SignalsAZ.com Prescott News Podcast - The Rescue Effort Helping Pets Across the Region

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Send us a text and chime in!Marian Ernst shares how United Animal Friends has grown into a vital resource for animals and pet owners throughout the Prescott area. The episode explores the organization’s rescue efforts, adoption services, low-cost clinics, pet food bank, and emergency veterinary support, all working together to meet a wide range of community needs. Ernst also explains how heavily the nonprofit depends on volunteers, whose time and care help keep daily operations moving and animals on the path to permanent homes. Check out the CAST11.com Website at: https://CAST11.com Follow the CAST11 Podcast Network on Facebook at: https://Facebook.com/CAST11AZFollow Cast11 Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/cast11_podcast_network

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Signals News podcast. Today we have Marion Ernst, and you are a volunteer at United Animal Friends. What a great place to be. Tell me a little bit about what you do and why you do it. Okay. Well, I've been volunteering there probably for seven years. They didn't used to have their own rescue, but someone left a property to United Animal Friends in 2020, a horse farm. So it has a barn and a house and a caseta. on it. And we've worked every day since then to create this rescue, brick and mortar rescue, more like barn and concrete rescue. And we can now have dogs in our barn, which has six indoor, outdoor dog runs. And we have two standalone sheds for mommas and puppies so they can be isolated and secure and quiet. And then we turn the cassita into our cat house, which is now called the catcita. And they screened. in the cateo. And we just added a second building for cats, but we also have space at Petco called Kitty City, where we have adoptable cats available for the public to meet and adopt.

So once we started this site, they needed someone to come out and walk the dogs that were there. So I started doing that. I had recently lost my dogs, and it was a great fit for me to have time with the animals and for the animals to have time with humans and learn how to walk on a leash and learn what love is. That's awesome. Well, and I see that because I went to unitedanimal friends.org and you've got just a nice little place where you can look and see the dogs that you have available. And I see puppies and I want a puppy.

But I know better. I'm like, no, don't do a puppy. Don't go there. There's so much work. But to come and play with puppies would be awesome. Yes. So how does somebody volunteer for you guys? So you can volunteer by going to our website and clicking on the volunteer application and then you submit that along with, there's a lot of boxes to check as to what you might be interested in, whether it's dogs or cats or weeds or

mechanical work. It's almost all volunteer. Everything happens with the volunteers there. So we do have volunteers once they come to training to walk dogs. If they want to, if we have puppies, I show them how to properly get into where the puppies are and how important it is to wash first. And we do have some young minors that like to volunteer with their parent or their advocate, and they can go in and play with puppies. And it's so good for them to have human contact and to have people squeezing their paws and playing with their ears. And I always say when I give these presentations, if you're having a bad day, I have a word for you, puppies. So you don't have to take one home, but you can come and play with them and give them socialization,

and there's nothing but smiles all around. That's why it's so great to be a grandma. Because you get to play with the baby, hold the baby, and then, oh, time to change with the baby, and you get to hand the baby back. So that's awesome. So how do you come about most of your pets? Because I know my thought is always, oh, if you, you go to the Humane Society, if you find a dog or something.

So is that kind of how things work with you guys? The Humane Society takes care of Java Pye County for dogs, and we go outside of the county to get our dogs. Most of our dogs come from shelters in New Mexico, some Utah, northern Arizona, and they're almost all on Native American land, what we call the res dogs. So the dogs on the reservation have a little bit of a different lifestyle. They run free, so that means that they're very subject to predation, to car, to people shooting them. And so if they get into trouble, they'll go to one of these other shelters, which are all very high kill, and they have very little room and very few resources. So we have relationships with all of them when we have space and they have dogs on that short euthanasia list. We will send a volunteer in a van full of crates and they'll bring all the dogs back to our rescue here in Prescott. And volunteers are standing by to take a dog who, just one is wondering what just happened to me. It doesn't realize how lucky it is right now.

It doesn't realize that yet, but it doesn't take them very long. But then they come into our organization and we vaccinate them and of course we feed them and then we start exercising them and we give them love. And it doesn't take more than a day usually that you can just see the gratitude in their eyes, that they're safe and they're getting a meal. And dogs love structure. I think they enjoy structure more than being wild and free. If anybody has a dog out there, they know what time is dinner time, and they'll just come and stare at you. So they're very much on a schedule and a clock. So it's very satisfying to know that every dog we get, we're really literally saving a life.

