It is estimated that in the U.S. over 19 million animals live in homes where the household income is below the poverty line. This number is likely to have increased considerably with the economic impacts from the pandemic, which have disproportionately hit low income community members.

In addition, homelessness is at crisis levels in California. The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report found that California accounted for more than half of all unsheltered people in the country.

Compassion Without Borders has been bringing access to free and low-cost veterinary care to under-resourced communities and homeless populations for nearly 20 years. Our services are needed now, more than ever.

This past month, we held three separate community clinics in California. One was hosted at Los Guilicos, a temporary housing facility for homeless people. We held another clinic alongside our partners at Fresno Humane Animal Services in a severely under-resourced region of the Central Valley. The third was hosted in one of Sonoma County’s most impoverished areas.

These clinics are critically important in ensuring that these animals get the care they need, and that these community members have access to that care.

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