Central Valley magazine

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May2017

18 Chaffee Zoo’s first lady

18 22 26 47 52

Jean Chaffee has a longstanding relationship with our local zoo.

After all, her name is on its signs.

Puppy paradise Elaine’s Pet Resort is just that — a spa and a getaway for the Valley’s dogs and cats.

Adopt a furry friend If you’ve been thinking of adding an animal to your life, you’re in good company. Adopt one. Or two. Now.

Hungry? It’s a zoo out there Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo is a culinary adventure, for animals and humans alike. Grab a fork and enjoy.

Take a walk on the wild side California has some great zoos — like ours! — and a handful of others you just have to check out.

26

8 Sneak Peek 9 Believe It

10 Pastimes 14 Don’t Miss Calendar 16 Two Degrees of Separation 18 25 Things You Didn’t Know About...

22 Valley Gems 26-45 Our Pets 47 Eat, Drink, Be Merry 51 Get Up & Go 56 Snapshots

6 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

52

Petra House of Labrador Retriever Rescue of Fresno is shown with Bebe. She and other foster pet parents make possible the work of animal agencies in the Valley, offering homes to pets when shelters are at capacity, or when animals are very young, past traditional adoption age or have special needs.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gary Kazanjian

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AtHome

Pets make our lives complete

Y

ou might have noticed that my photo has been replaced this month with three of the most beautiful cats you’ve probably ever seen. OK, maybe I’m a bit biased, but what can I say? It’s a pet mom’s right to be a little biased when it comes to the cats who own her.

Yes, you read that right. I’m property of these three little treasures. They wake me up at 5 a.m. They walk all over me and shed fur all over my favorite chair. They demand attention. They’re loud and quirky and they’re mine. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

They each came to me via The Cat House on the Kings, and from foster families that gave them a good start. Animal foster families give of themselves so people like me can one day adopt the animals in their care.

They give homes to animals when they are tiny,

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helpless creatures requiring round-the-clock attention. Or, in some cases, when they are older or have special needs. They make it possible for many of the animal agencies in our Valley to do the phenomenal work they do.

Read about animal fostering in writer Katie Fries’ story on pages 32 to 35.

Katie’s story is just one of the many we’ve dedicated to animals this month. You’ll find stories about the zoo, Saint Agnes Medical Center’s Heavenly Hounds and a student project designed to help shelter animals.

But one of my favorite things in this edition of Central Valley is a series of snapshots displayed on pages 26 to 29. Your pets are the stars on these pages. Thanks, readers, for responding to our call to send us pictures of your cats and dogs — and a turtle!

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Take a respite

May 2017/Vol. 6, Issue 5 .........................

Central Valley magazine is produced by the Custom Publications staff of The Fresno Bee and published by The Fresno Bee. It is inserted into The Fresno Bee on the fourth Saturday of the month in the Fresno/Clovis area. It can also be found in waiting rooms throughout Fresno/Clovis.

Cover price $3.95

President & Publisher Tom Cullinan Vice President, Sales & Strategic Marketing John Coakley Editor Carey Norton | 559-441-6755 Advertising Sales Director Bill Gutierrez | 559-441-6405 Production Coordinator Anna Ramseier | 559-441-6751

Everyone needs a little down time, especially in the middle of a busy week. The San Joaquin River Parkway & Conservation Trust Inc. can help you with that.

Now through October, the nonprofit is hosting Respite by the River events at the Ranch House in Fresno.

Each free, two-hour program features live dinner music followed by a reading by a local author.

Guests are invited to bring blankets, lawn chairs and picnic dinners. Wine, beer and dessert are available for purchase. Finn Telles, director of business development, says that since the program’s debut in 2002, it’s “grown to be a popular free community event with high caliber writers and musicians.”

This month, the featured artists are students from the McLane High School ArtVenture Academy. The program integrates the arts into core academic classes like science, history and language arts.

Other featured artists in this season’s lineup include writer Tim Hernandez (“All They Will Call You”), writer Randa Jarrar (“Him, Me, Muhammad Ali”) and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.

Details: www.riverparkway.org/index.php/thingsto-do/respite-by-the-river

Central Valley Sales Leader Sonia White | 559-441-6156 Assistant Editor Monica Stevens | 559-441-6149 Custom Publications Staff Katie Fries | 559-441-6332 Farin Montañez | 559-441-6677 Janessa Tyler | 559-441-6764 Dani Villalobos | 559-441-6759 Contributing Writers Robbie Cranch, Cyndee Fontana-Ott, Douglas Hoagland, Gail Marshall, Janice Stevens Contributing Photographers Matthew Drake, Wayne Hutchison, Gary Kazanjian, Jessica Rogozinski Design Erik Davison, Kristi Marinelly, Carey Norton, Monica Stevens, Juan Vega, Lisa Vogt, Pao Xiong Contributing Artists Erik Davison, Pat Hunter, Chris Ware Reader inquiries Central Valley magazine 1626 E St., Fresno, CA 93786 559-441-6755 All content © The Fresno Bee To contribute, please contact Carey Norton at 559-441-6755 or cnorton@fresnobee.com

The Fresno Bee

Ahoy, matey!

If the shoe fits

The Fresno Pirate Festival returns to Kearney Park on Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21.

The themed event, held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., features hundreds of pirates recreating New Providence, a thriving pirate community.

The residents of New Providence will have wares for sale, live cannon demonstrations, a pirate ship for the kids to board, fine food and ales, dancing gypsies, stage shows, mermaids and a whole weekend of fun — all while reenacting a bit of history in swashbuckling style.

Kearney Park is at 7160 W. Kearney Blvd., Fresno.

Details: www.twofayreladies.com/piratesfestival.html

A contemporary take on the classic story of Cinderella will come to Fresno’s Saroyan Theatre this month.

“Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, is sure to delight audiences with the story’s memorable moments — the pumpkin, the glass slipper and the masquerade ball — with a few extra twists.

Beloved songs “Impossible/It’s Possible,” “In My Own Little Corner” and “Ten Minutes Ago” help tell the tale that is both funny and romantic, where impossible things happen every day.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 16 and Wednesday, May 17 in Saroyan Theatre, 730 M St., Fresno.

Tickets cost from $33 to $63 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.

Details: www.broadwayinfresno.com/ shows/cinderella

fresnobee.com

8 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

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Socially conscious cups of coffee A coffeehouse or cafe is a special space, functioning for many as a place to enjoy a casual meet-up with friends or family, a temporary office for the on-the-go or the spot for a spontaneous connection — human or otherwise.

Two Los Angeles-based businesses, Crumbs & Whiskers and The Dog Cafe, are using this idea of a communal, everyday area and turning it on its head in hopes of revolutionizing the cat and dog adoption process. That’s right — with these businesses, you get both a cup of joe and an encounter with a furry pal.

Crumbs & Whiskers is the brainchild of Kanchan Singh who decided to embrace her love of animals and conscious businesses in 2014, leaving behind a cushy corporate career for a from-the-ground-up project that was inspired by Catmosphere Cat Café in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The objective is simple: improve the lives of shelter cats by acting as a foster home where they can remain until they find a forever home.

The comfortable, fun environment helps reinvent the way people typically connect with rescue cats, and creates more space in overcrowded area shelters.

The Dog Cafe functions in a similar way,

A helping paw

acting as a halfway home for rescues to rehabilitate and properly showcase their personalities before meeting their future owners.

Both Crumbs & Whiskers and The Dog Cafe have a fee for visitors and require advanced reservations, which can be booked online.

Details: www.crumbsandwhiskers.com, www.thedogcafela.com

Enter a new realm Who knew the Central Valley would become a mecca for reptile lovers?

Lost Realms Pets opened at Cedar and Nees avenues in April to the delight of local lizard, snake and frog lovers. More than 200 tanks display a stock of dozens of species ranging from a $3.50 brown anole to a Bells phase lace monitor valued at $10,000.

Beyond the retail side of the store is a 3,700square-foot zoo featuring the 52-species private collection of owners Nick Crawford and Patric Fournier. Reptile experts are on-hand at all times to give educational tours of the zoo and share their knowledge of the animals and their

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habitats with customers hoping to create their own terrariums for their pets.

Admission to the zoo portion of the building costs $4 for children older than 2, $6 for adults and $5 for seniors.

Guests can purchase annual memberships to visit as often as they want for $40 (individual) or $70 per family.

Details: www.lostrealmsreptiles.com

It’s a pretty uncontroversial belief that Fresno Chaffee Zoo is a valuable asset to our community, no matter what your age or background.

And it’s probably even less disputed that spending more time in its wild habitat is always a good idea.

Well, now is your chance — and you can learn a lot along the way, too.

Fresno Chaffee Zoo is constantly on the hunt for more community volunteers to donate their time to being what the zoo dubs as the core of its educational programming: docents.

These folks conduct tours of the grounds and its various exhibits, as well as carry out public talks for visiting guests — representing the Fresno Chaffee Zoo and its efforts at its most visible level.

But you’ve got to know your stuff.

All interested parties must complete a 12week training program, which takes place each fall, and the classes are typically held once a week at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s Education Complex by the education staff.

Training costs $100 per individual, and includes a docent shirt, Fresno Chaffee Zoo membership and a docent manual.

An application must be submitted by all candidates, and is only open to those who are ages 18 and older.

A similar opportunity is through the zoo’s module docent program, which focuses on a specific area of the grounds: the African Savanna, Ocean, Rainforest/Wetlands and Desert/ Valley Farm.

Volunteers are expected to interact with zoo attendees by sharing animal know-how with hands-on experiences, with each module consisting of 12 hours of training at a cost of $25 per person.

Fresno Chaffee Zoo even has more animalcentered programs like its zookeeper assistant opportunity.

For people ages 18 and older, you can get a direct line with resident zookeepers and assist in caring for the animals in a variety of ways.

An application and negative TB test must be submitted for consideration.

Contact the volunteer coordinator at (559) 498-5945 or volunteer@fresnochaffeezoo.org for additional information or an application.

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Pastimes

Tarpey Depot, a former train depot, is now a visitors center BY: Janice Stevens | ILLUSTRATIONS: Pat Hunter | PHOTOGRAPHY: Clovis-Big Dry Creek Historical Society, Fresno Bee archives

A Janice Stevens is the author of seven books on California history: Fresno’s Architectural Past, Vol. I and II, William Saroyan: Places in Time; Remembering the California Missions; and An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1, collaborations with her business partner, watercolorist Pat Hunter, and two volumes of Stories of Service, compilations of Valley veterans’ military memoirs. Ask Janice a Fresno history question by emailing custom@ fresnobee.com or posting your question on the Central Valley magazine facebook page, www.facebook. com/CentralValleyMag.

10 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

significant remnant of early Clovis history, the Tarpey Depot at the corner of Clovis Avenue and Fourth Street in downtown Clovis, continues to serve the community as the Clovis Tourist Information and Visitors Center. Once one of three depots on the failed San Joaquin Valley Railroad, to the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Tarpey Depot is a repository of memories, replete with photographs and memorabilia depicting the evolution of a town.

During the blaze of the Gold Rush Era, sheepherders and cattle ranchers discovered the Central Valley beneath the Sierra Nevada mountain range, long occupied by Yokut, Mono and other Indian tribes. Perhaps a poster touting the benefits of the Valley led brothers Jacob and Stephen Cole to migrate from Indiana in hopes of discovering the allAmerican Dream.

Finding a lush land burgeoning with potential for farming, in 1873 the brothers homesteaded and bought hundreds of acres in the Red Bank District of Fresno County.

