Fresno woman has had enough of people dumping dogs along road

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's a constant problem. People abandoning their pets at shelters without checking them in, or worse, dumping them alongside the road.

"It happens, sadly, on a daily basis," said Kristen Gross of Madera County Animal Services.

Mell Garcia runs Mell's Mutts and spends her time finding abandoned dogs a forever home.

On Friday, she snapped a picture of two pit bulls she says were abandoned along Vine Street in southeast Fresno.

"I had no means of helping them, I can't help every dog that is dumped," Garcia said.

That didn't stop her from checking on the lost dogs the following morning, but it was too late. She found them dead and says they were hit and killed along Jensen Avenue.

"It's heartbreaking, it's emotionally heartbreaking," Garcia said.

Kirsten Gross with Madera Co. animal services says folks often dump their pets along a rural road at night.

"This time of year, there's a lot of puppies. We're seeing puppies being dumped. We take in 6,000 animals a year, and over half of those are considered abandoned," Gross said.

Central California SPCA officials say pet owners often don't want to pay surrender fees or share any personal information.

"People will bring them and we're closed but they'll think 'oh it's easy we'll just put him over the fence,'" said Thalia Arenas with the CCSPCA.

There are not many shelters, and animal service officials can only educate people on properly surrendering their pets.

Garcia, however, plans to catch the perpetrators in her neighborhood on camera.

"I've had people donate camera and we will place cameras on my property and surrounding property," she said.

Shelters officials are asking pet owners to find their designated city or county shelter, and surrender them properly. They're also asking pet owners to spay and neuter their pets to help with the overpopulation issue.

Currently in California, it's a misdemeanor to abandon or dump your pets.