Keep Your Original Wood Windows

Front Street also falls short promoting animals via social media. Rick and Morty are two Belgian Malinois who found rescue, but no thanks to the city shelter, Virga says. When Front Street tried to leash them up, they “alligator rolled” on the floor. “They weren’t biting, they weren’t aggressive. They were just scared.”

Fix Front Street shared the dogs’ story, including their euthanasia date, on its adoption/foster/rescue Facebook page. “A Malinois rescue sent one of their people out to evaluate the dogs and they said these dogs were misrepresented. They’re fine,” Virga says.

“Long story short, we found a rescue and they’re out of the shelter. And they were going to kill them. These are exactly the kind of dogs who can be helped by social media shares.”

Thompson says the dogs were fearful on intake, but their behavior improved. “Could we have done more for Morty and Rick? Yes, if we had more resources. We did the best we could with the resources we had. Is it fun? Nope. Does it suck? Yep.”

The job of foster and rescue coordinator falls on one staff member at a shelter that took in more than 7,600 dogs and cats last year. In December, when Waffles was killed, 80 dogs and cats were euthanized.

“We got ourselves into this pickle where the dogs were coming in faster than we could get them out,” Thompson says. “Putting them on the rescue list, or getting them seen by a vet, or getting them out to foster, or making sure they have enough enrichment to make sure they are healthy and happy here, that all takes time.”

As for the rescue list, “we are not adding them as fast as we would like them to be added,” Thompson says. “But we are doing our best with the caseload we have and the resources that are available.”

Tell that to Waffles.

Cathryn Rakich can be reached at crakich@surewest.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n