Topanga Animal Rescue is an entirely volunteer staffed and operated non-profit organization.
There are no salaries given to rescuers or the Board.
Mission Statement
Topanga Animal Rescue is a registered 501c3 non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to providing immediate medical field triage and transportation for wounded and abandoned animals in the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Fernando Valley area. We are also committed to providing outreach education programs for children and adults covering animal emergency and disaster preparedness protocols as well as animal responsibility and interaction topics. We reach out to provide free medical care for the animals of the homeless. It is our mission to bring dignity and respect to all actions involving animals and the people who interact with them.
Topanga Animal Rescue provides immediate medical field triage and treatment for domestic and wild animals in Topanga. It fosters community education programs concerning the responsibilities of domestic animal care and ownership. This organization also serves as center for training of volunteers and veterinary professionals in emergency animal handling and restraint through out the county.
Need
While Topanga Canyon is home to over 12,000 people it sits in the middle of over 11,000 acres of undeveloped State and Federal park land in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Topanga Canyon Boulevard is also a major route between the San Fernando Valley and the Coast. Over 20,000 cars per day travel in the canyon. The juxtaposition of people, wild animals and cars creates and an environment that endangers domestic animals. Over 200 domestic animals are hit by cars, attacked by wild animals and abandoned in Topanga. Much of this could be prevented by an effective spay and neuter program and domestic animal care education. For those incidents of animals injured and abandoned that cannot be prevented, an emergency medical triage and treatment program is essential to well being of these animals and the safety of the community.
History
For the past 26 years the Topanga Animal Rescue has operated as a loose coalition of veterinary professionals and concerned citizens delivering immediate medical triage and treatment to animals in Topanga. This dedicated group of volunteers saw a need to move beyond just treating injured animals to preventing these accidents through education and community outreach. Topanga Animal Rescue is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
Services to be provided
- Immediate medical triage and transportation of injured animals
- Training for volunteers in emergency animal handling and restraint
- Community education in the responsibilities of domestic animal care and ownership
Born Scotland, Susan Clark has devoted her considerable energy and talents to a wide variety of animal causes and endeavors in her 25 years in Topanga, California. A critical care veterinary nurse, Susan had been working in emergency medicine at the Animal Critical Care Hospital in Woodland Hills and also volunteering with Wildlife Emergency response in Malibu.Realizing that Topanga had need for an animal rescue operation, with her husband Ken, she created Topanga Animal Rescue (TAR) in 1993, responding via a hotline to local situations, triaging and transporting animals to local emergencies and animal hospitals. Today, Topanga Animal Rescue has an outreach programs that include finding appropriate homes for animals in vetted school programs and providing animal responsibility instruction, grief counseling and support for people who have lost their much loved pets. TAR also works with ‘senior and pet’ programs and provides medical care for the pets of the homeless.Susan is the CEO, Director and operations coordinator. She has had multiple animal articles as a columnist for various newspapers under the title, “Tails of Topanga.”Susan led the small animal team for the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness for over 12 years and was an advisor for animal emergency response preparation for the Topanga Survival guide in conjunction with the office of County Supervisor, Zev Yaraslovsky,
Susan is a constant volunteer at LAUSD public schools. She has been a representative on the Topanga Town Council, is a member of the Topanga Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of T-CEP as schools and Community outreach.
Ken Mazur: Co founder, CFO, administration, web master, photographer and rescue volunteer.
Links to Ken Mazur’s work:
IMDB