Stephen’s 17-year-old son, Clovis, accompanying his father and uncle to the untamed west, found work hauling lumber down to the Valley from the mountains on a rough and treacherous road now known as Tollhouse Road. However, by the time Clovis turned 24, he would make his mark in agriculture, buying up 480 acres for $4 an acre near what would become Old Town 100 years later. In 10 years’ time, by the 1890s, Clovis reigned as “Wheat Farmer of the United States,” farming wheat and barley on a vast empire of 40,000 acres.

Traveling from the East Coast in search of land to promote and finance the San Joaquin Valley Railroad, businessman Marcus Pollasky approached Clovis Cole in 1891 to negotiate a sale from Clovis’ land. Clovis, aware of the need to transport crops in a more efficient and profitable manner than by

The iconic image of the Tarpey Depot introduces visitors to the Old Town Trail.

horse and buggy, embraced the idea of bringing the rail to town.

The Clovis-Dry Creek Historical Society Museum in Clovis displays the original bill of sale for “$4,000 gold coin” exchanging 1 square mile “for the purpose of plotting and laying out a town site.” The rectangular piece of land is bounded by what is today First and Fifth streets and Hughes and Pollasky avenues. An apparent visionary who anticipated a thriving township, Clovis Cole donated an additional plot of land for the train depot at what would become the corner of Ashlan and Clovis avenues in 1891. Railroad officials honored Clovis by naming the town site after him.

The Tarpey Depot is named for Malcom F. Tarpey, owner of the Tarpey Ranch. In the book, “Images of an Age: Clovis,” Arthur Tarpey, grandson of the patriarch M. F. Tarpey, wrote of his grandfather’s influence in the early development of Clovis. “M. F. Tarpey acquired 600 acres of what became the Tarpey Ranch shortly before 1880. Part of the acquisition was already a producing vineyard, but my grandfather was intent on expansion. With the addition of the 80-acre Torik property, the total rose to 1,360 acres by 1920.” Arthur Tarpey’s remembrance notes his grandfather’s intention of owning nothing but the best for his ranch. “He owned

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matched teams of Clydesdale and Percheron horses, and a prize Missouri jackass from which was bred powerful Missouri mules. Tarpey, of course, was the first president of the Fresno Irrigation District as well as a founder of that association.”

Pollasky built three depots in the area as part of the Trans-Sierra Railroad running from Fresno to Truckee.

Although Pollasky was believed to have absconded with the money invested to build the rest of the railroad, Researcher Russ Stolling disputes the legend after researching the history of Pollasky. “It seems it was [Thomas] Hughes who initiated the railroad project and contracted with Pollasky to build it. The railroad was largely financed by Chicago and New York capitalists. Investors locally were not Clovis farmers, but Fresno bankers and businessmen. (There was no Clovis in 1891, only thousands of acres of wheat, grain and fruit.) That Pollasky vanished with other people’s money never to be seen again seems unlikely, particularly as it is known that he sued the Southern Pacific in 1896 to recover his own investment in the railroad, said to be approximately Please see next page

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The Tarpey Depot was one of three depots on the San Joaquin Valley Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad.

The fully restored Tarpey Depot is now the Clovis Tourist Information and Visitor Center in Clovis.

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continued ...

The Tarpey Depot train station sat empty at Kearney Park for more than 30 years before historians were able to relocate the Clovis building back home.

$374,000.”

Although the People’s Railroad, as Pollasky called it, began operation in late 1891 and terminated at Hamptonville, now known as Friant, in 1892, the original plan of extending the rail 100 miles into the Sierra failed.

“The San Joaquin Valley Railroad used a railroad car for its station until it went broke and was absorbed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The Southern Pacific built a two-story station with a platform in 1892 on the east side of the railroad track at the corner of Fourth Street and Clovis Avenue. Southern Pacific built similar stations at Tarpey and Pollasky, or Friant, except that the Clovis depot had living quarters for its station master, a Mr. Matthews, who lived upstairs,” writes an author in “Images of an Age: Clovis.”

“The quaint little building (650 square feet) was one of three depots on the ill-fated San Joaquin Valley Railroad built by a group of local investors headed by Marcus Pollasky. The 26-mile rail line ran from Tulare Avenue and First Street near downtown Fresno to Friant, then known as Hamptonville, with intermediate stops at the Tarpey Depot and at an isolated freight station called Clovis,” a Fresno Bee story notes.

By 1911, the Tarpey Depot was no longer used by the Southern Pacific. The building was used for several purposes until it was eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair. The Fresno Historical Society acquired the building and moved it to Fresno’s Kearney Park in anticipation of creating a pioneer village in the 1960s.

The village never materialized, and the depot continued to deteriorate.

Susie Osterberg, born and raised in Clovis and owner of Osterberg Mercantile, is credited with the return of the Tarpey Depot to Clovis.

“Susie Osterberg, chair of the Tarpey restoration committee, helped spearhead the drive to return the

landmark to its new home at Fourth and Clovis avenues,” writes a Clovis Independent staff writer.

In 1998, the fragile depot was transported from Kearney Park by flatbed truck to its location at Clovis Avenue and Fourth Street in the heart of Downtown Clovis. A labor of love, focused on fundraising and back-breaking labor, restored the depot to not only preserve a historical building, but to an active and necessary component for a vibrant community.

Pam Nelson, Tarpey Depot manager, says, “It’s a happy place to be, a fun job. I’ve learned a lot about the depot and Clovis, and met people that used to work in it when it was used as an office for the vineyards. They would eat in the depot. Some come in whose parents worked for the railroad.”

In a brick-lined courtyard adjacent to the historical building, a plaque attached to a large 38,000-pound granite rock, known by the locals as “the Climbing Rock,” details the history of the Tarpey Depot.

The plaque erected by the Jim Savage Chapter 1852 E Clampus Vitus, dedicated Jan. 9, 2000, states, “Built in 1892 as one of the three depots along the line of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad, this structure was originally located on the Tarpey Ranch just southeast of what would become Ashlan and Clovis avenues. In the span of its existence it has served as a freight and passenger depot, the Paloma Winery office, a post office, a polling place, and as the office of Billings and Fine, real estate agents for the Tarpey Village development. It is the last remnant of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad, a 26-mile route from Fresno to present-day Friant, built in 1891 and sold to Southern Pacific Railroad in 1893. The combination of the railroad and the 42-mile lumber flume from Shaver Lake, built by the Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company and completed in 1894, provided the impetus for the founding of the City of Clovis.”

Another plaque placed in front of a tree in the center of the courtyard states, “This Tree Blooms in Loving Memory of Effie ‘Susie’ Osterberg who brought the Tarpey Depot back home.” CV

Book Launch at ArtHop

4 to 8 p.m.

Third Thursday, May 18 Gallery II, 1490 W. Shaw Ave., Suite G, Fresno Special feature: A mini-documentary of traveling Highway 1 South with behindthe-scenes information on certain locations along the route by producers Steve and Ace Manelski, Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC) television station.

The author and artist for Central Valley’s Pastimes column document the best loved and most spectacular drive in California in a beautifully illustrated artistic and literary journey. A fantastic drive comes to a stunning conclusion in “An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South.” Completing the trilogy started in “An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 North” and continued in “An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 Central,” “An Artist and a Writer Travel Highway 1 South” is illustrated with more than 130 original full-color watercolors by Hunter depicting gorgeous landscapes and architectural treasures.

Additional events: 1 to 4 p.m. May 21 at Tower Theater, 815 E. Olive Ave., Fresno 5 to 8 p.m. June 1 at CMAC (former Fresno Metropolitan Museum) ArtHop, 1555 Van Ness Ave., Fresno Details: (559) 222-4443, www.gallery2fresno.com, janicemstevens@cs.com

12 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

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S/W Corner of Bullard

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Gifts, Home Decor & Florals 2047 West Bullard 459-6700 www.judesfantasyland.com Children’s Boutique 2067 West Bullard 439-4210

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May2017

Summer may not be here yet, but you can tell it’s on the way.

This month, you can hit the trails and pet some cats, and still have time to take in a show or two.

Run for your tacos

Remember the fallen

05.05

05.28

Will you run faster if tacos, churros and cerveza await you at the finish line? The only way to find out is to sign up for the Olé 5-Que, Fresno’s own Cinco de Mayo-themed race. Not a runner? No problem. You can still purchase a ticket to enjoy the postrace fiesta.

Details: www.cincodemayorace.com

Hit the trail

05.06

For more complete calendar listings, go to planitfresno.com

14 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

If you haven’t yet explored Clovis via its trail system, there’s no better day. At Clovis Trail Fest you can walk, run or ride 3 miles of the Old Town and Dry Creek trails between 5th Street and Dry Creek Park. A range of activities, snacks, live entertainment and demonstrations will be available at 20 stations along the route.

Details: www.visitclovis.com

A purr-fect Saturday

05.06

You’ve heard about the amazing work The Cat House on the Kings does to save homeless cats (and dogs), but have you been to the 12-acre facility in Parlier? Its spring open house is your chance to see it for yourself. Take a guided tour, play with kittens and participate in the silent auction — who knows, maybe you’ll even find your newest family member. Admission is free with a donation to the facility.

Details: www.facebook.com/ events/1858226237790433

A taste of Vegas

05.25

New Wrinkles’ talented cast of age 55-and-over performers puts on a show every spring.

This year, the singing and dancing seniors will strut their stuff in “Viva Las Vegas,” a Vegas-style revue.

Details: www.newwrinklesfresno.com

Each year, the Fresno Community Concert Band observes Memorial Day with a concert. In “Lest We Forget,” guest soloist Brian Lummis will join the 80-piece band in their tribute to our country’s fallen soldiers.

Details: www.fresnocommunityband.org

The right stuff

05.31

If you know what NKOTB stands for, if you once vowed to name your firstborn Joey, if you still know all the steps in “Step by Step,” you may already have tickets for the Total Package Tour. New Kids on the Block will be joined by fellow ’90s icons Boyz II Men and Paula Abdul when their tour takes them to the Save Mart Center this month. Bonus: This time around, you won’t have to rely on Mom or Dad for a ride to the show.

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Hip hip hooray for modern medicine I never heard another word.

“I am going to need a hip replacement,” Mom said. “Blalbalalbhabll blahbla bhhall hblall [February].”

The words just floated through the blivityblip and refused to register. It’s months away. Think about it tomorrow.

Mom, ever organized, was more mature and laser focused weeks ahead. She lined up her family caregivers and details like jets flying in and out of FresnoYosemite International Airport.

A few days before the big day, I was whining over wine about how afraid I was about this surgery to my girlfriends Gina, Susan and Carolyn at what we call a Stitch and B-word session. They brought their embroidery and needlepoint. Carolyn supplied the bagels and challah. I just brought a bottle of B-word wine, a sparkling rose for no reason other than it was pink and the

Gail Marshall is the associate editor for the Opinion pages of The Fresno Bee. She also is a freelance writer and editor who has her own company, Marshall Arts Communications Consultants. A co-author of "Kidnapped at Chowchilla: The School Bus Hijacking," she is married and the mother of a son, Scott, who lives in heaven. Contact her at gailmailmarshall@gmail.com, on Facebook or @gailmarshall on Twitter.

16 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

label made me giggle! I know, we can be sixth-graders.

Taking a sip from a crystal flute, I said that no one tells you when you build a house to start saving money immediately because the whole thing will need to be replaced — it’s the oven, then new faucets, window coverings, the air conditioning, even new toilets over time.

“Like ourselves!” said the always-insightful Susan.

“Exactly!” We all laughed.

It’s so true about our body parts, but it’s just wrong.

Mom, for example, is in her 80s. She was coming up on her third joint replacement; this time a hip. Before, it was two shoulders. It’s great that we have these surgical miracles that add quality years to our lives, but it’s just wrong that we would have to go through them at that stage of life.

It was time for me to put on my big girl panties, as my refrigerator magnet says, and take my place on the family’s Olympic caregiving team. Everyone wants to help Mom, because she’s always the first one there for us. And, well, we just love her. Everyone loves her.

