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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2017 7 resident who cannot keep it and does not understand how to achieve a safe and happy ending. Our community also seems particularly attractive to strays and the occasional "dumped" pet. Maybe lost dogs and cats or the people who dump them somehow know about our big hearts! We seek to provide information on options for pet owners with temporary health issues or a personal crisis with the goal of ensuring that people and their pets can remain together under difficult circumstances. When that becomes an impossibility, we also work to support direct or indirect rehoming through fully-vetted rescue organizations to keep pets out of stressful shelters and safe from unnecessary euthanasia. Knowing their pets are being treated lovingly and with compassion provides immeasurable relief to residents pressed by stressful life events, not the least of which is letting go of their most cherished companion. Also among the services we look to provide is lost/stray animal support, including the creation of a pet registry and a central point of contact for reporting lost pets and stray animal sightings. This all may sound quite ambitious. Yet, this work has been going on here for a very long time. This year alone, our merry band of advocates has collaborated with local rescue organizations to rehome, transport, foster, safely trap and protect pets in need. Using social media and the expertise of our volunteers, rehoming efforts have found qualified fosters or permanent homes in the Banning/Beaumont area, as well as far-flung locales such as the West Valley area of LA County. We have saved the lives of a number of strays in the community using safe, compassionate trapping methods, and have facilitated soft landings for some very scared (as well as scarred) animals. Thanks to the spontaneous generosity of several residents, we recently purchased a humane trap to have available when strays or lost pets are sighted. This important tool already helped save the life of "Daisy," a dog from a home near Cherry Valley, who had been lost for nearly a month. Her family went from grieving her loss to celebrating a reunion. It just doesn't get much better than that! We will be seeking additional support for the purchase of our own chip scanner and other equipment that will help ensure safe and compassionate rescue of dogs and cats in similar circumstances. We are very grateful to our Board of Directors for formally recognizing this need in our community and supporting us as one of Four Seasons' newest groups. We look forward to collaborating with other groups and committees at Four Seasons on this important work. We will provide ongoing information and updates on our activities and case studies in our regular Breeze articles. What can YOU do to help? Please consider joining our efforts. Our next meeting will be Sept. 27 at 3 pm in the RCN Board Room. We have an immediate need for residents willing to foster, transport, monitor traps, and more. If you can assist with any of these, please don't wait for our meeting; just contact us at (951) 295-7209 or visit the Facebook page we share with our companion group: Four Seasons D.O.G. / Tails and Trails. continued from previous page Rescue animal photos by Alexpressions Photography