Traci is the Best of the Best!

Any non-profit organization will tell you that its volunteers are the best. At your Rancho Coastal Humane Society (RCHS), our volunteers ARE the best!

There are volunteers in the Cattery, Kennels and Rabbitat. We have volunteers for the Community Pet Food Bank, Pet Assisted Therapy, Humane Education, Animal Safehouse and Thrift Shop. Even the members of our Board of Directors are…you guessed it…volunteers.

And….we have Traci Vanderhurst, a Foster Care volunteer. When we call to tell her that we need her, Traci rushes to the shelter to pick up her new charges, get the details of their care, and take them home.

Traci recently took home a mommy dog and her litter of seven puppies. Sometimes, with large litters, we’ll place the babies in two or three homes. They get the care they need, and the fosters aren’t completely overwhelmed with bottles, feeding, and poo pads. But not Traci.  She took them ALL until they were old enough to be adopted.  She even came to collect the little ones who were not adopted during the day so they could cuddle with her overnight until the next morning’s potential adopters would arrive! 

You might remember the story of a puppy who needed leg surgery. Traci and her husband took that puppy home to care for it until we could schedule the surgery. As soon as the little patient was released from the hospital, it went back home with Traci. Then something happened that had never happened to Traci before. She became a “foster failure.” That’s a badge of honor around here and means the foster volunteer has fallen in love and keeps the foster pet.

When we asked how she felt about her new status as a foster failure, Traci told us she thought she had done pretty well, since she already had fostered more than 50 pets for RCHS, and they all came back to the shelter. All but this one.

Our records show that Traci has fostered more than ***75*** pets for RCHS.  You might even have adopted one of them! Mommy dogs and puppies all survived to lead the lives they might have missed, thanks to Traci Vanderhurst…the Best of the Best! Paws down!