The night of her surgery, I slept in the window seat at the hospital. The nurses brought me pillows, sheets and blankets.

The room was illuminated via indirect lighting above her bed. She was sedated and sleeping well, seemingly not hearing the annoying beep of the machines surrounding her.

Still groggy from surgical anesthesia and pain medication, she nibbled now and then to calm a queasy tummy. She was getting a boost of a popular street drug on a regular basis. Party on, Mom! In the night shift, you listen to every breath. If there is a whimper, you ask, “Mom, I’m here, you OK?” Infection prevention is a big deal in hospitals, as it should be. There was an emphasis on antibacterial soap, yellow paper gowns — I even slept in one. Blue latex gloves were required for everyone who came in the room.

I’m always fascinated with the nurses.

Checking and double checking everything, changing IVs, turning off alarms, bringing in ice chips and saltines. Would you like a

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damp cloth for your forehead? (Watch out for Mom’s hair.) And so the caretaking goes throughout the healing process.

We have a couple of nurses in the family — thank heavens for Tina Ulam — and people who are just natural caregivers. I asked Tina for her best tips and some of her friends also answered a call for advice.

This time we are fortunate enough to be the caretakers in the family rather than the one who needs the caretaking. Here are their gems: Denise: Be joyful and encouraging. To bring light to dire times, one must be a delightful person to be around and be able to uplift the patient.

Lisha: Be attentive and understanding and very patient.

Kelley: For recovery after surgery, walk! Start with small goals even if it’s just down the hall to the kitchen.

Walking will make the lungs breathe deeper than the shallow breathing they do sitting or lying down to help prevent pneumonia.

Karen: After surgery, don’t let them overdo it. Pain meds mask the pain so they won’t know they have done too much until it’s too late.

Very nice, ladies. And just from watching Tina, the other pros and my naturally nurturing family members, here are some more tips:

Write everything down: The first thing Tina did was record medications and organize them into a daysof-the-week box. She kept track of everything going in, going out and exercises.

Nights matter: Keep someone sleeping nearby to maintain the med schedule and even get the patient up and walking around a bit.

Get help: Check with your insurance and with the hospital to find out what home nursing services might be available to you, often at little or no cost.

Lean in and lean back: Borrow, rent or buy a recliner chair. It’s often more comfortable than a bed in the early days.

Face the unthinkable: The hospital will ask for an advanced directive. That means your wishes in case things take a serious turn. Don’t face it cold on surgery day. Have it privately decided and be prepared. Hospitals can provide simple forms.

So now you’re all prepared. I may be calling you up when it’s my turn to get replacement parts. If we are lucky, our time will come.

Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter puts it this way: “There are only four kinds of people in the world: Those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need a caregiver.” CV

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PeopleProfile

Jean Chaffee holds a Ball Python from the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. She’s an active Rain Forest Ranger and has written a series of children’s books about animal adventures at the zoo that bears the name of her late husband, Dr. Paul Chaffee.

18 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

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A NIMA L EN T HU S I A S T A ND A U T H OR

Jean Chaffee BY: Doug Hoagland | PHOTOGRAPHY: Wayne Hutchison

J

ean Chaffee treasures the trips she made with her late husband, Paul, to see the world’s wondrous creatures.

Paul Chaffee — a veterinarian and longtime director of the Fresno zoo — remains vivid and vital in her memory.

“I never really trusted anyone before him,” she says.

“He was kind and encouraging and he never overwhelmed you. I credit him for changing my life.”

The zoo was renamed in Paul’s honor a few months before his death in 1990. Twenty-seven years later, Jean remains active at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Here are some of the highlights of her life: Jean didn’t know much about the zoo before she met Paul. He quickly changed that. She discovered that he had a relationship with every animal. The rhinoceros would see him and stick up its head to be rubbed. The hippopotamus would open its mouth, waiting for its jaw to be rubbed. “The most fun was the ostrich,” Jean says. “The ostrich saw him, and it immediately went into this mating dance.” She can — and does — imitate what the ostrich did. It’s best described as a shimmy with plenty of shaking and swaying.

Paul would love the zoo’s 13-acre African Adventure, Jean says: “Every time he went to Africa, he’d come back and change the zoo — to make it more realistic. For him, the African Adventure would be a dream come true.” Jean calls herself an activist for the zoo — and sometimes an outspoken one. “It’s a passion for me to see his vision carried out.”

Jean’s roots are in the Valley. She was born in Fresno, attended Madera High School and graduated from Tranquillity High School in western Fresno County. Her father, Robert Bruce, was an accountant, and her mother, Lorain, earned a master’s degree in education from the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1930s. Jean has one brother, Richard, who lives in Fresno.

She grew up loving the outdoors. Her parents had a 20-acre ranch near Madera, and Jean would get up at 4 a.m. to accompany her father to feed their cattle. She drove the tractor on the ranch, and like her father, enjoyed getting her hands dirty. She would take a jar to a ditch to collect tadpoles. “I lived in the ditch. Today, kids don’t know what a ditch is,” she says. “I feel very lucky to have experienced all that.”

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Jean had a big white horse named Captain. Her father made her ride bareback for a year to make sure she was comfortable and wouldn’t fall off. Finally, she got a saddle, which was her “most exciting Christmas present ever.” She was 12 or 13. She would be gone on Captain for the entire day and loved the freedom.

Jean, 76, attended Fresno State and studied to become a teacher. “I only had two choices: teaching or nursing. You either liked blood or you didn’t like blood,” she says, laughing. “My father was very conservative, and those were the two things you could do.” After graduation, she married an Air Force officer. They had two children and divorced after 10 years. Jean’s daughter, Lynette Hergenroeder, lives in Fresno and her son, Bruce Panttaja, lives in Visalia. She has four grandchildren, plus grandchildren and greatgrandchildren on Paul’s side.

A “backward” career is how Jean describes her years in education. In Madera, she was a principal for 10 years, followed by seven years as a classroom teacher (fifth grade). Then, she worked as a principal/grant writer in Chowchilla. She tried to broaden her students’ experiences by taking them to a variety of activities — Town Hall lectures, overnight campouts at the zoo, field trips to San Francisco and more.

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Jean Chaffee has written seven children’s books based on zoo life. Read No. 17 on the next page for details about Moja’s toothache.

Top: Jean Chaffee feeds Jabari, a giraffe at Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

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Jean met Paul in January 1986 at a Fresno restaurant where she and her girlfriends regularly went on Friday nights. One evening, he walked in, and one of her girlfriends — an acquaintance of Paul’s — invited him to sit down.

“I was a little offended because we had never done that before,” Jean says. “I didn’t know who he was.” Her girlfriend soon left, and, as Jean puts it: “I was stuck with this man.” But, he was so interesting. They talked for a couple of hours.

At the end of the evening, he told her: “If you ever want to go out to dinner sometime, give me a call.” Her response: “I don’t call men. Here’s my card if you want to call me.” And then, she says with a laugh, “I went home and sat by the phone.” He soon called, and they went to dinner at the high-end Ripe Tomato in Fig Garden Village. “I thought, ‘At last, I found a rich man,’ ” Jean says with more laughter. She learned later that he wasn’t rich. It didn’t matter. “He was absolutely fascinating.”

Paul asked Jean to join a safari trip he was leading to Botswana and Zimbabwe for people interested in Africa. “Africa was where his heart was, and it regenerated him,” she says. “Looking back, I realize that was a test. If I liked Africa, then our relationship would move forward. If I didn’t, it was over.” She remembers standing on a plateau in Zimbabwe, scanning the horizon and not seeing or hearing anything that represented mankind. “I thought, ‘Now I can understand how Abraham could have a conversation with God. There was nothing in the way.’ ” She loved the trip.

They married in 1987 and made trips to Australia and South America and returned to Africa. “Going anywhere with him was an adventure.

He knew everything,” Jean says.

Paul was in the hospital receiving treatment for melanoma skin cancer when the zoo held a ceremony to mark its renaming in his honor. He managed to attend because his doctor accompanied him. “He was embarrassed and humbled” to have his name on the zoo, Jean says. “I still feel like he’s right there. I’m at the zoo all the time, and I feel close to him there. Talking about him also keeps him alive for me. He’s still a prominent part of my life.”

Seven years after Paul died, Jean felt a void. People would tell her stories about him, and she had her memories. But, she says, “I wanted to know everything about him.” So, she took a year’s leave of absence from teaching and started researching the zoo and Paul’s connection to it. As part of the project, she made family trees for many of the zoo animals.

When the year was up, Jean retired and started writing children’s books based on Paul’s stories about the zoo. Ernie Hergenroeder, her son-inlaw’s cousin and a professional illustrator, did the pictures for the books.

“Interviewing the zookeepers was very emotional as they described working with ‘Doc Chaffee,’ a man they loved and admired,” Jean says.

Jean eventually wrote seven children’s books. One is entitled “Nosey’s Big Move,” and it’s about the zoo’s beloved elephant moving into a new, modern exhibit in 1982. Nosey had come to Fresno in 1949. Paul timed the move so he could borrow a circus elephant when Ringling Bros. was in town.

That elephant would calm Nosey and restrain her — they were chained together — if she panicked and bolted. Luckily, everything went fine.

Nosey got to her new quarters and was frightened until a zookeeper retrieved a rooster from her old exhibit, Jean says: “Every other rooster she squashed, but this rooster, they had a true friendship. They got the rooster, and she was calm.” Nosey died at age 47 in 1993. “I was shocked,” Jean says.

“She was more than an elephant. She was the zoo. She was the city’s mascot. She was our friend. We fed her, rubbed her trunk and we laughed when she grabbed someone’s hat or sweater and threw it around before eating it.”

Jean’s other books are about Longo, the giraffe; Azak, the orangutan; Bubbles and Bulgy, the hippos; Bosco, the chimp; and Moja, the lion.

One day, Moja developed a toothache and needed to see a local dentist.

Jean was told that a sedated Moja momentarily woke up in the dentist’s office, raised

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In this photo from 1982, with Fresno Zoo elephant specialist Paul Barkman leading the way, Nosey the elephant strolls into her new pachyderm parlor from the quarters she had occupied since 1949. This move became the subject of Jean Chaffee’s first book.

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The cover art of the book 'Nosey's Big Move' is shown in this undated handout graphic from Jean Chaffee.

The book is illustrated by Ernie (Hergie) Hergenroeder.

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In this photo from April 2004, Jean Chaffee, former principal of Ripperdan Elementary in Madera and the widow of Dr. Paul Chaffee, reads her book to students at La Vina Elementary School, in a rural area south of Madera.

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his head and yawned — frightening the dentist and his assistant, who ran screaming from the room. The dentist denied that ever happened. “Well, I told him, I like the other version better, and I’m putting it in the book,” she says laughing.

Jean has served as a docent and tour guide at the zoo for more than 20 years. She also made presentations to school groups, telling about zoo animals and showing bone skulls, teeth and fur of animals. Now, she speaks mostly to adult groups and teaches one-hour classes about animals and the environment to students touring the zoo. Jean’s also involved in a program in which docents voluntarily provide a three-day zoo camp for children in the Edison High School area. A day at the zoo follows.

Elephants are her favorite animals. “They’re very intelligent, have a sense of humor, grieve their lost ones and have lasting friendships,” Jean says. The zoo has three African elephants: Amy and her daughter Betts, and Musi, a male; and two Asian elephants: Kara and Shaunzi, both females.

Jean also has a favorite “unusual” animal — the wildebeest, a type of antelope. She says it’s thrilling to watch wildebeests partner with zebras to lead a migration run of animals in Africa. The wildebeests have a keen sense of smell, and the zebras have excellent eyesight. “They work together so well,” she says. The zoo’s four male wildebeests are Bantu, Kongo, Tsonga and Zulu.

