Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Community members are asking for donations to help pay for the medical bills of an unidentified dog that was found on the beach below the Douglas Family Preserve on the morning of July 4.
Local shelter SB DAWG (Dog Adoption and Welfare Group) reported at approximately 6:45 am, Santa Barbara Police Department officers and animal control, along with Harbor Patrol responded to a call of an injured dog on the beach.
Currently no one has stepped forward to claim this dog. He was last seen on video around 1:00 a.m. at which time he is believed to have fallen 70-80 feet off the cliff.. He was discovered by a Good Samaritan around 6:45 a.m. on the beach.
The dog was transported to an emergency veterinarian where he requires extensive surgery to his front left leg, back left leg, and hips.
Santa Barbara County Animal Services, K-9 PALS – K-9 Placement and Assistance League, Inc., and DAWG have been collaboratively working together to help this pup and are asking for donations to pay for medical expenses. Since his rescue, he’s received x-rays, bloodwork and pain medication while two extensive orthopedic surgeries are still needed. By Monday, they anticipate the total bill will be nearly $7,000, not including surgery.
Donations can be directed to www.k-9pals.org or through Facebook. A medical foster family is also being sought and those interested can email info@sbdawg.org.
Additionally, if you recognize this dog or know his owner, contact Santa Barbara County Animal Services.
There are currently 7 dogs listed as lost/found on Craigslist—– ALL thanks to the fireworks. There is no listing of this injured dog as found, however. Why is that? Is this DAWG’s best effort to try and locate the owner? I am going to list the dog myself, just in case.
Always amazes me how relatively inexpensive charges are for animal medical care and medications. Why can’t the same care level be offered for human care at similar price levels? Reminds me of the costs back in the days of fee for service, before 3P insurance companies entered the picture.
No physician I know of accepts a Chicken or a Pie as payment . lol
@FACTOTUM — cheap? Nearly $7000, NOT including surgery? Oh, I wish I had such deep pockets.
Perhaps the attending veterinarian can make a donation.
FACTOTUM doesn’t have all the facts when it comes to human vs. pet medical bills. I have heard horror stories about urgent care services for pets wherein the astronomical charges make human ER bills look tame. For example: A few days ago a woman told me her dog needed antivenin/antivenom injections due to a rattlesnake bite. She said the cost in Santa Ynez Valley was $500 per injection, but in Santa Barbara the same antivenin injection costs $800. And her dog needed several injections. Ouch . . . in more ways than one.
Gee…..if a person loses a dog, wouldn’t they call or visit Animal Control, AKA the pound?!
Although many are beloved, pets aren’t people. I’d rather see that much money spent on kids born with disfiguring and disabling things such as split paletes. They live longer so the bene fit is greater, or blind people who need simple cataract surgery to be able to see and live productive lives.
Has somebody posted signs/pictures on the billboard entering the park? If not, could somebody going there today do it? Just photocopy of picture of dog and information of where he can be found, with a good solid phone number. It’s possible a traveling or homeless person, unfamiliar with our area, was staying in the park overnight and in the dark his/her dog wandered away. The owner might circle back.
No collar/license/implant or other ID? Pity the dog but shame on the owner if it isn’t feral.
at what point does it become too much money and best choice is to euthanize the poor animal?
I’m glad I’m not your dog, or cat.
When a couple cousins were teenagers they took their big white dog to the fireworks. She ran off and my aunt advertised for a week, notified Animal Control, but no results. Finally someone called to say there was a white dog under the unoccupied house next to them and had been there for a week (neighbor putting out some food). My aunt went and found a white German Shepherd, very thin, so she took it home. Couldn’t find the owner so kept it (was one of her favorite dogs of all time). Soon after their big white dog was found, then they had two. It’s very nice found dogs after this years fireworks are returned with no charge.
What beach is this? Arrroyo Burro? Where was the camera that sited the dog? Vets are generally very compassionate and especially those that work with rescue groups. I’m one of those people that would do anything for my animals after having grown up with parents that had the ‘Well, vet bills are too expensive so I guess we’ll just let the cat die from a broken leg.’ As you can imagine my pets are more family to me than my family. Almost all problems with animals are due to PEOPLE not taking care of the animals they are responsible for. It sounds like this dog has injuries that can be fixed through surgery and doesn’t have something that could be fatal like kidney failure. So yes it should be saved and I hope that a loving home is found for this dog that will make sure it is never loose, lost, nor unidentified. A suggestion: I made up lost animal flyers in Word for each of my pets with current photos and saved them in my google docs. This way if a pet gets lost and I will no doubt be panicking that I can pull up all the information if I am traveling and get to a kinko’s and print up lost flyers or post online with my phone.
In which world?
What I find shameful is that our local news media is of no help whatsoever. Why aren’t TV and online sources broadcasting alerts for lost pets? A worker carelessly leaves a gate open, a dog/cat sitter makes a mistake, fireworks that cause normally calm pets to go crazy and jump hedges and fences and go tearing down the street. Not all lost pets are a result of neglectful, uncaring owners. There should be more help out there. All Animal Control seems to care about is fining people. How big of them to waive the impound fee for a couple days. Wow.
C’mon folks. Smile a bit. The Panga comment was meant as humor and social commentary on the hostility of commentators to undocumented immigrants (the dog has no ID) while being so sympathetic to the sufferings of an animal. Or maybe such droll stuff eludes the typical Edhat reader.
Its funny how community pull together to help a stray dog with medical bills but wont pull together for our vets. Society is at its worst.