And they're so resilient, and they prepare so quickly for their forever homes. Yeah, we have. So we've got some acreage. So the dogs are running usually during the day. And then at nighttime, you know, we open the door and three dogs walk in and they stand by the fridge and they know they're going to get their little treat. And then one dog goes in with my grandson because they knows that's where he goes. And then my shepherd and my lab go into the other in our room. And they just know this is we go for treat first.

And it's just, that's awesome. Yes, they're so trainable. Very much so. Absolutely. So if you're looking to adopt a dog or cat, what does somebody do? They go to our website, United AnimalFriends.org, and we have bios and photos of all the dogs and cats that are up for adoption. A lot of them are at our rescue, but some are in foster homes. We also offer a service called a courtesy listing.

And on the website, it'll say CL in parentheses. And that's for humans that have to rehome their dogs. for whatever reason. There's a lot of reasons why that happens. It's always a sad situation. But if they need to rehome their dog, we list it on our website. We do give it a lot of exposure on social media. They're allowed to bring the animal to our adoption events, which we hold every Saturday from 11 to 1, different places around town. And then we can find them a home. They keep the dog until we find it forever home for them. So it's a nice option rather than people just releasing their dog are giving it to a family member that maybe isn't really set up to have a dog.

So that's another service that we offer is the courtesy listing. And you guys do, like, I don't want to say adopt foster dogs, right? Yes. Yeah, we always need volunteers to foster. A lot of times the emails go out and we find maybe a hoarding situation or somebody has passed away and they left three or four dogs and they don't have any family members. and the photo goes out with the email and tugs at your heart. Can anybody take one of these little chihuahuas?

I'm looking at these going, okay, Alicia, I have four dogs. You don't need another dog. And you definitely don't need a puppy, but it's like, why not? Why don't I want them? Interestingly, a lot of people adopt from us, and it'll be the only dog. Some people already have a dog, and then we always make sure that they're compatible. And somebody recently applied and they already had three dogs. And I said, why do you want a fourth dog?

And she said, because we can. I'm like, great. You know, I just want to make sure that it's a good reason, you know. Well, and I, you know, with our dogs, we have, you know, we have the two dogs. Well, we have Little who just, she's half blind and totally deaf and just does her own thing. But Lucy and Daisy, they're best friends. But Daisy is very laid back and very skittish. afraid of everything.

Just this almost, I think she's like 85 pound lab who's just afraid of her own shadow. And Lucy's adventuress and wants to play all the time. So we ended up getting another dog that would play with Lucy. And so Lucy, it's Hopper, our three-legged dog. So we actually adopted that from my daughter. And they just, Hopper just wants to run on three legs. But so that was the thing, we don't need a fourth dog, but Lucy needed a buddy that wants to play. And we see that.

that a lot. People will put that on the application. I want a companion for my dog. Yeah, absolutely. And then you've got beautiful cats. And nothing better than, you've got some giant, big old cats. Those are great. So what's your food situation? Do you guys take donations, blankets? What do you guys look for? We do. Blankets, towels, food, speaking of food, one of the community services we offer is called a pet food bank. And once you, a month, the last Wednesday of the month, people line up, they sign up online and they're low income. They have to prove their low income. But they just drive up, they pop their trunk, volunteers are standing by, they load dog food or cat food into their car and they drive

off. And it's all completely free. And in 2025, we distributed almost 70,000 pounds of dog and cat food. And that feeds about 570 dogs and cats a month. So people, but have love in their heart and they want to have a dog or a cap, but can't really afford to feed it. That's a great program that we have. And we buy a lot of that dog food. It isn't all donated and cap food. But that's something we do once a month.

Well, and sometimes things happen. Yeah. You know, and right now gas prices are so expensive and things are, and people may find themselves like, hey, we're going to have to get rid of our dog. Right. And even though it might just be a short-term situation, It could be, this could be the difference on being able to keep our dog as opposed to, you know, having to make some drastic changes at us. So that's awesome.

Kind of on that same topic, we also offer an emergency medical program where people can call in that need veterinary care and can't afford it. And we offer vouchers for local vets. And then most importantly, we started a couple years ago a spay neuter clinic on site. So we have veterinarians, licensed vets and vet techs. Sometimes we do three, four clinics a week. Wow. And just I brought some numbers here. In 2025 alone, we spayed or neutered over 1,800 cats and 900 dogs at a low discounted price.