Her favorite movie is “Out of Africa.” (Of course.) A favorite book is “The Cowboy and His Elephant” by Malcolm McPherson. Published in 2001, it tells the story of an American cowboy who adopted Amy (see No. 19) before she came to the Fresno zoo in 2015. In the last year, Jean has read biographies of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and television broadcaster Megyn Kelly.

“There appears to be a theme here — strong women,” she says.

Besides San Francisco, Jean’s favorite place to visit is Denali National Park in Alaska. While on tour there, she learned how animals survive the harsh winters.

Moose, for example, eat nonstop as long as it’s light outside. Jean was excited when she found moose poop, which she took apart to study their diet.

For several years, Jean helped with a summer Bible camp for children who live near downtown Fresno.

She also helps with a free monthly dinner that her church — First Presbyterian — hosts for residents in the downtown area. Jean grew up attending Madera’s First Methodist Church, where she played the organ as a teenager. She’s comforted by the fact that Paul experienced a renewal of his faith toward the end of his life.

Jean has a passion for women’s education and is scholarship chairman of a local chapter of Philanthropic Education Organization. The chapter holds a chocolate tea every year to raise money. “We focus on local girls who have overcome great obstacles to achieve their goals,” she says.

Jean has learned from her travels — mostly in poor, third-world countries — not to fear people who are different from her. As she says: “I found we all have the desire to build a better life for our children.” CV

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ValleyGems

In the beginning, Elaine Nestell just cared for pets like she would in her own home. Now, pets at Elaine’s Pet Resorts get treated to overnight lodging, dog parks, water parks, afternoon walks and more.

Animal people Elaine’s Pet Resorts finds success by loving our four-legged friends BY: Doug Hoagland | PHOTOGRAPHY: Wayne Hutchison

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ogs and cats are way more than critters at Elaine’s Pet Resorts.

“Elaine figured out that this is a trust business,” says Howard Nestell, chief executive officer and son of company founder Elaine Nestell. “Who do you trust to take care of your four-legged family member?”

For almost 30 years, Elaine’s has answered that question by offering overnight lodging, day care and other services while guided by this truth: Pets occupy a special place in the hearts of their owners.

Hence, employees read to some dogs at night to help soothe them. The staff chooses from the children’s book series about Clifford the Big Red Dog. Other options for dogs include special bedding and

22 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

extra (wading) pool time. Cats are treated well, too, beginning with accommodations in individual “kitty condos.”

Elaine’s Fresno location at 3912 N. Hayston Ave. — near Dakota and Cedar avenues — opened in 1989.

The Madera location at 40373 Brickyard Drive — near Valley Children’s Hospital — followed in 2000.

In the beginning, Elaine says with a laugh, she fed her animal guests, cleaned up their poop and got them ready to return home with their human “moms.”

“I just took care of them like they were my own,” she says.

Hiring good staff is how the business maintains that ideal. General manager Debbie Eichenberger has devoted 20 years to Elaine’s, and other staff members

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have worked there for 10 years or more.

The key is finding pet lovers. “Animal people are born, not made,” Elaine says.

They understand the pet owners who don’t like leaving their animals alone during the day while they’re at work. That concern makes day care a popular service at Elaine’s.

Dogs in day care get two sessions in the water parks at Elaine’s. Both locations feature two parks; each park has a shallow pool with sloped, beach-style entry and a large expanse of artificial turf.

Staff members disinfect the turf every day, and dogs with water restrictions can still play in one of the “dry yards,” says Kristine Wolverton, marketing coordinator.

Most dogs play in groups with similar size canines, but one-on-one sessions with staff members are available to dogs that don’t do well in crowds.

Dogs staying for the day also get an afternoon walk and a gourmet treat. The standard treat is mashed potatoes with a meatball in an ice cream cone, but the menu changes on some holidays. At Thanksgiving, for example, turkey and mashed potatoes are served, but only after staff members check about any dietary restrictions.

Dogs staying overnight get the same perks and privileges — and more. Five activity packages are available for lodging dogs: the Celebrity, the Party Dog, the Beach Dog, the Tender Care (for older dogs) and the Puppy.

The Celebrity, for example, provides three group play sessions in the water park every day as well as orthopedic-style foam bedding. The Tender Care package provides the same bedding and one-on-one “mobility breaks” with staff members. Unlimited medication also is dispensed at no extra charge. However, injections are not given.

The Party Dog — the most popular package at Elaine’s — includes a 10-minute tuck-in at night when

Top: Dogs in day care get two sessions in the water parks at Elaine’s Pet Resorts.

Above: Oliver relaxes at Elaine’s Pet Resorts.

Staff members Liz Olvera and Alicia Abell, with dog Charlie.

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Each Elaine’s location has a cat room — in a dog-free zone. The rooms have toys and a cat tree for felines that like to climb and perch.

a staff member reads about the adventures of Clifford.

To keep traveling owners connected with their animals, Elaine’s posts photos and videos to Facebook daily. Some owners also call and ask staff members to bring their dogs to the lobby to hear their voices over the phone.

Elaine’s happily accommodates those requests, says Wolverton: “It gives people peace of mind.”

As a memento of holiday or seasonal events, dogs are photographed in outfits. In the summer, for example, a dog may wear a bikini and lei while posing on a surfboard mounted on a stand as part of Elaine’s annual Surf Camp.

Other services for dogs include “Lodge and Learn” (five-day and 10-day packages, including overnight stays). Dogs get one hour of training each day, and trainers meet with owners so lessons can continue at home.

Elaine’s will bathe dogs, trim their nails and clean their ears, but haircuts are not offered.

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Care for cats is, by necessity, different. Each Elaine’s location has a cat room in a dog-free zone. The rooms feature plenty of natural light, toys and a cat tree for felines that like to climb and perch. “We provide a nice quiet environment for them to interact with one another or simply lounge around like they do at home.”

Wolverton says.

Cats get considerable time outside their “condos,” which are roomy, custom-designed enclosures with multiple levels to accommodate each cat’s private litter box plus food and water bowls.

The idea for Elaine’s came from Elaine Nestell’s deep-seated love of animals. As a girl, she would bring home neighborhood dogs that appeared to be homeless, and her mother would return them to their owners with an explanation about her tenderhearted daughter.

Then in high school, Elaine invited her girlfriends to watch a cat give birth in her bedroom closet. “My friends were horrified,” she says, laughing.

The years passed, but Elaine’s concern for animals remained. She didn’t believe her dogs got proper care when she left them at a kennel in Fresno.

So, when it was time for family vacations, she would drive her canines to a Sacramento kennel that met her standards.

One year, the trip to Sacramento fell to her husband, Bud, and son Howard. As they drove north with Amour

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and Faust, two German shepherds, Bud and Howard talked about a business opportunity. Perhaps they could build the kind of kennel in Fresno that would satisfy Elaine — and others like her.

Elaine liked the idea but took her time gathering information. For two years, she traveled the country as part of her hobby of showing dogs in competitions. On her trips, she visited kennels, eventually compiling the best of what she saw into a plan.

Bud and Howard oversaw construction of Elaine’s first kennel on 3 acres at the Fresno location. The Madera location has the same acreage. “The business took off,” Howard says. “In less than 18 months, it was in the black. But I don’t think Elaine cared about that.

She paid attention to the customers and the dogs, while Dad and I paid the bills.”

Elaine says she’s “flabbergasted” by the success of the business.

Originally, it was called Elaine’s Animal Inn. “But we outgrew that name,” Howard says. “We were providing entertainment for these dogs.” After all, how many kennels play smooth jazz in the buildings where dogs stay?

Over the years, Elaine, now 83, has turned the dayto-day operation over to Howard, though she remains the face and voice of the business. She also has an office at the Fresno location where she goes every day.

“She beats me to work,” Howard says.

Elaine is often joined in her office by her two dogs, Jackson the Havanese and Bob the Bouvier, plus her cat, Simba.

Elaine finds great satisfaction that she and her son co-own the business and that he runs it.

“Howard’s doing a great job,” she says. “It’s a dream come true to have him love it as much as I do.” CV

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Central Valley Magazine | MAY 2017 25

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Pet perfection More than ever before, the Central Valley is embracing the joy that comes with owning pets

BY: Carey Norton | PHOTOGRAPHY: Aida Abrahamian, Emily Cameron, Karen Conrad, Matthew Drake, Eric Fries, Karen Garcia, Michelle Serna Garcia, Cristina Garvin, Begered Ghazi, Katie Higley, James and Nicole Howard, Tracy Linney, Farin Montañez, Carey Norton, Lavon Ortega, Sarah Papazian, Jazmin Rivers, Harvie Schreiber, Melissa Stacey, Janice Stevens, Janessa Tyler, Nikki Tyler and Candie Wasson

I

t appears dogs are winning the contest for the most beloved pet in the United States, with 60.2 million households owning a pup, compared to the 47.1 million of us who are owned by cats.

I understand the American Pet Products Association knows things, but I just can’t believe it. I, for one, think all you dog lovers are missing the boat. Cats are tops in my book, but statistics don’t lie. Here are a few more for you from the American Veterinary Medical Foundation: The average number of dogs per household: 1.6 The average number of cats per household: 2.1 The APPA reports the total number of pets owned in the United States: Dogs: 89.7 million Cats: 94.2 million Birds: 20.3 million Freshwater fish: 139.3 million Reptiles: 9.4 million That’s a lot of pets, but shelters are still full.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimate 6.5 million compan26 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

ion animals enter animal shelters every year. Of those, approximately 3.3 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats. The ASPCA estimates the number of dogs and cats entering U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 7.2 million in 2011. The biggest decline was in dogs (from 3.9 million to 3.3 million). While that’s encouraging, it is sobering that the Humane Society of the United States estimates that each year, approximately 2.7 million adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in the United States, simply because too many pets come into shelters and too few people consider adoption when looking for a pet.

We live in a community where no-kill shelters have thankfully made an impact, but more is needed to stop pet-overpopulation in the Central Valley and beyond. Pets should be spayed or neutered and if you’re wanting a pet, adopt, don’t shop. The ASPCA reports that nationally, approximately 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year (1.6 million dogs and 1.6 million cats).

The American Pet Products Association reports from its 2017-2018 National Pet Owners c e n t r a lva lle y.c o m

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survey that pet ownership is up: 68 percent of American households now own a pet, accounting for 84.6 million pet-owning households, up from 79.7 million pet-owning households in 2015.

The survey shows a new generation of pet owners contributing to that growth. Gen Y/ millennial pet ownership has officially surpassed baby-boomer ownership by 3 percentage points to now account for 35 percent of all pet owners.

“Millennials may be the largest generation segment of pet owners in general, but they also account for more than half of reptile, small animal and saltwater fish owners,” says Bob Vetere, president and CEO of APPA. “This is a very passionate, active and connected group, and it’s been very exciting to see.”

Vetere also reported the 2017-2018 APPA National Pet Owners Survey shows what all pet owners know. We love our pets. Take a look: 85 percent of owners believe pets are a good source of affection 82 percent agree that interacting with a pet can help them relax 81 percent are aware that owning a pet can c e n t r a l v a l l e y. c o m

be beneficial to their own health 81 percent feel unconditional love for their pet We also aren’t afraid to spend money on Fido and Fluffy. Pet industry spending is at an all-time high, up by more than $6 billion. Pet industry spending for 2016 came in at a record high $66.75 billion, up from $60.28 billion in 2015, or a 10.7 percent growth. Americans spend $28.23 billion on pet food alone.

Other services such as grooming, boarding, walking, training, pet sitting and yard services saw significant growth. It is even estimated to grow another 6 percent in 2017 — higher than expected growth percentage for any other spending segment.

