their pets. In many cases their pets are all they have and they will go without to make sure their pets are happy and healthy.

There is already a shortage of shelters in the area, and those allowing pets are few and far between – and most homeless will forego housing to stay with their pets.

The Unsheltered People and Pets program offers several opportunities to pet owners including:

Spay/Neuter services
Distribution of pet food and supplies
Emotional support animal assessments
Medical care and ER vet services
Monthly on site pet clinics for basic animal care

This is a program that needs all the help it can get as this is a growing population! Your monetary or in-kind donations are greatly needed.

Humane Education: Grade School Children

One of the programs we love is the education program that is geared towards kids. The organization does presentations in 180 Los Angeles area schools to teach Bark Avenue Foundation’s Humane Education Program. The goal of this program is to teach the children at a very young age about being a responsible pet parent, problem solving and compassion for animals.

Bark Avenue Foundation is always looking for volunteers to help with this program – so if you are a pet lover who enjoys working with kids, this is a great opportunity to be a part of changing young minds and helping the plight of animals in the future!

Rescue & Rehoming

Bark Avenue Foundation also actively works on helping to rescue and re-home animals in the Los Angeles area. While they do not have a facility they do have a small network of fosters on hand so if their is a pet that needs a place to stay, they can! You can help by adopting or reaching out to them to learn more about fostering on their behalf.