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Community Corner

Humane Society 'Happy Place' for Volunteer, Animals

The 75-year-old Los Altos Hills resident treks to Milpitas every week to help out her furry friends.

Los Altos Hills resident Mary Jackson has rescued animals her whole life and can't imagine life without them.

75-year-old Jackson and her husband are members of a classic car club which takes routine trips to different destinations in the area. It was on one of these trips that she chanced upon the Humane Society of Silicon Valley in Milpitas, a top rescue and adoption facility. The place is so comfortable, she said, that the animals might not even want to leave.

She lives with her husband and two abandoned cats.  

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THE HUMANE SOCIETY

Jackson: We were on a tour with about 24 Model A's and the destination was HSSV. And I thought, I can't go there because I would have such empathy for the animals that didn't have homes.

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I thought, 'I can't do this, I can't do this' before I walked in. We were out getting together, people were getting out of their cars and we were standing by the front doors. And I was standing there and all of a sudden I felt a click on my wrist. Well my girlfriend got a set of handcuffs on my hand and on her hand so I could control myself going in there and seeing all the dogs because she thought I'd be taking them all home. So she just did that and it just made me laugh. 

I said 'Oh no, no I'm not going to volunteer.' Well I was back volunteering very fast after that...and I've been there about a year and half, two years now as a dog socializer.

'HAPPY PLACE'

By the time I hit (Highway) 237, I'm happy. I turn on Barbara Streisand and I drive straight to my happy place. I get out of my car and I start picking my babies that I want to take outside.

I'd like to stay there all day, but you do get a little [sad] after seeing all the little  guys. But (fortunately), they go out so fast. 

We do have some that have been there for quite some time, but quite some time could be a month. So we're not talking about a really long time. 

You're not thrown in there. You go through classes and they have very good rules so that we all do the same thing. But those dogs are loved. I even let my nails grow so I could scratch them. I really did. You're gonna think I'm crazy.

But I really enjoy (volunteering). Like I said, it's my happy place.

Patch: So the shelter looked very different from what you expected? 

Jackson: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Every shelter I ever saw, [the animals] were behind wire. And these babies - I call 'em babies - the dogs are in suites. 

If you're going to volunteer there,  you have to be able to pick up after them. But they keep them so clean. There's two or three different shifts there that keep everything spotless. I just love the way the place is run. And they treat the volunteers very special; there's quite a few of us, they're in the hundreds. 

Patch: How many pets have you had?

Oh, geez, I don't know if you can write enough! We've had a horse, we've had dogs all of our life...except right now because we lost our Labrador retriever. We lost her a couple of years ago...so I get my doggy fix over at the Humane Society. I play with and socialize and walk...

I go once a week for sure. I'd like to go twice a week but sometimes it's hard to do. I usually go on the weekends. It's such a long drive, it's a 45 minute-plus commitment to get there, and if there's traffic...the reason I go there on the weekend is because there's less traffic.

 

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