“Now that millennials have taken the reins as the primary demographic of pet owners, they stand to further develop the humanization of pets trend,” Vetere says. “We’ve been eager to see how this new group of pet owners will affect the industry, and now that they’re here and the industry spending is higher than ever, it’s a promising sign that our country’s pets are in good hands.”

Central Valley Magazine | MAY 2017 27

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A push with a purpose W BY: Dani Villalobos and Janessa Tyler

hen it comes to issues that affect our furry pals, pet overpopulation isn’t exactly the most fluffy of topics — but that doesn’t make it any less important.

In fact, for organizations like Fresno’s Valley Animal Center, the local problem pushes past mere awareness to being at the heart of the nonprofit’s overarching mission. Founder Christine Morykwas was one of the first to establish the concept of a no-kill shelter in the Central Valley in 1992, then named the California Feline Foundation, working to combat the high number of animals brought in and euthanized at shelters through education, adoptions and spaying and neutering of cats and dogs.

Its 25,000-square-foot center houses the Mardene G. Morykwas Memorial Veterinary Clinic to help perform low-cost spaying and neutering surgeries, vaccines and wellness exams, and the Dr. James W. Thornton Dog Park is a place for both shelter and public dogs to play and train in the area’s grassy grounds, agility yard and 2,000gallon wading pool.

Just this past year, Valley Animal Center racked up some impressive numbers in its efforts to address the pet overpopulation in our community. A total of 382 dogs and 388 cats were adopted from its center, while 360 dogs and 329 cats were rescued from eight animal control facilities. On the clinical side, 3,228 spay and neuter surgeries and 483 exams were performed, and a whopping 10,090 vaccines were given in 2016.

The well-known mantra of “adopt, don’t shop” also rings true for groups like Fresno Bully Rescue, which focuses on promoting responsible ownership of bully breeds like the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the English Bulldog. In 2016, thanks to the generous efforts of more than 650 volunteers, 181 dogs were rescued through Fresno Bully Rescue.

The Cat House on the Kings is responsible for spaying and neutering more than 50,000 cats and kittens (and a few dogs) since being founded by Lynea Lattanzio in 1992. The world-renowned no-cage facility, located on the Kings River in Parlier, aims to place cats and kittens into loving forever homes and prevent pet overpopulation through spaying and neutering. Today, hundreds of cats and kittens roam around the 12-acre, sanctuary.

Want more information? Check out the list to the right.

6 top reasons to adopt a pet You will save a life.

The number of euthanized animals could be reduced dramatically if more people adopted pets instead of buying them. When you adopt, you save a loving animal by making them part of your family and open up shelter space for another animal who might desperately need it.

You will get a great animal.

Animal shelters and rescue groups are brimming with happy, healthy pets just waiting for someone to take them home. Most shelter pets wound up there because of a human problem like a move or a divorce, not because the

28 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

animals did anything wrong. Many are already house-trained and used to living with families.

loneliness. And when you adopt, you can also feel proud about helping an animal in need.

It will cost you less.

It is one way to fight puppy mills.

Usually when you adopt a pet, the cost of spay/neuter, first vaccinations (and sometimes even microchipping) is included in the adoption price, which can save you some of the up front costs of adding a new member to your family.

Depending on the animal, you may also save on housebreaking and training expenses.

It is good for you.

Not only do animals give you unconditional love, but they have been shown to be psychologically, emotionally and physically beneficial to their companions. Caring for a pet can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment and lessen feelings of

Puppy mills are factory-style breeding facilities that put profit above the welfare of dogs. Animals from puppy mills are housed in shockingly poor conditions with improper medical care, and are often very sick and behaviorally troubled as a result.

These puppy mills continue to operate until people stop supporting them.

You will change an animal’s whole world

And, you will get a new best friend in the process. What could be better than that?

Source: The Humane Society of the United States c e n t r a lva lle y.c o m

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OurPets

Labrador Retriever Rescue of Fresno owner Petra House is shown with a rescue at the home of Susan Arthur in Clovis.

Finding families BY: Katie Fries | PHOTOGRAPHY: Gary Kazanjian, Cheryl Krauter, Katie Fries

C Julius gets his bottle from Cheryl Krauter.

Percy and Alfie are the third set of foster kittens fostered by Charlie and Cheryl Krauter.

32 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

heryl Krauter had no idea what she was getting into the day her daughter, Caitlyn Hemman, asked her to run a simple errand. The instructions: Pick up four Manx kittens from the Clovis animal shelter. Hemman, a volunteer for The Cat House on the Kings in Parlier, had committed to fostering the kittens but wasn’t able to get to the shelter that day.

“While I was there,” Cheryl recalls, “I saw these two little kittens and said, ‘What about them?’ I called the adoption center and said, ‘I’m here to get the kittens but there’s these two ... I just can’t leave them.’ ” Volunteer foster coordinator Kathy Scheer suggested she foster them herself. Cheryl, already a regular volunteer at The Cat House’s adoption center inside Petco, admits she had never thought of fostering but, she says, “I wasn’t leaving them.”

That was three years and more than 100 cats ago.

The Central Valley is home to many no-kill animal shelters, but its pet-overpopulation problem persists,

and shelters frequently turn animals away. Many rely on fosters to open their homes to rescued animals on a temporary basis — until they can be permanently adopted — in order to free up shelter space.

“The more foster homes we have, the more cats and kittens we can save or take from the community that will eventually be put up for adoption,” says Tammy Barker, assistant shelter director and president of the board at The Cat House on the Kings.

Barker also manages the rescue’s Petco adoption center. Felines come to these centers through The Cat House’s Fresno Foster Care program, which depends on volunteers to care for young kittens until they’re around 6 weeks old — the age at which they can be spayed and neutered. At that point they’re put up for adoption in the center.

“Ninety-five percent of Petco adoption center’s adoptable cats come from Fresno Foster Care,” Barker says. The Krauters and Hemman are among the Cat House’s most reliable fosters.

Hemman prefers the youngest kittens, which require

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Larry Sumner with Trixie, Jackie Dick, Cindy Clark with Gonzo, Jacqueline Villicana and Daisy Villicana with Huckleberry. All have fostered animals through Fresno’s Valley Animal Center.

Mark and Judy Steubner are fosters for Elder Paws Senior Dog Rescue.

bottle feeding. It’s a labor of love that requires a lot of time and patience.

“When they’re teeny, you have to get up in the middle of the night at least once, sometimes twice” to feed them, she says. Other responsibilities include mixing formula, preparing the bottles, keeping track of how much the kittens eat and making sure they’re kept warm. Some lessons are learned with time.

But after nearly four years, Hemman has become something of an expert. She’s mentored her parents and others who have taken on the daunting challenge of caring for newborn kittens.

Bottle-fed kittens, who need around-the-clock care at first but are almost certain to be adopted, represent one fostering extreme. Older dogs are the other. Senior animals often spend more time in shelters than their younger counterparts, particularly if they have special needs.

“She’s a very sweet little girl,” says Mark Steubner of Sadie, the 15-pound Pomeranian mix who is attempting to climb into his lap. Despite her winning personality, Sadie is 9 years old and deaf — two characteristics that make adoption a challenge.

Sadie is the second dog Mark and his wife, Judy, have fostered for Elder Paws Senior Dog Rescue, which specializes in saving the lives of older dogs. Sadie, they say, was rescued after her original owner passed away.

Although it recently discontinued its fostering program to focus on its other objectives, says founder

c e n t r a l v a l l e y. c o m

Cathie Garnier, fosters like the Steubners will continue to foster the dogs who remain in Elder Paws’ care until they’re adopted.

Elder Paws helps its fosters by covering the dogs’ expenses. In Sadie’s case, because she’s on a special diet, Elder Paws pays for prescription dog food. Her vet bills, like one for a recent ear infection, are covered as well.

“All fosters are different,” says The Cat House’s Barker. “Some fosters want to pay for everything because that’s their contribution. Other fosters need our help with food. And we always provide vet care on our dime.”

Valley Animal Center’s perpetual care program often seeks fosters for older dogs left in its care. “If someone passes or goes into a [care] home and can’t have their pets, they can have them here,” says volunteer coordinator Shannon Escobedo. These people have provided for the pets’ continued care by leaving planned gifts to the shelter in their wills and trusts.

The shelter has an on-site sanctuary for cats in the program, but dogs have different needs. They’re used to being walked, and eating and going outside on a set schedule. So the center tries to match these dogs with qualified fosters. It’s one of many types of fostering available to VAC’s volunteers.

Larry Sumner was introduced to his current foster, Trixie, via the perpetual care program. The 15-year-old Chihuahua had bounced between family members after her original owner passed away. He is now Trixie’s permanent foster.

Other folks, like Jackie Dick, have specialized in fostering more challenging animals, including feral dogs and cats found in abandoned buildings, sick and Please see next page

Bixby, Belle, Bonnie, Betsy, Barney, Baxter and Buster enjoy a community buffet.

Above: Richie, from The Cat House on the Kings, sits on a teeny chair.

Central Valley Magazine | MAY 2017 33

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Annie, Joonie, Pierre and Dulcie pose on top of their favorite cat tree.

Charlie Krauter is shown with Jackson, a foster cat he and his wife Cheryl are taking care of until a forever family can be found.

continued ... injured dogs and bottle-fed kittens. In many of these cases, her efforts to rehabilitate and socialize the animals allowed them to move into shelters, where they were then adopted.

Sisters Jacqueline and Daisy Villicana began fostering kittens for Valley Animal Center when it was still known as California Feline Foundation. Eventually, they ran the shelter’s foster committee. They were instrumental in developing the shelter’s “doggy slumber party” program, which gives volunteers an opportunity to host a dog for an overnight or weekend visit.

“We had heard of shelters that tried it,” Jacqueline says, “and they were successful in getting the dogs out of the shelter for a while, specifically those who were starting to have failure-to-thrive syndrome because they were in the shelters for so long.”

Dogs are sent to their host’s home with a leash and everything else they might need for the weekend, including food and bowls. The overnight visits are a way for potential fosters to get their feet wet if they’re on the fence about making a long-term commitment.

Some slumber party hosts, says Jacqueline, have even ended up adopting their overnight guests.

The slumber parties serve another purpose, says Escobedo. They allow hosts to see how the dog acts outside of the shelter — their feedback helps other volunteers craft the stories that accompany the dogs’ photos when they’re put up for adoption. These are

34 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

used across social media, which has been a huge boon for animal rescue.

“I hated it,” Dick confesses. “Hashtagging! Tagging!

Re-posting! Trying to keep track of how to do it.” She pauses dramatically. “It works. It really does work.” She recalls how one of her foster kittens was adopted by a dog-owning family after they viewed a video she posted of the kitten crawling through her Australian shepherd’s mouth “like it was nothing.”

Cheryl Krauter has written more than 1,000 biographies for The Cat House on the Kings; thanks to its large social media following, they’re seen all over the world.

“People fall in love with a picture and they’ll call us and say, ‘OK, the adopters are coming tomorrow,’ ” she says. One family even flew in from Alaska, she says.

Social media is an especially valuable tool for smaller rescues. Small rescues that don’t have staffed facilities often rely on their online presence and public appearances to get the word out about adoptable dogs and attract donors.

Petra House, of Labrador Retriever Rescue of Fresno, got involved in rescue after moving to the Central Valley from the Bay Area. “I saw so many stray dogs running around and I was shocked,” she says. “I visited the shelters a few times and it was very sad.”

She volunteered with Animal Rescue of Fresno before starting Labrador Retriever Rescue of Fresno, which focuses on rescuing and placing Labrador Re-

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Petra House, with rescues Bebe and Wink, volunteered with Animal Rescue of Fresno before starting of Labrador Retriever Rescue of Fresno, which focuses solely on rescuing and placing Labrador Retrievers in forever homes.

trievers in forever homes.