And we also spay and neuter feral cats for free. So a lot of people in the Prescott area have property. They have feral cats that are running around and they like having the feral cats. Barn cats are awesome. They have a role to play. But what you want to make sure of is that they're not spreading disease and spreading the population explosion with cats. So we provide live traps. They bring the cats in and they spay or neuter them, give them a rabies vaccine, kind of clip their ears so we know that they've been altered, put them back in the live cage, and then they go home and get set free, and then at least they're healthy and not creating an overpopulation of cats.

Well, I just did quick math and thinking if you guys did 1,800 cats, that's at least 7,200 kittens that you... I know. Probably way more than that, because cats can breathe so quickly. Yeah, and three times a year they can have litters, so... It's 21,000 cats, and then those kittens are out in the wild having cats. Right. And, oh, my gosh. So that's a really great program that we offer, especially for the feral cats.

Veterinary costs are so high. Like you said, it can make the difference between can I keep my dog or not. And it's so important to spay and neuter your animals that it's very affordable for people to bring them to United Animal Friends. And we call it the Snip and Go Clinic because people drive up just like with the food bank. We have their name. A volunteer comes out. Okay, you have this cat or this dog. They don't even have to get out of their car.

They take the animal into the clinic and the people drive off and then they get a call when they wake up from the anesthesia and they come back and they load up the cat or the dog. So it's like drive-through spay-neuter. I don't have to talk to anybody. I just drop off my cat, guys make them really mad, and let me bring them back. So gosh, you guys do a ton of stuff. This is great that you, no wonder you volunteered seven years ago and never left. No. Yeah, I just keep doing more and more. I bet so many of these dogs, like, you know, they get adopted and they're like, no, I have a good thing going here, but all right, I guess I'll go. Well, I'm glad you look at it that way. Some people kind of feel sorry for the dogs. They come in and here they are in a kennel, but it's spacious

and it's indoor, outdoor. And of course, they get, like I said, food, shelter, love, exercise. And I always tell new volunteers, it's a transitional phase for them. Whatever they had before, we don't often even know what that is. But now they're safe and they're healthy. We get them healthy if they need intervention. And then we find them a forever home. And there's probably five of us that do adoptions, and it's the most rewarding part of what I do. And so many people that adopt from us keep in touch with me.

I love getting pictures. Oh, look, it's been a year, and I've had this dog, and I just can't imagine life without it. It's just so rewarding to know that they bring so much pleasure to the people that bring them into their homes. Oh, that's great. All right, guys, if you, first of all, if you're not looking for a dog or I don't think you should have a dog, do not go to

United AnimalFriends.org because I'm already sitting here going, pancake is so cute and pancake would have so much fun at my house, but no, if you are looking to donate your time or dog food or blankets or you want to possibly foster a dog or even looking to, you know, maybe you just love scooping up dog poop and you want to go do that. That sounds like so much fun. Go to United AnimalFriends.org. If you are interested in adopting a dog or a cat, I definitely recommend you go and look at these pictures

because they are so cute. You may find the one for you. You may find, you will find the one. They are so, so good. And your rates are so inexpensive, 25 bucks for a rabie vaccine. Right, yeah, we do. Besides the spay neuter clinic,

we offer dental clinic now, too, for very affordable prices. A lot of people can't afford the dental. the dental work that's required, especially on small dogs. And it's so important to their overall health and well-being if they can't eat without pain. So that's an important thing we offer, as well as the vaccine clinics. And then one more thing I wanted to bring up is we have a thrift store downtown on Monazuma, and it's called Fur-Tastik Fines Thrift Store.

So if you have stuff that's in better condition than what you would want to donate to dogs at a rescue, you can take it to our thrift store, and we're open Wednesday through Saturday. Yeah, a little bit better. So Wednesday through Saturday. From 10 to 4. Perfect. Perfect. Can it?

I can play that game too. And it's staffed completely by volunteers and all the proceeds go to the rescue. And we're a not-for-profit 501C organization. So we do have two paid employees and we pay our vets and vet techs, but otherwise the entire organization is run by volunteers. Well, with that many dogs and cats that you guys are taking care of and all of the donations that you make with food and, I mean, every penny you bring in is going to go right back into making these little guys happy. So thank you so much for doing this. I mean, it's how fun to just get to hang out with dogs and cats all the time.

It is fun. It's very rewarding. Thank you for having me today. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about it. Of course. Again, that's unitedanimalfriends.org. You could go volunteer, go adopt, go donate. And you guys, thank you so much.

And we'll see you next time. Thank you.