If you need another bone to pick with PG&E, they cut off the power for the beloved senior dog rescue operation Muttville, and the disruption in electricity is apparently resulting in elder dogs being euthanized instead of getting a chance at a new home.
It was big news for the 17-year-old senior dog rescue shelter Muttville at the beginning of August, when they moved from their old Alabama Street location within the SF SPCA building to a new forever-home all their own a few blocks away at Florida and 19th streets. The new facility was designed by famed interior designer Ken Fulk, and featured amenities like a “Zen therapy room” and a doggie spa.
But the new home would not be for long, because Muttvile’s PG&E power went out. “That was a Monday. And then the very next day Tuesday, we were here and starting off our day, and the power went out,” Muttville founder and CEO Sherri Franklin told NBC Bay Area in the segment below. The shelter has now been closed for a couple of weeks.
“We’re set up. Boom! All we need are the people and the dogs to come back here,” Franklin added. “We worked meticulously down to the nth degree on how to move, how to move from our old space at the SPCA and how to move in here.”
This is not a non-payment issue, Muttville’s bills are fully paid. According to NBC Bay Area, there was a “miscommunication between the building developers and the utility company [PG&E] regarding the power needed to run the shelter effectively.”
According to a PG&E statement to NBC Bay Area, “The higher-than-expected demand overloaded PG&E’s circuit twice, damaging PG&E’s equipment and causing potential safety and reliability issues for surrounding customers.” The statement added that “PG&E continues to work with Muttville and their contractor on a long-term plan to safely deliver electricity in the future.”
The power is back on at Muttville, though not at levels at which they can house their full capacity for senior dogs. And according to the SF Standard, some dogs are apparently being euthanized because of the lack of capacity.
Muttville is not a “kill shelter,” a term used for facilities that euthanize dogs for whom they cannot find homes. But Muttville takes dogs from such shelters, and can currently take fewer of them, which means more older dogs being euthanized until PG&E can sort all this out.
“Shelters will euthanize for space, and the senior dogs are the first to go,” Carol Lacey of the Marin County shelter Kern Project told the Standard. “If we are not able to move the dogs to Muttville, then we cannot save more dogs from the kill shelters or take in the ones we save directly from the community.”
Muttville is operating again, but at much smaller capacity, and taking in less than half of its normal weekly intake of senior dogs. But the facility is not currently open to the public, and may not be until next week, if even that.
Image: Muttville Senior Dog Rescue via Facebook
