Transcripts For KNTV Asian Pacific America With Robert Handa 20240714

Over the years there. It has been a driving force on this front for a long time, a Model Program nationally, and a crucial member of clear the shelters. Joining us once again is a good friend of the show, dr. Cristie kamiya. As we pointed out before, dr. Kamiya is one of the very few residencytrained veterinarians in the specialized field of shelter medicine. She provides support to organizations throughout the world while overseeing both shelter and medical operations at Humane Society Silicon Valley. Welcome back to the show. Dr. Cristie kamiya thank you for having me. Robert and who is our special guest here . Dr. Kamiya this is jeanie. She is a 14yearold, mature girl. Shes up for adoption. She was transferred from another shelter that did not have the resources to give her the medical care that she needed, got her the care, and after awhile, shes now up for adoption. Shes ready for her retirement home. Robert we talked about this last week, and ive been posting about this, asking people to please consider adopting a senior dog, what we call a senior dog, which im not sure exactly where that cutoff is, but you know, because there are a lot of advantages to having a senior dog, dont you think . Dr. Kamiya absolutely. You know, unlike puppies where you have to put in the work for training, potty training especially, obedience training, these guys are past that. What theyre really looking for, what shes looking for, jeanies looking for, is just a lap to hang onhang out on. And you know, shes calm, shell go on her little walks, and shes very, very sweet. Robert i know, i really dr. Kamiya theyre just looking for a place to hang out. Robert yeah, yeah, and again, its so easy to think of puppies, but you know, we want people to think about senior dogs as well. Give us an idea here. We have a Model Program really in Silicon Valley. How did it kinda become that way and what are some of the things about it that you want people to know about . Dr. Kamiya so, were very fortunate at siliconin Silicon Valley, where we have a very, very Supportive Community that allows us this opportunity to pursue excellence. And you know, through our learnings in becoming a model shelter, our intent with that is to then become a resource for other shelters that perhaps dont have the same opportunities to, or you know, dont have the same resource levels. And so, that is our goal is to share our learnings. Robert and you have your expertise there, but also it is quite a stateoftheart facility there. Dr. Kamiya it is. It is a 48,000 square feet, gold leed Certified Facility where we see over 7,000 animals per year. Robert cats and dogs, right . Dr. Kamiya cats and dogs, rabbits, some small mammals, and many of these animals are transferred from other shelters. Robert right, and the cats and some of those are also available for adoption, right . Dr. Kamiya yes, yes. Robert tell us a little bit about this years clear the Shelters Program. You guys are a little bit more you guys do a little bit more. Youre gonna be expanding. You have expanded hours and things like that. Whats going on this year . Dr. Kamiya so, this year we will be open both saturday and sunday, both the 17th and 18th from 10 00 to 6 00, and we will be offering reduced price adoption. So, itll be 40 for all of our dogs, 20 for kittens up to 6 months old, and anything over that, its 10 for cats. And our fees, adoption fees, have been waved for rabbits, and guinea pigs, and our small mammals. Robert right, and the animals have been really examined and taken care of. People should know that. Th dr. Kamiya pthey are ready to go. T. So, included in the adoption fee, they will all be spayed and neutered, and they will be up to date on all of their vaccinations. Theyll have been dewormed, received a microchip with registration, and for our felines, we do offer testing. So, felv fiv testing, all of our cats will have that as part of their adoption. Robert okay, and well be talking a little bit later about the spay and neuter, but give us an idea for people to kinda keep in mind when they come to the clear the shelters day. How should people, especially maybe the people doing it for the first time, what do you want them to be thinking about when they come . Dr. Kamiya so, when youre so, having an idea of, you know, what type of animal will fit your family. Is it a cat or is it a dog . Is it a type of animal that yourea particular type of animal or breed that youre looking for, keeping that in mind. And you know, hopefully doing a little bit of research ahead of time. Itll be very crowded. There will be a lot of people, you know, who are going to be there to adopt. And so, you know, as much information as you can that you can gain prior to coming in would be very, very helpful. Robert and its important to note that you guys have postadoption services as well. Dr. Kamiya we do, yes. So, we offer postadoption services for all of our adoptions. If you need behavior assistance or medical assistance, you give us a call, we will provide that support. Robert all right, okay. Well, youre gonna stay with us, right . Dr. Kamiya absolutely. Robert yeah, we have a little bit more to talk about. Again, the clear the Shelters Program at Humane Society Silicon Valley is on saturday, august 17, as well as the 18th, from 10 a. M. To 6 p. M. At the Humane Society Silicon Valley facility at 901 ames avenue in milpitas. Now, stay with us because dr. Kamiya is