They’re one of the most popular dogs in the world, she notes, but often wind up stray or abandoned because their owners “don’t do their homework.”

House and her team remain in contact with local animal shelters, many of which notify her when a lab comes in. From there, the foster network takes over. Volunteers take the dogs in until a qualified adoptive family can be found. In the meantime, they help the dogs with basic training and socialization.

“Labs can be pretty easy to adopt out — to the right party,” House says. “We do home visits, we screen the people to make sure they know what they’re getting into because we want the dog to have a home for life.”

Almost all shelters and veteran fosters agree that new fosters should have prior experience owning the type of animal they wish to foster.

Although each shelter or rescue handles new foster applicants a little differently, most have requirements, which most pet owners are already familiar with.

Even after receiving approval to foster, longtime fosters say, newbies should proceed with caution. Introducing a new member of the family to the rest of the pack can be tricky for everyone, animal and human alike.

“The biggest thing with fosters, especially with older fosters, is a sense of identity,” says Dick.

“They can’t always be thrown into the pack.

Certain dogs will have a conflict no matter what you do. Cats can take up to three months to

c e n t r a l v a l l e y. c o m

accept a new feline member.”

One common misconception, Sumner says, is that older dogs don’t need to be trained. “You have to remember that [with] a dog that’s come from a shelter, he might have been potty trained, but he’s lost some of that. You have to work with him and be extremely patient.”

Occasionally, an animal will find a permanent home with its foster family. This is what is known as “failure” in the fostering world. Many are happy to claim the label.

“It happens to almost all of them at some point,” House acknowledges. “You get certain dogs that are just really special to you.” Her fosters, she says, are required to foster at least three before they foster fail.

“After the first foster, you learn to let go because you know they’re going to get adopted,” says Daisy Villicana.

Escobedo recalls her first foster, Snow, who arrived at Valley Animal Center feral and full of energy. “Her first day, she got out and ran all the way down Dakota ... We couldn’t catch her. She was trying to bite everybody and they said, ‘You take her home ... tame her down ... Otherwise, we’re going to have to turn her over to the authorities and she’ll probably be euthanised.’ ” After about three months in Escobedo’s care, Snow went to live with a trainer, who continued to work with her. “She’s graduated from that program,” Escobedo says.

“She’s now a service dog for someone with epilepsy. So it really does work. It changes the dogs’ lives.” CV

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GrowIt

Create a dog-friendly garden BY: Robbie Cranch | ILLUSTRATIONS: Chris Ware

A

t a Respite by the River this past July, David Mas Masumoto read a reflection on the value of farm dogs in a farmer’s life. He described how the most stoic of farmers will often talk to a dog with great affection and emotion. He reflected that when a farm dog dies, burying it on the farm creates another tie to the land. Whether city or farm, many dog owners consider their dogs a part of family life with ties to other family members, memories, daily routines … and gardens.

There are few pleasures equal to creating a happy environment in which a beloved dog lives, works and plays. But unless your dog is the size of a teacup and your garden is 5 acres off of Dinkey Creek Road, you probably struggle with designing, creating and maintaining a dog-friendly garden. One of the simplest rules of thumb is to fit the garden to your dog’s habits as much as possible, rather than try to fit your dog to the garden.

Here is a checklist of things to consider when creating or remodeling a garden to share with Fang: Lay out walking/running paths along routes the dog has already chosen.

Use soft shredded bark to keep coat tangling to a minimum.

Create physical borders or boundaries in front

36 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

of newly planted materials using fencing sections, driftwood or temporary branches — and go ahead, buy gallon pots rather than smaller plants to give your new materials a fighting chance.

Buy sturdy varieties and be sure to check that the plants aren’t toxic for dogs.

Set up a “pee post” — driftwood or log — for the comfort and pleasure of your male dogs.

Let your dog do its main job — looking out for you and your home — by creating a “lookout point” such as a porch, rock or mound.

If your dog is a hardcore digger, consider building a digging area similar to a sandbox, filled with loose soil and sand. Digging along fences? Line the inside of the fence with river rocks, bricks, chunks of broken concrete. In extreme cases, consider investing in an electric fence if dogs insist on going over or under an existing fence. (Our e-fence has taught even our hyperactive Aussies where boundaries are. While not my first choice, an electric fence is far preferable to an injured or deceased dog.)

Keep your dog out of compost bins, and do not compost dog or cat feces.

Most importantly: Supply shade/shelter and water at all times. Allow for the daily and seasonal shifts in shade location. Supply water in large buckets, not small, tippy bowls. Be particularly alert to your dog’s special heat needs if you have a dog such as a pug, Pekingese, boxer or Boston terrier. Their shortened snouts make it more difficult to breathe in situations of exercise, stress or heat. This leads to distress and further increases respiratory rate and heart rate, creating a vicious circle that can quickly lead to a life-threatening situation.

Your garden won’t be perfect. Neither will your dog. But they can be in your life together, bringing you so much pleasure. CV

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Team POP members, Alexa Tran, Nicole Chien, Kyleen Lin, Kaitlyn Fontanilla and Samaya Katikireddy, don the animal hats the team wears during their FIRST LEGO League project presentation.

Young allies of the animals The Fugman Elementary School robotics team earns bid to FIRST LEGO League World Festival, and hopes to develop an app that will benefit local animals BY: Dani Villalobos | PHOTOGRAPHY: Wayne Hutchison

T

here are thousands of dogs and cats residing in shelters throughout the Valley. For a group of five students from Fugman Elementary School, well, that’s a problem they’re setting out to fix.

The students are a part of the school’s FIRST LEGO League robotics team. The group, called Team POP, or Protectors Of Pets, has a project named HOPE, Help Our Pets Everywhere. The project is lofty — especially for an elementary school team — but it is advanced thinking that earned the girls a spot at the FIRST LEGO League World Festival in Houston, Texas, last month.

The team’s goal is to develop an app that would help connect area shelters, reunite owners with their lost pets, allow the community to adopt or sponsor a local rescue animal and educate people on how to properly

38 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

care for their pet — all from the convenience of a smart device.

The app is just one component of this year’s animalthemed robotics challenge. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) and LEGO partnered to create a robotics program to engage 9- to 16-year-olds in science and technology and stresses the value of team-building, problem-solving and communication skills imperative to success later in life.

FIRST LEGO League teams are given the Global Challenge each fall, dictating the overall direction and focus of the experience’s three elements: the project, robot game and core values.

With the real-life problem theme of “Animal Allies,” Team POP needed to develop an innovative solution to a topical problem the local animal population is facing,

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and program and design an autonomous robot to score points on a thematic playing board — remembering to exhibit strong character along the way, of course.

The eight core values are the cornerstone of the program, according to the Central Valley Robotics website, and encourage participants to “learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork.”

“When you’re in robotics, you’ll learn that the robot isn’t the whole thing of robotics — it’s just about your ranking and point value,” says sixth-grader Nicole Chien. “You get judged on how good your project is, and how well you work together.”

The project Upon meeting at Central California SPCA, Team POP transformed from the shy elementary students of minutes before into the professional, first-place quintet that outperformed 112 teams in January as they individually introduced themselves at the start of their presentation with a line of firm handshakes.

The five-minute demonstration addressed a problem the girls had found within the community, what their proposed solution is and how it would be implemented.

“The problem we see today is that there are too many stray and abandoned animals who need our help. They’re brought straight to the shelter without proper intervention. Today, we bring them HOPE,” Team POP stated at the start of the demonstration, slipping on assorted animal hats to help act out their findings.

A pair of dogs, a cat, an elephant and a pig each detailed their own personal stories, ranging from being involved in an illegal dog fight and living in a hoarder’s home to more wild situations of a runaway circus performer and a farm animal whose family abandoned them after a fire burned down their home.

“Why are humans so cruel to us? Our owners should know how to take care of us properly, and what to do in case of an emergency,” they explain. “We need to educate our owners, so we don’t get abandoned and killed when we’re brought to kill-shelters. We need hope!”

The call-to-arms skit was written by the members of Team POP — a go-to method Kyleen Lin, Alexa Tran and Nicole have adopted within their three-year history in robotics. This year, the girls immediately took charge at the start of the season and helped in bringing the two newbies, Kaitlyn Fontanilla and Samaya Katikireddy, into the fray with an ease and camaraderie that has only strengthened as they head into worlds.

“Because three of them are veterans, they already knew what they had to get done,” says Renee Chien, mother of Nicole. “At the first meeting, they were already brainstorming on the whiteboard themselves.”

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Silvia Suarly, Team POP’s coach and mom of Kyleen, is a seasoned FIRST LEGO League coach and has established a working multi-step problem-solving process that aims to get the students on track to finding and addressing the year’s challenge head-on. With a few girls in the know early on, they set to work on tackling issues that impact our regional animals.

The project was the first item on the agenda for Team POP — understanding the time and research that goes into successfully preparing a presentation and developing an original project far outweighs the construction of a robot. But there were a couple of false starts.

Each team member is saddled with additional homework outside of their regular classes, relying on YouTube videos, online articles and good old-fashioned books to narrow down a topic that they can present. A few weeks into one subject, however, and the team realized the scope was too large for their

time-frame. And so, it was back to the drawing board.

“We came up with the idea of stray animals because we watched a lot of videos, and felt really bad for them,” Nicole says. “We originally sought to have a reuniting page where if people lose their animals, they can contact anyone if they see them and be brought back to them. But we realized there’s something already similar to that, so we decided to combine all the problems we found together and create this really awesome app.”

Nicole Chien and Samaya Katikireddy start the team’s robot game practice with a “ready, set, LEGO!”

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Team POP enlisted the resources of area shelters and rescue facilities, and conducted surveys with CCSPCA, Central California Animal Disaster Team, Valley Animal Center, Fresno Humane Animal Services and Sierra View Animal Hospital to deduce the common problems found at each. Their conclusion: overpopulation is still a growing trend and pet education is the best way to prevent and combat it.

In other words, meet HOPE.

The app

Teammates Alexa Tran, Nicole Chien, Kyleen Lin, Kaitlyn Fontanilla and Samaya Katikireddy placed first out of 112 teams at 2017 FIRST LEGO League Central California Championships in January.

40 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

When prompted about why the girls felt an app was the product of choice to pitch, Alexa’s off-the-cuff response only proved they’d truly grown up in a digital world.

“We thought the app was convenient because a lot of people nowadays have smartphones,” she says. “It was the easiest way to get the word out.”

OK, Team POP — noted.

The group succinctly laid out the plans for HOPE during the presentation, highlighting its four elements that address different approaches to the problem of overpopulation. The app will provide users with an opportunity to sponsor or adopt a local pet from a shelter, become a one-stop station for all pet organizations and owners to connect, reunite owners with their lost pets and plays host to a fun, interactive game that educates both children and adults on how to properly care for their simulated pets.

Certain actions will result in either rewards or consequences, with coins given or taken away if a player, say, chooses to feed or neglects to clean up after their

virtual pet. Coins assist with the customization of the pet, including the addition of a name, clothing and more.

The game is the app’s trickiest component, requiring the team to rely on the guidance of Kyleen’s software developer-father to assist with its construction. But they’ve already begun its early stages, pulling up a few images that Team POP has designed through a collage app that showcases the adoption and sponsor page, font, layout and overall look of the characters.

“If you go through the collage app, you’ll see many different stages of the same thing because we kept adding and removing things to make them better,” Alexa explains. “This part didn’t take long because we already knew what we wanted to put on there, so it took just a couple of weeks to put the pages together.”

The impact The demands of being a part of a robotics team are vast — requiring students and their families to juggle outside schedules for additional meetings as the competition draws nearer, parents to step up with snacks and additional support to keep the girls fueled on the go and a tenacity to participate in fundraising events and sponsorship drives to ensure the success of the team before, during and after competitions.

