- Welcome to "Inland Edition," where this season we're having conversations with people who represent nonprofit organizations [light background music] working to make the Inland Empire a better place.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm a local attorney, Inland Empire resident, and your host.

And today, we're going to chat with Carrie Ridgway, the executive director of the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.

In 1897, the Riverside Humane Society was established to help prevent cruelty to children and animals.

In 2010, they were reorganized and renamed after Mary S. Roberts.

And, the organization continues to strive to eliminate the suffering of homeless cats and dogs by providing humane care for pets in transition, facilitating adoptions to good homes, supporting pet overpopulation education, and supporting sterilization of companion animals.

From the moment she was found across the street petting a neighbor's dog at the age of two, Carrie Ridgway's life has been all about raising, training, protecting, and serving animals in Riverside County.

In her current role as executive director of her organization, she leads and inspires the innovative team of animal advocates, every year serving more animals and pet owners than ever before in its 127-year history.

Let's meet her now, and learn more about how her organization is affecting our community's animal welfare.

[soft piano music] ♪ [gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] I've got the executive director, the one and only of the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center, Carrie Ridgway.

Carrie, thank you for being here!

- Thanks for having me!

- This is a big deal.

This is an episode my daughter will watch because they love dogs and cats, particularly cats.

So, sounds like you loved animals from the very beginning.

So, let's talk about your background and how you knew that animals was your thing.

- So, I knew because that's all there was, if that makes any sense!

Right?

So, I started out when I was very small, living on a turkey ranch.

So, there was lots of livestock and you know, critters running around.

And, as I got older, we still stayed in, like, the rural area where I grew up and there wasn't really much to do, but hang out with the animals and join 4H, and Future Farmers of America.

So, that's what I did.

And, I just fell in love with the fact that animals of all kinds, love you unconditionally no matter what.

And, I decided that I wanted to make a career out of it.

And so, here I am.

- A turkey farm!

- A turkey farm.

- Here's a city boy question!

The turkeys were bigger than you, weren't they?

- They were.

- OK, they're pretty big!

- They were, and they were mean!

(she laughs) - [Joe] Right!

I'm like, whoa!

Hey!

Turkey farm?

Wow!

- [Carrie] Yeah!

- So, how do you end up being at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center?

- Actually, by chance.

So, I had been in animal welfare for quite some time.

I had done the vet tech route and I was an animal control officer.

That just was too hard on my soul.

And so, I kind of got out of the field for a while and decided to stay home; you know, do the mom thing?

And then, an opportunity came up at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.

They were building a new building and needed somebody to come on and help them raise money.

And, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

And so, I slid into that position way back in 2007, and climbed the ladder and became executive director.

- So, the precursor to the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center has been around over a hundred years.

Talk about that?

- Right!

Can you believe it?

Sometimes I can't even imagine that we've been around that long.

But-?

Yeah!

Back in 1897, some of the good folks of Riverside as the city was developing decided, 'hey, we need to help save all these animals.'

And so, not only did they care for dogs and cats, but the original name of the organization was the Riverside Humane Society for the Prevention and Cruelty to Animals and Children.

So, not only did they help animals, they also had-- they had orphans and children there on their first campus, and they quickly realized that they couldn't do both.

So, off went the kids and they focused on animals way back in 1897.

In fact, one of the founders was Frank Miller, who was the gentleman who built the Mission Inn that's in Riverside.

- [Joe] Oh, my gosh.

- So, kind of some really cool history.

- So, talk about the governance of the organization.

Who oversees it?

How many employees you have; how big you are.

- Yeah.

So, we're actually a midsize organization.

When I started in 2007, we only had five employees.

- Mm hm.

- We were very small.

The buildings were kind of falling around, down around us.

And, the board of directors at that time decided they wanted to make the organization better.

And so, they embarked on this capital campaign to build the building that we're in today.

And so, fast forward to today.

We have 53 employees.

- [Joe] Oh, my gosh.

- [Carrie] We operate a thrift store that helps us generate revenue for the dogs and cats we care for.

And then, we have a high volume, low cost spay/neuter clinic also on our campus.

So, we can provide spay/neuter for folks; make it available, and low cost.

We are governed; we are nonprofit.

So, we don't receive any government funding.

We have to raise every dollar that comes in our door to keep the lights on and to care for the animals that we do.

And, we're governed by a board of directors.