going to as well. When we come back, we talk about the allimportant spay and Neuter Program at Humane Society Silicon Valley. Thats next. Robert now, as we talked about the upcoming clear the shelters day on august 17 by nbc bay area and telemundo 48, its very important we also talk about spay and Neuter Programs. Staying with us to discuss the spay and Neuter Program at Humane Society silicone valley is dr. Cristie kamiya. And first of all, lets recap a little bit about whats gonna happen, and well let jeanie be the visual assistant here for talking about whats gonna happen on that weekend. Dr. Kamiya yes, so we are open both saturday and sunday, the 17th and 18th, from 10 00 to 6 00, and we will be offering reduced fees, reduced adoption fees. Robert and we want people to consider adopting a senior dog. And boy, jeanie is acting like a dog that really wants to be adopted, very nice. Great on set. Okay so, give us an idea in terms of how the spay and Neuter Program works at Humane Society Silicon Valley, and also because we do have a lot of people that might be coming for the first time. Explain for them the basics of what were talking about. Dr. Kamiya okay, so spaying and neutering, its a surgery that would prevent unwanted births, and its very important for the dogs and cats that we offer this for, and there are Many Health Benefits to that. It will prevent certain cancers. It will reduce some of the unwanted behaviors that sometimes can happen when animals are intact. And we do offer spay and Neuter Services to the public by appointment, mondays through saturdays, or actually tuesdays through saturdays. And we also have some free programs for residents of certain zip codes in san jose. Robert okay, and if theyve been spayed and neutered before, they still have been examined again and everything, right . Dr. Kamiya if your animal has already been spayed or neutered, we also offer Vaccination Services on a walkin basis during our vaccine clinic hours, and we do that tuesday through saturday as well. Robert do you have people that maybe disregard or maybe just unknowingly dont understand the importance of doing this . Dr. Kamiya yes, i think there is some of that and i think people may not, perhaps, realize that there are Health Benefits to doing this. And it is important for your pet to have them spayed and neutered and also up to date on their vaccines. Robert is your program unique, the way you go about doing it, or is it pretty much a standard thing at most places . Dr. Kamiya itsthe difference between our clinic and, say, a private practice clinic, we do a lot of surgeries and our surgeons are very skilled in doing spay and neuter surgeries very efficiently. On a typical day, we will perform 30 or more surgeries, 30 or more spay and neuter surgeries. Robert and again, because were talking about people who are coming for the first time, they are spayed and neutered when they come into the facility anyway, or they are spay and neutered once somebody picks them for adoption. Dr. Kamiya wefor our animals going up for adoption, they are spayed and neutered before they go up to the adoption floor. Robert i see, okay, so people dont really have to worry about that too much. All right, and so a little bit more about maybeadtion day. We were talking, what, about what people should kind of keep in mind. Ie more of a starting point, right . cause when people come in almost with this ideai mean, i know we have heard many stories about people coming in. Theyre just determined to get a certain kind of dog, and its cause they saw it on game of thrones, or they saw something and theres some image they have of it. You do want them to kinda keep an open mind when they come in, right . Dr. Kamiya absolutely. So, when you come in to our facility, we start with a conversation. And what we want is to learn a little bit about you and your family, your lifestyle, what youre looking for in a dog or a cat, and we try to match you with the perfect companion. Robert yeah, you do know a lot about the dogs and the pets before they are given out, right . Dr. Kamiya we try to get as much information from the pets while they are in our care, and soni a lot longer than others because they may need some medical or behavior support. Some of the animals that we get in are underage, so they spend time in our foster home. And in those situations, yes, we hafor adoption. Nformationonp we will provide all of the information that we have robert for example, real quickly, what would you say about jeanie if somebody wanted to consider adoption . Dr. Kamiya so jeanie, she is absolutely up for adoption. Shes 14 years old. She was transferred from another shelter that did not have the resources to care for her. So, we transferred her into our program, provided some medical care, and after her recovery, she is now available. Shes a very sweet girl. You can see all she wants is to sit on your lap. And she is looking for a retirement home. Robert jeanie, were gonna do our best for you. Doctor, thank you very much for coming on. We really appreciate it. And thanks for bringing such a great partner. Dr. Kamiya t tok he cleare shelters efforts in the east bay with the valley Humane Society, which features some very un que programs. New sichuan hot chicken. For a heart breaking limited time only at panda express. Program yearround, not just for its clear the shelters event, and their workers and volunteers are a crucial part of their success. With me now is the executive director of the