ARM’D FOR CHANGE

Words By Alana Huehn | August 16 2022

Talking with Shira Scott Astrof was a lesson in integrity. Astrof is an actor, writer, vegan, fierce animal advocate and rescuer. She is a woman with a clear mission and is doing everything she can to create change in this world for the better. After volunteering with various animal rescue organizations and shelters in Los Angeles since the age of 17, Astrof funneled her passion and vision in 2018 to found the Animal Rescue Mission (ARM), a non-profit organization.

Astrof ’s very first animal rescue came many years before at the age of 10, when she found a struggling kitten in her childhood backyard. With her family, they nursed the kitten back to health and then “started taking in every stray cat”, she says. Her family and her would take the stray cats to the vet, get them spayed and neutered, and then find homes to adopt them. Actions that her parents still do today.

That vulnerable kitten found in her backyard became the catalyst for the work Astrof continues to this day. Alongside her partners, Joey Tuccio and Kevin Callies, ARM saves homeless and abused animals. They provide them with medical treatment and any necessary training before they find them foster families and then forever homes through adoption. “They are these helpless, innocent lives and I can’t think of anything more important than helping them and creating a better world for them”, she says.

“Since I started this rescue, thousands of dogs and cats now have amazing homes”, says Astrof. Operating in Los Angeles and Tijuana, Mexico, ARM and their volunteers work tirelessly to give animals the opportunity of a new life. ARM is contacted at all hours of the day via phone or on social media by individuals, other organizations and shelters to help animals in need. The shelters “know to call me when there’s a really scared dog or a senior, the senior pities are my favorites”, she says. These are the types of dogs that have either been so traumatized, have a slim chance in being adopted or are red listed by the shelter to be put down. “I just can’t let their life end there…even if they’re hospice and they have one week with me”, she says.

If you’ve seen any of ARM’s or Astrof ’s videos on social media, you will immediately be struck by how equally empathic and driven she is to make a difference. For Astrof, “helping animals is also helping people in so many ways”. The love and companionship of an animal enriches people’s lives. What gives her hope is the transformations she sees inpeople and their adopted animals. “The happy endings are just indescribable”, she says, “I see so many people that, they’re just completely changed by their rescue animals”. From the countless experiences she’s witnessed over the years, she saw how animals “are so happy to have a human and humans are always better when they have an animal to love and be loved”.

Despite witnessing and rescuing dogs from the worst situations imaginable, Astrof insists that she’s “never rescued a dog that couldn’t get over their trauma”. Like humans, each animal is different and some take more time to work through their challenges than others. “Some dogs are so shut down in the shelter and once I get them outside, they just become a dog really quickly”, she says. For others, she says there is a moment on the car ride home from the shelter where there is a recognizable shift, and the animal knows they are safe. While it may “take a while for their body and the rest of them to catch up to this notion but you see in their eyes that they know,that’s always that kind of moment where I know that they are going to move past this and they are going to be ok”, she says.

Since I started this rescue, thousands of dogs and cats now have amazing homes

ARM is backed by the generosity of donations, fundraisers and invaluable volunteers. “The most crucial thing we need is fosters”, Astrof says, of the treasured people who take in and care for animals until a permanent home is found. Fortunate enough to have the support of regular fosters that are repeatedly available to help, ARM also seek out new fosters by posting on social media or their website which links to other dedicated sites, like Petfinder and Adopt-a-Pet. Fosters are pivotal to every animal’s new journey. They provide a safe place for animals to decompress from their past and help build up their ability to trust again. “Fosters are my hero’s, there’s no way I could rescue animals without fosters”, she says.

It happens all the time that fosters end up adopting. They become so attached to the animals they are looking after that it’s hard to picture life without them. While animal rescues rely heavily on people to foster, Astrof says that she “could never deprive someone that fell in love with an animal” the chance to adopt them. “I love foster fail, I am a foster fail”, Astrof says of the four times she adopted the animals that she was fostering. Including a cat that she was so intent on not keeping that she named him ‘kitten’, who five years later still goes by that name.

Her determination to change the fate of severely abused animals is remarkable, especially when told that their rehabilitation isn’t possible. “It’s the most amazing thing to see a dog go from completely defeated to just living his life happy with a family”, Astrof says. This is true for Mark and Donny, dogs who were rescued from an abusive hoarding situation that left them “so broken from what humans have done to them”. She states that “they were two of the most terrified dogs I’d ever seen… they’d just shake, they would lose their bowels if you got anywhere near them”. She believes that for a lot of rescued animals, they “just need to learn what it feels like to be loved”. Through time and effort put into “showing them that they can trust you… once you earn their trust, whether it takes an hour or a month, you have their trust forever”.