The cost for traveling to Texas with five girls and two coaches is $10,000 on its own, and doesn’t include the expenses of Team POP’s supplies, costumes and more that have accumulated over the season. Nor does it cover the fees for having HOPE properly developed.

Still, it’s hard to put a price on the growth the girls’ parents have witnessed in the group firsthand — something that was on full display at the most recent fund-

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The FIRST LEGO League-themed playing board is made up of various tasks for the robot to tackle, all ranging in points and difficulty.

Team POP’s app, HOPE, needs additional support and financial backing to be properly developed.

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raising events held at KoJa Kitchen and Rocket Dog Gourmet Brats and Brew.

“We’re making them do these fundraising things where they have to be at these restaurants and speak to strangers, and they’re very comfortable because they’re so used to it,” says Jessica Nguyen, mom of Alexa. “They probably don’t realize how much they’ve grown … but because of the components that are involved through robotics — having to work together, showing respect, team work and having to speak in front of strangers — I think that’s where we’ve seen the biggest improvement.”

Public speaking seems to be the largest takeaway for the majority of the group, with many of them seeing a new-found confidence in their ability to communicate and desire to continue developing this skill.

“Public speaking is hard for me,” Kaitlyn says. “I sometimes mispronounce words, and would like to improve my vocabulary. I use very common words that don’t really explain what I’m talking about.”

Making it to the FIRST LEGO League World Festival was something the girls hadn’t anticipated, and while the competition took place after time of publication, the road doesn’t end in Texas for Team POP. These girls have plans.

“We really want our app to be developed so people can use it properly, and I hope it helps the animals,” Samaya says.

“I like the thought that they were able to create something from scratch and be able to bring it to implementation,” Nguyen echoes. “A lot of times, we come up with ideas, but abandon it or don’t see it through to completion. I think it will be very rewarding for them to say this is what they accomplished together and [it’ll] be cool to watch.”

Team POP is still in need of a local sponsor and additional support to get HOPE developed.

For all inquiries on how to support the group, contact Suarly at teampop2017@gmail.com or visit Team POP’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TeamPoP2017. CV

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OurPets

Coral, a new member of Heavenly Hounds, visits Art Rahn at Saint Agnes Medical Center.

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Dale Sano and his dog, Tucker, are two peas in a pod.

Heaven on earth

Saint Agnes Medical Center’s Heavenly Hounds therapy dogs provide comfort — and cuteness BY: Janessa Tyler | PHOTOGRAPHY: Gary Kazanjian

I

magine seeing a parade of pooches roaming the halls of Saint Agnes Medical Center.

The sight brings peace and comfort to patients, visitors and staff members of the 436bed hospital.

The four-legged companions are known as Heavenly Hounds, a volunteer group of 23 therapy dogs and their owners. The group was founded in 2007 when Saint Agnes Medical Center recognized a need for therapy dogs.

The canines travel to various areas of the hospital, including the emergency department, hospice and private rooms.

Heavenly Hounds also works closely with members of the Center for Spiritual Care. Located inside of Saint Agnes Medical Center, the Frank Diener Family Chapel of Christ the Healer is a common place for the group to be found before visiting patients.

Today, gathered in a circle, there are 12 therapy dogs — registered by Therapy Dogs International, which requires up-to-date tests and vaccinations. They need to be evaluated by a behavioral therapist — no growling, barking or biting is permitted — before being certified with TDI. TDI is dedicated to regulating, testing and registering therapy dogs and their owners for the purpose of providing support at hospitals, hospices, retirement communities, schools, libraries and areas affected by tragedy and natural disaster (Disaster Stress Relief Dogs).

Teams of DSRD have offered support at dozens of catastrophic events like the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing and the West Fertilizer Company explosion.

According to TDI, therapy dogs are known to help relieve tension and stress, decrease Please see next page

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Heavenly Hounds travel to various areas of Saint Agnes Medical Center, including the emergency department, hospice and private rooms to visit with patients and visitors. The dogs are registered by Therapy Dogs International, which requires up-to-date tests and vaccinations and good behavior — no growling, barking or biting is permitted.

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blood pressure and cortisol levels, reduce anxiety and increase serotonin levels.

A handful of therapy dogs in the group are members of the Fresno chapter, No. 220. In addition to Saint Agnes Medical Center, the local chapter visits Valley Children’s Hospital on a regular basis, and makes bi-annual trips to University of California, Merced.

More than 20 therapy dogs arrived at UC Merced shortly after the stabbing of two students and two employees on Nov. 4, 2015.

TDI also includes Tail Waggin’ Tutors, a reading program that allows children to gain confidence by reading to therapy dogs at local libraries. The group includes small and large breeds of dogs of various ages.

Before Heavenly Hounds, 5-year-old Vincent was part of Tail Waggin’ Tutors at Sanger Branch Library. Owned by Gina Paul, the 165pound Great Dane rolls onto his side to expose his belly.

“He enjoys strolling the halls, getting lots of attention,” Paul says.

“He’s very popular in the emergency department,” adds Cathy Mayer, manager of public relations.

Like Vincent, 6-year-old Tucker is a member of TDI. The gray-and-white schnauzer sits on the lap of his owner, Dale Sano, as he receives a massage on the top of his head. The youngest pup of the group is Jake. The 21⁄2 year-old standard poodle is glued to the side of his owner, Rita Molina, as she guides him along the halls of Saint Agnes Medical Center.

Cary Smart owns three therapy dogs: Minnow, a cream-and-white labradoodle; Bella, a

dark-gray miniature poodle; and Chanel, a toy poodle.

Smart — along with Susie Kuszmar, Nancy Jane Mazi and Joanne Wood — is a charter member of Heavenly Hounds. Kuszmar owns two therapy dogs, Wally and Raisin. Her devotion to Heavenly Hounds is evident when asked about the impact and response of the group.

Not only do patients benefit from Heavenly Hounds, she says, but so do staff members.

Kuszmar says she frequently hears, “You made my day!”

With nearly two dozen therapy dogs on the roster, you would reckon the group isn’t taking applications. Think again.

Coral is the newest canine to join the group.

The 3-year-old golden retriever, owned by Nadine Stover, started her duties in early March. The group also includes Shiloh, Luna, Sasha, Aachen and O’Neil.

Dr. Stephen Avalos, owner of Luna, was inspired by Paul to join Heavenly Hounds. The forensic pathologist says the group is “exactly what I had envisioned.”

Heavenly Hounds seeks donations to pay for identification badges and grooming. The Saint Agnes Men’s Club has been a donor and supporter since the inception of Heavenly Hounds, Mayer says. And last year, she adds, staff members raised nearly $20,000 to benefit Heavenly Hounds.

Typically, Heavenly Hounds visit patients by appointment. To schedule a visit, call (559) 450-PUPS. Details: www.samc.com/heavenly-houndspet-therapy

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EatDrinkBeMerry

Feeding the animals at Fresno Chaffee Zoo requires a wild amount of coordinated effort BY: Cyndee Fontana-Ott | PHOTOGRAPHY: Gary Kazanjian

46 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

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t takes a village to feed a zoo. Or at least it seems that way.

In a teeny, cramped commissary at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, staff members and volunteers work efficiently every day to plan and assemble meals for hundreds of mammals, herps, birds and more.

Just like in your family, not everyone eats the same diet or at the same time. So it’s complicated.

Helping direct this culinary orchestra is Brooke Stowell, lead commissary keeper and the kind of dedicated worker who sampled the large brownish pellets served to some of her grain-loving customers. (“They’re very, very dry,” she says. “I would equate it to very dry cereal.”)

So what do the animals eat? Turns out, most don’t eat meat, according to Renee Tindall, curator of life support and commissary.

“We have many more vegetarians than carnivores,” she says. Elephants (by far the biggest eaters), giraffes and rhinos are among the herbivores, or animals that graze and munch on plant material.

The zoo’s produce bill is substantial — about $2,000 a week for loads of fruits and vegetables like apples, grapes, tomatoes, oranges, zucchini and lettuce. That’s in addition to countless bales of hay and Please see next page Zookeeper Zookeeper Karissa Karissa Bilbo Bilbo prepares prepares food food for for the the animals animals at at the the Fresno Fresno Chaffee Chaffee Zoo. Zoo. An otter devours its morning snack at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

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bags of nutritional supplements for herbivores.

On a daily basis, workers and volunteers carefully prepare and parcel out meals using color-coded equipment (like green knives and other equipment for vegetables, blue for fish and red for meat). Zookeepers who best know their animals mainly distribute the food.

There’s little cooking aside from boiling eggs and making rice; frozen meat is defrosted before being served. Each meal is geared to an animal’s nutritional needs and can vary throughout the week.

For example, a chart switches up produce options on a daily basis. The changes “give them variety and keep their diet interesting,”

Each animal has a specific diet prepared by a zookeeper.

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Stowell says.

Carnivores eat meat such as cow bones, bison and horse; snakes are good with rats and mice. A small freezer stores about two weeks of fish (a sea lion favorite) and four to six weeks of meat.

On a daily basis, for example, the zoo’s male lion eats about 10 pounds of meat while the male tiger eats about 12 pounds. Though smaller in size, the tiger eats more because he has a faster metabolism. All animals are monitored by keepers to ensure they’re at a suitable weight.

Sea lions might eat several times a day while a snake may have a meal once every week or two, Stowell says.

Plans are in the works to build a new, much larger commissary to manage the current kitchen crunch and handle future growth at the zoo.

The new space likely also will include a staff area and break room.

“It’s kind of like the kitchen in your home, Tindall says. “Everyone hangs out there.” CV

Zookeeper Shayna Kramb gives training commands during lion feeding time at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

The baby rhino comes out to play at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

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t the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, animals aren’t the only ones who have something delicious to eat.

The Kopje Lodge — part of the African Adventure expansion that opened in 2015 — is serving up a new, fresh take on zoo food for people. Here, you can order grass-fed beef burgers, veggie pizzas, homemade soups and much more. Walk a few paces and you can find a seat in the vast open-air dining area overlooking the mixed-species exhibit.

You might lunch with Tim the rhino (he’s been known to sidle up to the see-through barrier) and watch any of the other giraffes or elephants that roam the exhibit modeled after African plains and savannas. (Note: Please don’t give your food to the animals. They have their own.)

The new food options have been welcomed by visitors, says executive chef Robert Ortiz III. He’s even seen people ditch their coolers and pre-made snacks/meals in favor of eating at the Kopje Lodge.

“It’s definitely different than what people are expecting when they come to the zoo,” he says. “I’ve heard people say that they didn’t expect to see a pizza made fresh in front of them.”

Fresh is one of those words you’ll hear a lot at Kopje Lodge. (Translated, “kopje,” pronounced “copy,” means a rocky hill.) This sprawling architectural stunner is centrally located in the new 13-acre, state-of-the-art African Adventure featuring lions, cheetahs, wildebeests and more in a naturalistic setting.

The entire lodge, including the outdoor dining space, reflects the African theme with soaring ceilings and strong design elements of wood, stone and thatch. A hefty stone fireplace dominates the large dining area where sturdy tables and chairs offer room for several hundred people to chow down.

The zoo notched an attendance record in 2016 with close to 965,000 visitors. Chaffee officials attribute the nearly 20 percent growth to new exhibits like African Adventure as well as Roo Walkabout and Sea Lion Cove.

Kopje Lodge is part of the African Adventure package. It’s pretty much open for business when the zoo is open, so you can start the morning at the coffee station with a pick-me-up house coffee, espresso or latte paired with a homemade cinnamon roll or a fresh scone such as mandarin orange or blueberry.