And, all of the board?

They're all volunteers.

- Wow.

Now, how many animals will you have at any given time?

- So, it can vary, but generally we have on site, usually about a hundred dogs.

- Right.

- And, anywhere between 80 and 90 cats.

However, right now we're in this phenomenon called "kitten season."

- [Joe] Right.

- So, what is kitten season, right?

Kitten season is when the weather starts to get warm, and all these unaltered cats start having babies.

So when that happens, kittens that are under eight weeks of age, they can't live in the shelter environment.

They're too little.

So, we have to have foster parents for those-- - Wow.

- [Carrie] For those little ones and for puppies.

And so, during kitten season, we can sometimes have in our foster program 200 kittens plus the adult cats that we have on site.

So, we can care for a lot of animals at one time, even if they're not being cared for at our facility.

- Wow.

So, I was researching here and I really wanted to read this because I don't wanna lose it.

Right?

And, I want you to kind of talk about, and you started to talk about it, but just the legs of the organization, all the different things that you guys do carrying this mission out.

Here's what it says.

(reads) "The Mary S. Roberts "Pet Adoption Center strives to eliminate "the suffering of homeless cats and dogs "by providing humane care for pets in transition, "facilitating adoptions to good homes, "supporting pet overpopulation education, and supporting sterilization of companion animals."

Whew!

- It's a lot.

- [Joe] Yeah!

How do you get into all of that?

And, what are the "legs of the creature," as it were?

No pun intended!

(Carrie laughs) - So, we wanna be more than a shelter, right?

We wanna be more than a place where you drop off your dog or cat if you can't care for it, or where you come adopt one.

We wanna be part of the solution.

We talked about overpopulation, right?

Right now, the nation is in crisis; 50 million animals euthanized in 2023 in the nation compared to 2019.

So, we've seen a decline in adoptions which is unfortunate.

So, we try to do all those things that can combat those things.

We wanna make spay/neuter affordable.

We wanna be a resource to the community if they need behavior help with their animal.

If they need food; they can't care for their animal.

We wanna provide humane education.

We do summer camp.

We just try to think outside the box, and we try to think of ourselves as more than just an animal shelter.

- Wow.

So, tell me about behavior care.

Now, admittedly, I might be-?

Have a little bit of an ulterior motive here.

We've got a cat.

We've got two cats, right?

Talk about how you care for cats and how you help with behavior.

But what if a cat is just so, so needy?

It's like a child and it never changes!

And, I can't be around my wife because (Carrie laughs) the cat is stepping between us!

No, I'm sorry!

(Carrie laughs) It's not a therapy session.

My bad!

Sorry, honey!

Sorry.

(Carrie laughs) I really like the cats.

But, but how do you do from a behavior standpoint.

Talk about that.

- So, cats are tricky.

You asked me about behavior with cats.

That's tricky.

That's a tricky question, right?

Cats are their own-?

They have their own personality, just like dogs.

Right?

There's cats you have to be very patient with when it comes to behavior.

Incredibly, cats have a really high emotional memory.

- Mm.

- So, squirting water at a cat.

Right?

- They're like, "I'm sorry.

What?"

- I haven't done that in years, honey!

I haven't done it in years.

- They'll remember that you did that, and they'll remember that it didn't make them feel good.

So, changing and modifying behavior in cats is-?

Really takes a lot of patience.

- Right.

- And, just making sure that you are treading lightly because cats are-?

They just have their own independent personality.

Dogs, on the other hand?

Right?

They'll just do whatever they want for you because they most of the time just want your approval.

Cats?

As long as they're getting fed and water and some love, (Joe laughs) they're pretty much okay!

(both laugh) - Yeah!

You know?

It is-?

Cats are something else!

I admit it.

Listen.

I had never lived with an animal, when I was little, that wasn't in a bowl!

That was inside, at least!

(Carrie laughs) Right?

We had the dog outside that bit the mailman!

- [Carrie] Right!

- But, you talked about there being so many more cats that-- so many more animals that had been euthanized or this really high number.

Is part of that economic where people figure out they can't take care of their animals?

Do you do see that?

- Absolutely.

Economic and housing.

Housing is a big issue.

- Hmm.

- There are many landlords that don't allow their breed.

You know, they won't allow certain breeds.

They won't allow a dog that's over 30 pounds.

They won't allow you to move in without putting down an additional deposit.