There are also heartening stories of animals and people saving each other, such as a senior abused Pitbull who was adopted by a veteran with severe PTSD. Astrof says that the dog “gave him a reason to live and love”, and she returned the love and companionship he needed. She went from being a sad and shaking dog in the corner of the shelter to constantly wagging her tail.

The work ARM has been doing is non-stop and as Astrof says, “just never seems to end”. Including all throughout the worst periods of the Covid-19 pandemic when the shelters were closed and animals were getting dumped, without a place to go. “We were just driving all over, all hours of the night picking up dogs and it was awful”, she says. One positive to the pandemic was that many more people adopted or fostered animals because they were in lockdown at home. For all their animal adoptions, ARM made sure that each person understood the responsibilities of the life in their hands. While this has remained true of their adopters, it isn’t the case for many others as the “shelters are full again and it’s actually worse than ever right now”, says Astrof.

“People sometimes have this notion that when they drop their animal off at the shelter that it’s ok, you know they’ll just get adopted by another family and it’s so absolutely false”, Astrof says. “It’s the absolute worst thing you could do to a dog”, she says. The trauma dogs experience in shelters builds each day. They start to develop behavioral issues from being stuck inside a kennel, with some dogs being separated from others, unable to be touched or let outside to play. “Their chances of being adopted usually dwindle by the day”, she says. Especially for senior, sick and vulnerable dogs that need love and care the most. While there is a real need for rescuing animals and finding them safe homes, Astrof is clear that the Animal Rescue Mission is focused on stopping the cycle. “I really hope that in the future we don’t need animal rescues and we don’t need shelters”, she says. The long-term goal behind the Animal Rescue Mission is to bring about so much change that they and organizations like them are no longer needed.

“The main thing I wanted my organization to focus on was changing the laws and changing the world in how animals are treated”, Astrof says. Through meeting with different Californian City Officials and District Attorneys to change and further enforce animal cruelty laws, ARM is committed to educating “everyone on the truth as to what’s going on”.

In LA, “there’s no animal task force anymore, there’s just no protection for these animals”, she says. The current system is broken. Gone are the days when people could call Animal Control to come to the rescue. Due to stressed, underfunded or incompetent animal protection systems, organizations such as ARM are being calledinto action to save animals from all kinds of dangeroussituations. Upsettingly, according to Astrof, “it’s impossible to save them all, there’s just so many."

The main thing I wanted my organization to focus on was changing the laws and changing the world in how animals are treated

While change is slowly happening, wins such as a ban on pet shops in Los Angeles are being undermined by rampant unregulated backyard breeders. Who, through lack of punishment or responsibility only end up perpetuating the suffering of animals. With time, Astrof has learnt to choose her battles. ARM believes that educating people is one of the strongest influences of change, especially with the younger generation. They are “the ones that are going to change the world”, she says.

Although ARM’s ability to educate was paused during the height of the pandemic, Astrof will soon be back spreading the word to students at grade schools, high schools and colleges. There she speaks transparently about the work ARM is doing, what they can do to help animals and the importance of respect andprotection for all sentient beings.

ARM has also put into practice what they preach with their work in Tijuana, Mexico. After many years of being involved in rescuing dogs from dire situations and finding them homes back in the US, Astrof is determined to change the way the shelters are run there from the ground up. “Instead of putting a bandaid on the problem there, I want to help fix the problem there, or else it’s never going to end”, she says. They have partnered with a local woman in Tijuana, who has passionately been taking in stray dogs for years without the means to properly care for them. ARM has been able to fund the construction of an animal shelter and have set up systems that support the animals and volunteers tirelessly working on the ground. Including improved access to medical care, spaying and neutering to assist sick dogs and ease the pressure caused by overpopulation. The goal is not to have to bring animals to the US for adoption, but rather to work alongside other rescues doing similar work in Mexico to create a self-sustaining system for animal care and protection.

Animals have the ability to bring endless amounts of joy to our lives. Astrof believes that there’s “so much that us humans can learn” from being around and looking after animals. Rescued animals can teach us how to forgive, how to live in the moment and “learn to love and trust again wholeheartedly”, she says. The life of an animal is sacred and should be treated as such. Together with the many positives’ animals bring, people need to be acutely aware of the responsibility that is in their hands. “That’s a life…so you really need to be prepared to understand what exactly that animal needs”, Astrof says. With the amount of animals doubling every month that ARM rescues and puts up for adoption, they really need the help of people who also share their mission to create a better world for animals. People who spread the word, and educate others on caring for and protecting animals. The more help they have the more help they can give. “Donating, fostering and volunteering your time are three of the most important ways to help”, Astrof says.

To get involved, go to www.theanimalrescuemission.org.