valley Humane Society, malenie sadek, who many know opened the popular murphys paw in pleasanton in 2007 and ran it for many years. R who has spent many hours devoted to animals, especially after retiring from life in Silicon Valley. Thank you both for being here. Malenie sadek thanks for having us. Robert give us an idea. First of all, the overview of whats gonna happen on that saturday. Malenie so, valley Humane Society, were gonna waive all of our fees. You know, we really want to clear our shelter and the idea for us is that we clear it that day and it opens up more opportunities for us to go to the public shelters and pull more animals that really need help. Robert i think people dont remember that sometimes, huh, that once you do that, more opportunity for other animals as well. Malenie exactly, so our job is never done. Robert right, and in fact, leading up to that saturday, you have a special Program Going on oriented around cats . Malenie yes, of kitten season. Now, theidt so, theres no shortage of kittens. If anyone has ever considered adopting a kitten, now is the time to do it. Our normal adoption fee on a cat is 100, and it comes with microchip, ageappropriate vaccinations, r, t whole deal. But because we know that kittens do really well when they go home in pairs, were actually going to waive the second adoption fee is someone wants to take home two. Robert yes. Randy, give me an idea for people who havent maybe volunteered, oris it a difficult thing to do . Is it very time consuming . Or whats it been like for you . Randy yim like, for valley Humane Society, theyve been very flexible in their schedules. Youre able to actually choose the shift youd like to work. And you can work as many hours as you want per week. Or if youlets say some week youre not available, you can clear your schedule for that week. You dont need to show up for then, but other times its very easy to come in. Robert you can always use the volunteers, right malenie . Malenie absolutely. Robert so, tell us the joys of volunteering. Randy oh, its a great opportunity. I work with the dogs, so over four years now ive met hundreds and hundreds of dogs. You get to meettheyre all different personalities, all different types, and we do just my little part in helping the dogs get ready to be adopted. So, thats really the nice feeling that i have inside of im helping themthe dogs feel comfortable so that when they meet potential adopting families, theyll show their best side to the families, and hopefully itll be a perfect match. Robert you know, randy touches on a very important thing, which is the kind of life that they have waiting for adoption. What kind of environment, what kind of thing do you like to do for the animals as they wait for their new home . Malenie well, were really fortunate because you would think that this isnt fortun we dont have a very large facility, and so the average length of stay for a dog at valley humane once they become available is only nine days. We have 500 volunteers, 200 are in our facility, and they dont have a run attached. So, we have volunteers throughout the entire day that are taking them out to go to the bathroom, that are giving them all the love and care that they need. An, kinda friendly environment getting them ready for their forever home. Robert i think that would make people feel really good. Any separation anxiety when they get adopted . Randy thats kinda both the good and bad, right . I may see the dog one week and then by the next week theyre gone, but i know theyve been adopted so i know theyre much happier. Robert something we talked about with our other guest as well, which is what do you wanna make sure people have in mind . What kind of perspective do you want them to have when they come to clear the shelte malenie i think mostly people need to know that theyre gonna be adding a member to their family, and so its sometimes kinda funny because people go in thinking that theyre gonna you know, they want this type of dog, and they always go home with something different. We think we know what we want, until we just meet this perfect animal that really wants you. And so, for us its really about that human animal bond. Like, we really wanna make sure thatwere not, like, trying to make sure youre good enough, we wanna make sure that its a go mix, that those two are gonna go home. And if it doesnt work out, its all right. We want people to bring the animal back, because maybe it just didnt work. Its fine. And so, theres really not a lot of pressure. In the end, we just wanna make, you know, good, happy family mixes. So, its very rewarding to be involved in this field. Robert and same goes for cats as well, right . Malenie same with cats, absolutely. Robert but people seem to understand dogs more. They seem to have, like, an understanding of what to expect when they come for a dog. What do you tell people who come that might be thinking about picking a cat . Malenie you know, cats have a variety of personalities, and so getting to know the cat. S people will tell you act just like a dog. And i think people know when theyre adopting a cat that cats are the boss. Like, if they go in your house, theyre gonna tell you what theyre gonna do. But you know, cats actually are a little easier to bring home than dogs. They take good care of themselves. Theyre not as reliant on us, and so for somebody who maybe works but they really want a companion and they dont know that they can make the dog commitment, they can find a great