So, housing is a big issue right now when housing is so expensive and economics are tough.

Right?

So, that's the number one issue, reason, we get for people to relinquish their animals.

They're moving to more affordable housing and they can't take their animal, their dog, that they've had for 10 years with them because landlord won't let them.

So, where do they go?

They come to us to relinquish.

- What is something you'd want people to understand that maybe they don't?

And, maybe it's a portrayal of something that's not portrayed quite the right way in the media, or without the context, or without the other side of the coin?

What would you want people that are looking through the window at the animal care community to know that maybe it's something that kind of eludes them and that they kind of miss?

That they don't have the full range of information related to?

- Well, I think the first thing would be we need their help.

- Right.

- That when they take on a pet as their responsibility, we need them to help continue that responsibility.

Right?

We get people that are in crisis, or didn't plan-- - Sure.

- their lives, and they come to a point where they're desperate and they want us to take on the problem right now, right this second.

And, we need people to know that we are also-- We're running a business.

We're doing the best that we can to help everyone, but we have to have the pet owner take some responsibility to help us in that process.

I also would say the other thing is that...spay/neuter?

I mean, how long has-?

Right?

Bob Barker said that at the end of his- - Right!

- "Price is Right"!

- I remember that!

- Spay/neuter!

- Yes!

- Like, why?

Like, I don't-?

You know, there's a lot of people that think that spaying and neutering is gonna change an animal's personality, is going to hurt them in some way, that they need to have their first litter, that they need to go through that process.

And, that's just simply not true.

We really need to stop.

Animals can start having babies at four months of age.

(Joe whistles amazement) And, for cats, they only are pregnant for 60 days.

So, if you consider a four-month-old cat getting pregnant, having kittens, those kittens not getting altered, then those kittens breed?

It- - Wow.

- There's just-?

- Whew!

- It's a ton of cats everywhere.

- Wow.

- And so, I would say "that."

That spay/neuter is really important.

It's a really important thing of being a responsible pet owner.

And, that we need more spay/neuter resources in our communities.

- [Joe] Talk about the vetting process for potential families.

You know?

Not everybody gets to adopt!

We want you to be where you need to be, but talk about the boxes that they have to check and the hoops that they have to jump through.

- [Carrie] We really operate on a conversationally-based adoption process.

So, when I became executive director back in 2015, the process that everybody was using was-?

Right?

You'd have to come in, have to fill out this 10-page application.

Everybody in your family would have to be with you.

We'd call your landlord.

We'd ask you all what's your plan for the next 20 years of your life?

(pauses) Can we come see your house?

And then, we'd deny you!

We'd say, "You're not good enough.

You can't adopt from us."

And, the thinking from that was, 'well, do you think 'that they're not gonna go down the street 'and adopt an animal or go to 'a breeder, and backyard breeder and-?

No!

So, we started practicing a very open adoption process.

So, what that means is when somebody comes in-- We do have some basic questions we ask them, but we don't really have that many deal breakers, anymore.

- [Joe] Okay.

- [Carrie] Right?

The goal is to find a good home.

- [Joe] Right.

Sure.

- [Carrie] There's no perfect home.

I work 10 hours a day.

My dog and cat are at home while I'm at work.

Right?

That's-?

Some people would say, "Well, you're not providing a good home because you're gone all day."

It's about finding the right pet for you and your lifestyle.

What's gonna work?

What are you looking for personality-wise?

What do you want out of this relationship that you're going to create and this responsibility that you're gonna take on?

And then, we have staff that counsels you, works with you.

And, we process an adoption.

We very rarely say no.

We have two deal breakers.

One is if you're going to take, adopt, a kitten and you're gonna immediately put it outside.

Or if you're gonna declaw a cat, because declawing is very inhumane.

It's a horrible surgery.

And, for dogs, it's if you're just gonna leave a dog outside 24/7.

- [Joe] Mm hm.

- Are you gonna bring the dog in inside when you get home from work?

And so, those are the kinds of questions we wanna ask to make sure.

Because when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, when they're with us, they're in a cage and they're in a shelter.

- Yeah.

- That is not what we want.

- Right.

- So, it's very hard sometimes for new staff to come on and not be judgmental.

Right?

But, we need to facilitate good homes.

- So, you talked about a staffer, talked about a volunteer.