At the cafeteria-style restaurant, visitors order from one of several stations — grill, pizza or market, for example. The grill station turns out cheeseburgers, chicken tenders and black bean burgers. This also is where you stock up on regular or garlic fries (“heavy on the garlic,” Ortiz says).

At the pizzeria station, customers select from options ranging from cheese to “rustica” (sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella and shaved jalapeños) — all cooked in an honest-togoodness pizza oven. One of the restaurant’s biggest hits is Gilroy garlic rolls served with a house-made marinara.

Across the way, the market station ladles out a signature homemade mac and cheese and the soup of the day (made from scratch).

“There’s never a canned soup,” Ortiz says. “We wanted to get away from going into the kitchen and opening a can.”

Also at the market station, you can build your own salad

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from a variety of seasonal ingredients or choose from a few options (couscous and quinoa power salad anyone?). A chef’s special that runs Monday through Thursday could be anything from a tri-tip sandwich to clams linguine to marinated prawns.

All of this is a departure from the traditional zoo-food vibe, and it’s deliberate. Ortiz says the restaurant practices sustainability, with ecofriendly products, and tries to answer a few basic questions.

What do kids want to eat? And what would their parents want to eat?

“We try to entice them with something a little different,” he says. For example, the salad bar goes beyond the norm with seasonal choices such as roasted carrots and house-made honey vinaigrette.

Ortiz, whose father was a culinary instructor, has a lengthy and varied background in the food industry. He’s worked in Las Vegas and Fresno as well as at the Sacramento Zoo in jobs ranging from dishwasher to executive chef.

At the Chaffee Zoo, Ortiz and the staff might serve as many as 7,000 to 8,000 people a day. Beer and wine is available to adults, and most entrees run about $7 or $8.

“We want to make sure you’re getting a good meal at a fair price,” he says.

One goal is to offer a hearty variety of fresh, tasty food along with healthy options such as fruit and juices. But you can also grab “muddy buddies” at the cash register — a blend of gluten-free Chex corn cereal, chocolate ganache, soy nut butter and powdered sugar. And if you’re truly craving a corn dog, you can satisfy that yearning at the zoo’s classic Safari Café.

All the new food choices at Kopje Lodge, along with the sprawling views of the animals, have been a hit with visitors.

During one recent mid-week lunch, Susana Gomas and her two daughters, Molly, 7, and Audrey, 6, watched Tim the rhino graze in the exhibit as they sat near the front of the dining area.

Gomas says she frequently brings her girls to the zoo both for enjoyment and science education.

“It’s been great for our home-school lesson plans,” she says. “And we love this new seating area. It really doesn’t feel like we’re in Fresno any more — it’s like we’re in Africa.”

At another table nearby, the Flores family — Christy and her daughter Jordan, 7, and auntie Ariana — kept their eyes mainly on the exhibit area as they dunked French fries into chocolate ice cream. Jordan says that’s her favorite meal (her favorite animal is the lion cub), while mom Christy singled out the pizza and Gilroy garlic rolls.

“The zoo has really stepped up its game in the food department,” Christy says. CV

Top: Chef Rob Ortiz III prepares a park favorite, pizza, at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Children eat snacks and play at the Kopje Lodge.

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GetUp&Go

At Safari West, guests can explore the grounds in an authentic African safari vehicle. Each guided tour takes about a dozen people into the bush, where “you’ll experience it as if you were on a safari.”

52 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

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San Francisco Zoo and Gardens is an urban oasis, established in 1929. The zoo houses more than 2,000 exotic, endangered and rescued animals. The African Savanna is a multi-species exhibit with giraffes, zebras, gorillas, ostriches and more.

California is home to zoos, wildlife parks and safari-like experiences BY: Cyndee Fontana-Ott | PHOTOGRAPHY: Bailey Berendsen, Brian Cross, California Living Museum, Oakland Zoo, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Safari West and San Francisco Zoo

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eady for a walk on the wild side? Don’t worry about leaving the continent — in fact, you don’t even have to leave California to get an up-close look at hundreds of native, exotic and rare species from all corners of the world.

Our state is packed with big and small zoos as well as wildlife parks and even safari-style experiences. The options range from the iconic San Diego Zoo, home to more than 3,500 rare and endangered animals, to Northern California wine country’s Safari West, where visitors can board an authentic African safari vehicle and even “glamp” to the sounds of the Sonoma Serengeti.

Let’s start with the San Diego Zoo (www.sandiegozoo.org), one of the California’s best-known animal attractions. The 100-acre property in Balboa Park is home to more than 650 species and subspecies — many on the brink of extinction, like the fierce-looking Tasmanian devil, the mammoth Galapagos tortoise and the distinctive African penguin.

The zoo features a variety of special experiences such as Early Morning with Pandas (a small group tour

c e n t r a l v a l l e y. c o m

The San Diego Zoo is one of the California’s best-known animal attractions. The 100-acre property in Balboa Park is home to more than 650 species and subspecies — many on the brink of extinction. Its companinon, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, is more than 1,800 acres in Escondido and houses more than 3,000 animals representing more than 300 species.

to watch pandas have breakfast), and the Inside Look Tour (behind-the-scenes views and information about caring for the animals) and the Discovery Tour (an enhanced version of the guided bus tour taken by expedition cart).

Opening this summer is the Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks, a $68 million project transforming 8 acres and replacing 1930s grottos and enclosures with new habitats for African plant and animal species. A one-day pass to the zoo costs $52 for adults and $42 for children ages 3 to 11; the younger set is free.

San Diego Zoo Global, a nonprofit organization, operates both the zoo and its companion San Diego Zoo Safari Park (www.sdzsafaripark.org) with a mission of conservation. For example, the Safari Park includes the off-exhibit Nikita Khan Rhino Rescue Center, dedicated to the preservation of white rhinos, and a cheetah breeding station east of the property.

Safari Park rolls out over 1,800 acres in Escondido and houses more than 3,000 animals representing more than 300 species. Admission pricing mirrors that of the zoo.

The “Africa Tram” takes visitors on an open-air tour around 2.5 miles of African field habitats to see herds Please see next page Central Valley Magazine | MAY 2017 53

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Safari West offers guests an opportunity to experience “glamping.”

At Safari West, guests can dine out on the Sonoma Serengeti.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomed a baby girl gorilla in October.

continued ...

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park includes the off-exhibit Nikita Khan Rhino Rescue Center, dedicated to the preservation of white rhinos, and a cheetah breeding station east of the property.

54 MAY 2017 | Central Valley Magazine

of elephants, flocks of exotic birds and crashes of rhinos. Other tour options include a behind-the scenes safari (a guided peek into off-exhibit areas), a cart safari (a more relaxed and intimate guided tour) and “Flightline Safari” (a zip-line adventure that soars over the Asian and African field exhibits). For the kids, the park includes a Samburu Jungle Gym, Conservation Carousel and Village Playground (an interactive play area designed as an African village).

A different kind of African experience awaits at Safari West, located in the woods and rolling hills of Northern California’s Sonoma County. This 400-acre wilderness features more than 900 animals representing 90 different species. The private facility — known as the Sonoma Serengeti — aims to inspire advocates who can aid in its mission to protect and preserve often-endangered animals.

Here, you can explore the grounds in an authentic African safari vehicle. Each guided tour takes about a

dozen people out into the bush, where “you’ll experience it as if you were on a safari,” says Aphrodite Caserta, a spokeswoman for Safari West.

Visitors will see herds or groups of rhinos, wildebeests, zebra, ostrich and more. There may be “nothing more exciting as getting really face-to-face with a giraffe,” she says.

Off the safari truck, guides show visitors the massive open-air aviary and lower grounds with species like cheetahs, lemurs and monkeys.

You can stay overnight on the property (outside the animal compounds, of course). Safari West (www.safariwest.com) has several dozen upscale tents — “like hotel rooms with canvas walls,” Caserta says — for a “glamping” experience set to the sounds (and sometimes within sight) of the animals.

Overnight accommodations start at about $260 (double occupancy). Safari pricing changes with the season and is different on weekdays and weekends, but ranges from about $83 to $115 for adults. Reservations are a must, according to Caserta, and you may need to book two to three months in advance during the busy season.

In the Bay Area, the nearly century-old Oakland Zoo in the Oakland Hills is preparing to more than double in size. Situated in 500-acre Knowland Park, the zoo (www.oaklandzoo.org) tends more than 700 native and exotic animals including African elephants, lions and the second largest troop of baboons in the country. c e n t r a lva lle y.c o m

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Oakland Zoo’s California Trail Center, when complete, will feature 20 acres of new animal enclosures and views of the San Francisco Bay.

Now underway is an expansion that emphasizes California native wildlife such as the grey wolf, grizzly bear, mountain lion and bald eagle. Opening in 2018, the California Trail will feature 20 acres for new animal enclosures, an overlook with views of the San Francisco Bay, a children’s play area, an interpretive center and a camping area with tents for overnight experiences.

One singular aspect of the expansion is a gondola system, scheduled for completion this year, to bridge the distance between attractions. Visitors will take a roughly four-minute ride from the current zoo to the new area, which also reflects the zoo’s commitment to humane treatment of animals and wildlife conservation.

“It’s something that no other zoo has,” spokeswoman Erin Harrison says of the gondola system.

Admission costs $18.75 for adults; tickets are cheaper for children, the military and seniors.

Another Bay Area option is the venerable San Francisco Zoo and Gardens (www.sfzoo.org). This urban oasis, established in 1929, sits at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and helps connect people to wildlife, inspire care for nature and advance conservation.

Deputy Director Joe Fitting says the cool ocean breezes may be especially inviting for Central Valley residents during the hot summer months.

“If we hit 75 or 80 degrees, we’re in a heatwave,” he says. Admission costs $19 for adults, with lower rates for children and seniors.

The zoo houses more than 2,000 exotic, endangered and rescued animals such as grizzly sisters Kachina and Kiona and the largest colony of Magellanic penguins outside the wild. The African Savanna is a multi-species exhibit with giraffes, zebras, gorillas, ostriches and more; the Lipman Lemur Forest provides the largest outdoor lemur habitat in the country.

Finally, the California Living Museum (www.calmzoo.org) brings specific attention to the state’s native wildlife along with plants, fossils and artifacts. This 14-acre property, located about 15 miles east of downtown Bakersfield, houses non-releasable animals such as black bears, owls, foxes (including the San Joaquin kit fox), desert bighorn sheep and a Cats of California exhibit.

“One of the favorites is always the mountain lion,” says zoo manager Lena Fain. Kids also are delighted by a bobcat that appears to play a game of tag with visitors behind the viewing glass.

A new exhibit is the California Coast Room, which features a 10-foot aquatic touch tank with a variety of sea creatures and a separate moon jelly (jellyfish) aquarium.

Only animals that are injured, or who cannot survive in their native habitat, are housed at the museum known as CALM. That includes several California condors, an endangered species and the largest flying bird in North America.

These supersized vultures have a wingspan of close to 10 feet. “Nobody really understands how big they are until they see them,” Fain says.

Admission to CALM costs $9 for adults and less for children and seniors. CV

The nearly century-old Oakland Zoo tends to more than 700 native and exotic animals.

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Supporters celebrated Valley Animal Center’s 25th anniversary at Red Carpet Rescue, a Hollywood-themed fundraiser held Feb. 24, the same weekend as the Academy Awards. Guests enjoyed food pairings by Pardini’s Catering, a wine tasting courtesy of Stefanelli Distributing and live and silent auctions. All proceeds benefited the nonprofit, no-kill dog and cat shelter.

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The George F. Gruner Awards for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism Several San Joaquin Valley-based journalists were honored at the George F. Gruner Awards for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism Banquet, held Feb. 23. The awards, given annually, honor outstanding community service in newspaper journalism.

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