cat that will love them forever. Robert good insight for cats and dogs. Thank you very much being here. Malenie thanks for having us. Robert all right, well again, the valley Humane Society will be open from 10 a. M. To 4 p. M. On saturday, august 17. And they are at 3670 Nevada Street in pleasanton. Next, were going to Talk International adoption, and with a pet owner and his pet, so dont miss it. Pacific america, weve been focusing on clear the shelters, and we have talked about some of the animals who have been rescued, including many from Foreign Countries where animals are not always as treasured or valued as here. L is bill naylor, who is here with the family dog, moonshine, a new Family Member who came from taiwan. Welcome to the show. Bill naylor great to be here. Robert should i ask how moonshine got its name . Bill well, he was sunny when we got him, and somehow it didnt work for us, and we let the name kinda evolve. And hes just such a happy, personable kinda dog, and moonshine seemed to work. Robert okay, and how did moonshine come to be a part of your family . Bill well, i was Online Dating for dogs, and i was like, oh my gosh, that guy is so cute. D and i pursued that, and one thing led to another, and they sent out representatives to the house, and it was a very, very thorough vetting, and we got lucky. They let us have the dog. Robert yeah, love and Second Chances, they do a good job, dont they . Bill phenomenal. I felt like i was trying to get into harvard. I mean, it was like it was a very, very thorough review. Robert whats it been like for moonshine to get acclimated to the home . Bill itwell, he is so happy now. In the beginning, he was really, truly terrified. He had been in the belly of a 777 coming from taipei, 14 hours, hungry, thirsty, scared. Nothing here is like what it was there. And we justi just spent a lot of time with him oneonone, and slowly but surely he got acclimated and wasnt afraid of the Hardwood Floor anymore. You know, things like that. Its the Little Things you gotta get over. And hes really, really doing great. Robert thats something to be considered really, because what theyve gone through before really makes it even more gratifying that you could make them happy now, huh . Bill yes, absolutely. I feel so good to give him a good home. And he gives back, thats whats so wonderful. I mean, we have such a great relationship. But he went from a very, very scared dog to he owns the town in which we live now. We walk around, he knows where all the cookie stops are, and people know him. Hey moonshine, how you doing . Robert i dont think it wouldve been the same if it was sunny. I think moonshine works. Bill its a fun name. Robert now, we were talking about how great love and Second Chances is, but what would you want people to kind of expect if they wanted to go through the process . What should they understand . Bill well, first of all, theyre very kind and very thorough, and theres a lot of paperwork that we filled out. And i dont say that in a negative way. I am very proud of the fact that they take such care in choosing the people that adopt their dogs. Just be aware that youre gonna have to make yourself available to do all that, and for an inspection of your home, and make sure that theres no way the dog can get out of your property. And they just wanna know about you, so just be ready for that. Its not invasive, its just very good headwork for them. Robert yeah, when you said you came across it through Online Dating, looking for a dog. Bill yeah, my wife knew about it. Robert right, okay. How should people go about maybe that initial step . What would you think they should do . Bill well, i would just go to their website, which is lovesecondchances. Org i believe. I dont think its. Com. I actually was on another site that theyit wasnt love and Second Chances, and there are other, i guess, adoption agencies that use this one i was looking at as kind of an umbrella, and they are in there. So, just start searching, i guess, you know, and put in parameters for the dog that you want. And much like was mentioned earlier when you go to a shelter, know what you want and know that theres a really good chance youre gonna walk out of there with something different. cause i was not looking for a moonshine, and im so glad i got him. Robert thank you very much for coming here and thanks for bringi m robert congratulations. Bill thank you so much. Robert im so glad it worked out. Bill it really did. Robert okay well, you can find out more about international and local adoption programs for clear the shelters on our website, nbcbayarea. Com. And we are also on social media, facebook and twitter. And you can follow me on twitter, rhandanbc. So, clear the shelters, coming to many bay area sites on saturday, august 17. So, think about whether your home could be a home for another Family Member. To mat an inexpensive as possible on that day. We wanna thank all of our guests, human and canine who came on to talk about clear the shelters the past two weeks. Asian Pacific America will be back next week, so we will see you then. Thank so much for watching. When they leave, they may not come back. You are not going to get away with this. You will be found. Good morning welcome to sunday today on this august 11th, i am willie geist, questions are swirling around the death of Jeffery Epstein with victims and prosecutors and the United States attorney general asking how on earth such a highprofile closely watched inmate can