Let's go see a staffer and hear from a staffer and a volunteer so folks can really show you what's going on at this wonderful place.

[light upbeat music] ♪ - My name is Moi.

I am the animal care manager here at Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.

When I first learned about the center, it was completely by mistake!

I was driving around and I ended up here just sort of on a whim.

I ended up falling in love with the pets, the environment.

I was never much of an animal person growing up.

But, it's one of those things that you find a passion for through actual involvement and being.

I have one cat right now.

I fostered her since the day that she was two days old.

So, literally about, you know, yay big!

She still had her umbilical cord.

And, I got to raise her, provide all the care and attention that she needed.

She was supposed to come back for adoption.

She ended up being what we consider a foster failure.

There has not been an experience more rewarding than being able to provide those beginning stages of care that has allowed her to develop into a healthy cat in a good environment.

90 to 95% of our residents are "owner surrenders," meaning that they belong to someone.

And, for one reason or another, they had to be given up.

A lot of those pets have gone through some form of training, some sort of basic obedience.

I would say that at least 90% of our resident dogs here know basic commands: sit, stay, lay.

And, for someone like me who just you know, isn't that motivated to put someone through training, it's ideal to take someone that already knows that basic stuff and just needs the home environment.

- Well?

My name is Sue Levick, and I am a volunteer at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.

And, I work with the Humane Education Department.

This is Echo.

And, he came to us from Riverside County Shelter.

And, a special thing about Echo is that he is deaf, but he is a wonderful, loving dog.

He's one of our kids camp, day camp children's favorites.

They always are asking about him.

We have a program here where we educate children and the public about our facility, and dogs and cats.

And then, through various other programs like our day camps.

Studies have shown that if you have a pet, it enriches your life.

It expands your (dog makes panting sounds) life.

And, especially if you have a dog, it's a great way to meet people.

And, you have a common interest.

Just makes the world a better place.

(dog panting) [light upbeat music] ♪ - [Joe] How long is the average cat or dog in your center?

- [Carrie] So, COVID?

24 hours, right?

- Right.

- Now, our length of stay has gotten much longer.

Anywhere between 9 and 14 days.

- Okay.

- [Carrie] Is what our average is now.

So, it's longer than we'd like.

- Sure.

- But, we still have-- If we do have long-stay residents, we market them.

We have a team of people that social media folks and marketing folks, and we do everything we can to get to facilitate adoption for that animal.

Once it starts going over the 30-day mark, that's when we consider it long term.

- [Joe] Mm.

- And then, we get into action and we start the pathway of getting-- doing different tasks to get that animal into a home.

- Are there specific events that you guys do?

Almost like open house kind of events where people get to look through the window and see, like, "Oh, wow!"

So, you know?

A connection; a window into the community, to the community, into your organization?

- Yeah.

So, I mean, people can come.

We're open 12pm to 7pm, so people can come at any time and walk around and look at animals.

You don't have to necessarily just come to an adopt animal.

If you wanna come walk around and hang out.

And, we even have a program; it's called Riverside Rovers.

- Yeah.

- And it's really popular, actually, amongst college students.

So, you can basically just come check a dog out for the day.

- Really?

- Yeah!

So, maybe you have a pet and you're going to college, and you couldn't bring your pet with you.

You're far from home.

So, you can just come get your dog fix!

Just, you come check out a dog for the day, take it to Starbucks, get a Starbucks, go to the park, hang out, take it back to your dorm for a little while.

When you're done, bring it back.

- Right.

- It's great for the animal.

It's good for the humans.

- So, what are some of your biggest current priorities related to the adoption center?

- Biggest priorities are being able to provide, to continue to provide resources through spay/neuter.

Like, you know?

The economy's tough.

And so, we can provide free spay/neuter.

We'd like to continue to grow our campus and expand and be able to take on more animals.

We always need monetary help and donations.

You know, we have to-?

We're hustlers!

(chuckles) We have to hustle to keep our doors open.

So, we rely on the community to help us do that.

- If you have the resources that you want that you're looking for-?

I mean, when you came, they were opening a building.

- [Carrie] Mm hm.

- Right?

You know, what I mean?

And so, there's expansion, there's growth or what's going on.

What would you think the next level of that would look like if you kind of had your druthers in terms of "we'd wanna be able to do this", that we're not quite doing it?

- So, what we'd really be like to be able to do is be able to transfer more animals from municipal shelters.

