What are weirdest pets to pass through SLO County animal shelter? Monkeys, emus and more
San Luis Obispo County’s main animal shelter is noisy.
A chorus of howling dogs greets anyone who enters the building.
Inside, the sounds of squawking birds and meowing cats and kittens fill the air.
The San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter at 885 Oklahoma Ave. in San Luis Obispo is considered an open intake shelter. That means the county is required to provide a safe haven for every domestic animal dropped on its doorstep.
Over the course of 23 years, Animal Services manager Eric Anderson has seen a host of exotic animals — ranging from tarantulas and tortoises to sugar gliders, alpacas and pot-bellied pigs — pass through the shelter’s doors.
“Every day we go into knowing we’re gonna get some dogs, we’re gonna deal with some cats,” Anderson said. “You don’t go into every day thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna have an emu to deal with today,’ or ‘I’m gonna have a dozen baby chicks to have to figure out.’ ”
“When those things come up,” he explained, “We have to respond to it.”
Anderson told The Tribune about some of the strangest pets to pass through the shelter in recent decades.
Which animals can you typically find at SLO County shelter ?
On any given day, the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter houses about 65 dogs and 70 cats, along with a smattering of bird, guinea pigs, hamsters and reptiles, according to Animal Services Manager Eric Anderson.
“We do not turn away any animal because our shelter is full, nor do we turn away animals based on their age or breed,” Animal Services said on its website.
What are weirdest pets to pass through shelter? Snakes and more
About six years ago, workers at a SLO County storage facility noticed an odd odor smell emanating from one of the units. The smell was so strong, employees grew concerned someone had died, Anderson recalled.
When the storage unit was opened, workers discovered at least 40 pythons.
The renter of the unit was breeding pythons but had failed to return to the facility in months, Anderson said.
By the time Animal Services arrived on the scene, more than a dozen snakes were dead. The remaining 25 pythons were taken to the county’s animal shelter.
At the time, SLO County didn’t have a specific shelter facility for reptiles, so Anderson had to get creative to house the snakes.
He ran to Walmart to buy Rubbermaid bins before drilling them with breathing holes. The bins were lined with absorbent material and securely closed so each python could be safe and confined.
Animal shelter staffers nursed the 3-foot-long pythons back to health over a period of weeks.
“We really worked to try and figure out where can we offload these animals to? Can we find a zoo placement for them? Is there a reptile organization that we can place them with?” Anderson recalled, calling the search “It becomes a scramble trying to research some of that.”
Eventually, Anderson found a long-term home for the more than two dozen snakes at a herpetology association in the Los Angeles area, he said.
Shelter rescues monkey fed on Frosted Flakes
A few years ago, a North County truck driver acquired a macaque monkey in Texas, where it was legal to own the animal, Anderson said.
The man drove around the country with the primate, mainly feeding the monkey Frosted Flakes cereal.
Anderson said the macaque became hooked on the sugary cereal, although it should have been eating a natural diet containing fruits, vegetables, seeds and leaves.
“People oftentimes get animals like that for some novelty, but don’t provide appropriate care for them,” he said.
When the truck driver’s wife tried to change the monkey’s diet, the animal became so upset that it bit her, Anderson said.
After the woman went to the hospital for the bite, the injury was reported to Animal Services and the monkey was quarantined, Anderson said.
At the SLO County shelter, Anderson and his team put the monkey on a healthier diet.
Eventually, they found the primate a new home outside of California.
Giant monitor lizard living in a car rehomed
About 15 years ago, someone surrendered a nearly 5-foot-long monitor lizard to the county animal shelter, Anderson recalled.
The large reptile had lived in a car with its owner for about a year, surviving mostly on chicken.
“Most of our exotic owner surrenders are people that get them and they don’t know how to properly care for them,” Animal Shelter supervisor Shannon Sinclair said. “They usually call us once they’ve gotten to a point that they’re no longer in good health or they’re struggling with something that they then can’t afford to maintain.”
In these types of situations, Animal Services provides people with education and information to prevent future cases of pet neglect, Anderson said.
In severe scenarios involving gross negligence, people can be charged with animal cruelty, Sinclair said.
In the case of the monitor lizard, Animal Services educated the pet owner about reptile care.
Eventually, the animal was placed with a rescue organization that handles monitor lizards, Anderson said.
Emu on the loose in Paso Robles
Several years ago, an errant emu was running rampant around north Paso Robles, Anderson said.
The large, flightless bird eventually made its way onto the tarmac of the Paso Robles Municipal Airport.
That’s when the emu became a safety issue, Anderson said, and Animal Services staffers were dispatched to capture the fast-moving bird.
The emu quickly fled from the airport to nearby vineyards.
“Trying to catch an emu running out in a wild area was pretty challenging,” Anderson recalled.
Animal Services employees finally snagged the bird while it was traipsing through grapevines and transported it to the county shelter.
Fortunately, the shelter had a big enough enclosure to house the emu before it was eventually adopted out, Anderson said.
SLO County creates a safe space for critters
Animal Services has be flexible, nimble and willing to adapt to unique scenarios, Anderson said.
No matter which species it’s dealing with, the agency is dedicated to keeping animals secure while providing their basic needs, he said.
“Our ability to manage these unusual intake animals is in part being flexible with what we have, in response to what we have,” he said. “It’s also having connections with organizations that can help with us.”
In 2022, San Luis Obispo County opened a new animal services center that replaced an outdated facility built in the early 1970s.
Anderson said the new facility, supplemented with donations from the public, has allowed Animal Services to provide space and extensive medical care to local animals in need.
How to adopt a pet in SLO County
If you’re looking for a new furry, feathered or scaly friend, visit 24petconnect.com/SLOCAdopt to view which animals are currently up for adoption at the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter.
The cost to adopt an animal ranges from $5 to $162 depending on the type of animal.
You must make an appointment to visit potential pets. Call 805-781-4400 to schedule.