Right?

Those guys don't have the luxury of space and time.

- Mm!

- Right?

They're on the clock.

And, with the state of animal welfare now, with shelters being so overcrowded, what we'd really like to do is be able to expand our kennel space and be able to have more kennels to transfer those animals over from municipal shelters.

If we could do that, that's one of our goals that we'd like to get done in the next five years.

But, that's embarking on a campaign to build another building.

And-?

But, that is one of our-- one of the things that we have on our wish list.

- Give us a story, if you would.

You know, a war story about something that really came out well.

I'll give you an example.

My daughter just became a cat mom in South Carolina.

And, she looked on the list on the web, and there was this particular cat named Owen.

And, she just-- (snaps fingers) was love at first sight with Owen.

I'll show you the picture afterward!

(Carrie chuckles) And so, they said that he was being fostered, but "if you ask to see him, we'll arrange for you to see him."

So, she goes there because my wife's there for a few days and they're gonna go!

They're gonna go adopt somebody, okay?

(Carrie chuckles) So, they pull up in there and Owen was there!

She goes, "That's Owen!

I know it's Owen.

I saw it!"

So, when she adopts Owen, Owen had been, you know, very stressed being around a lot of cats.

And so, everybody was just so glad that Owen was being adopted.

Because, you get to know 'em, get to know their personalities.

Maybe the stress that they've dealt with, the situation that they came come from.

Give us a situation where a owner got together and made an adoption that really sticks out for you, and reminds you why you do what you do.

- Oh!

There's so many.

Um, gosh?

I guess one that I can think of right off the bat is we get animals a lot of times, too, that are different.

Meaning they're blind, they're deaf, they be missing a limb.

And, recently we had rescued...I don't like to use that word very often.

But, we did rescue a little white pit bull puppy that was living with a homeless gentleman down in the Santa Ana River bottom.

And, we were able to convince him that this was, you know, we could help him, 'cause he had some other dogs.

(pauses) So, we realized the puppy was deaf, and we had a deaf family- - [Joe] Wow!

- come in.

We're not that far from Riverside, California School for the Deaf.

So there's a deaf population in our community, as well.

And so, these folks came in.

Everyone was deaf.

Mom and dad, kids; they were all deaf in the family.

And, realized that this-- Didn't come in for this puppy.

Just realized while they were there that this puppy was deaf.

And, they were so excited and animated when they found out that this puppy was deaf and just thrilled to be able to have a deaf puppy!

- [Joe] Wow.

- [Carrie] And, went through the process and off they went.

And, now?

The whole "happily ever after" thing happened!

- Right.

Is it stories like this that allow you to keep going in tough moments?

I mean, you got stresses, and you gotta raise money and all of these other things, and are these the moments that kind of that let you keep goin'?

- Yeah!

- Yeah!

And I think the hard stories are, too.

Right?

Because, hard stories make you also realize what you're doing; what you're there for.

- Give us some homework in terms of-- I'm sure some people are looking and they're going, "Aww!

", right now.

(endearing voice) I know my daughter is.

Aren't you, sweetie?

(Carrie laughs) How do we follow up and get more information about the organization?

- So, we have a great website!

Ton of stuff on our website.

I would say that would be your first stop.

If you live in the community in Riverside close to us, come down.

We welcome you.

And, to get involved.

Right?

If not with us, another animal welfare organization.

Even if you don't wanna adopt, right?

Even if you're not ready, or you-?

(pauses) Or, you just don't wanna take on an animal full-time, you can still get involved and you can still help.

- So, Carrie, I want to thank you for what you do at the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.

And, we're gonna have to maybe with my wife, go and make a visit- - You better!

- and see it.

I think I will because I think it's super important.

So, wish you great success and Godspeed.

And, just really appreciate what you do.

- Thank you.

Thank you so much.

- So, we wanna thank you for watching "Inland Edition", like we always do.

Know that you can go and tell a friend.

You can go watch it on YouTube on-demand, that way you can catch up if you're behind.

If this is the first time, for some reason, that you're watching us!

But, continue watching us because we get to highlight wonderful organizations like this that are really makin' a difference in the lives of people in the Inland Empire.

So, keep joining us so that we can keep having these conversations, and keep making progress one at a time.

Until then, Joe Richardson.

See ya next time.

[uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ [softer music/vocals] ♪ ♪ [music fades]