The first thing that comes to mind when you think race car driver isn’t typically animal activist, but in the case of local NASCAR champion Danny Bopp, the two are synonymous.

This young racer, who is known for his aggressive moves on the track, has a soft spot when it comes to animals, especially dogs. “Anything I can get involved with, walking dogs, helping out with animal shelters, I try to help whenever I can.”

Bopp, 27, who hails from Lonedell, Missouri, came to California to continue his racing career and found himself helping out United Hope for Animals at the Baldwin Park Shelter after being introduced to one of our volunteers through a friend.

“I’ve been about eight times on Saturday mornings. I came in and wanted to help out and hopefully get some dogs adopted.” Bopp has recently participated in UHA’s twice monthly photoshoots where volunteers prepare dogs for their “close up” photos that help them look their best in their online profiles.

“Danny always brings a warm and positive attitude that the dogs really respond to,” says Laura Knighten, head of UHA’s Baldwin Park Shelter Support Program. “The dogs love the one-one-one attention volunteers like Danny give them, and information about a volunteer’s personal experience with a dog is invaluable to adopters who are trying to decide which dog will be the best fit for their family.”

“Volunteering is a fun way to spend time with like-minded people like Danny, and it’s rewarding to know that just little time hanging out with dogs on a Saturday pays huge dividends for homeless dogs and the families who adopt them,” Knighten says. Bopp’s love of dogs started early.

“I’ve always grown up around dogs. My family always had between two and three collies growing up. I don’t have a dog now—I wish I could but I my place is too small.” Although Bopp is currently focused on more wins on the track, when it’s time he’s going to get more dogs of his own. In the meantime, he loves helping out.

Bopp has a United Hope decal on his racecar, and recently wore one of our T-shirts to help promote UHA. “I explain to people that this is an organization that goes to shelters with low adoption rates, photographs them and helps the dogs that need it the most, and a lot of people seem to respond to that in a positive way.”

Bopp said that he’s not the only racecar driver with a soft spot for our furry friends. “There are a couple of other NASCAR drivers—Greg Biffle is one—he and his wife have their own foundation where they assist in getting dogs adopted, hold fairs, etc. He comes out and does autograph sessions for events.”

He says that he has noticed in California, especially, that there is more awareness about the importance of getting a dog from a shelter. He laments that the shelter system is even necessary, but the persistence of unchecked breeding and puppy mills, keep the dogs filling the shelters. “It’s a terrible scene, and puppy mills are inhumane…they are a way to make money without caring about a living animal.”

In addition to more NASCAR wins, Bopp does see hope on the horizon. “I think it’s a great thing that people are finally starting to realize that there are amazing, great dogs [at the shelter]. Dogs are for the most part very loving creatures and very selfless.”

For more information about Danny Bopp and his racing, please visit his website, at www.dannybopp.com. 

When United Hope for Animals started its Shelter Support Program at the Baldwin Park shelter a little over a year ago, our team of volunteers focused on the shelter’s dogs. With four buildings full of sheltered pups, whose barks and wagging tails greeted us the moment we set foot into one of the hardest-working shelters in Los Angeles, this was an obvious place to start.

In recent weeks, as we learned more about the plight of kitties at Baldwin Park (and in many other shelters around the Los Angeles area and beyond), we had to pay attention. According to recent reports in the media, kitties are on par with dogs in terms of popularity. By their very nature, kitties may seem like the less complicated pet —they don’t need to be walked, they don’t mind being alone, and they don’t bark and annoy the neighbors.

While kitties may be more “low maintenance,” they are arguably more sensitive than dogs to the stresses of a shelter environment. Though they are vaccinated when they arrive at the shelter, stress makes them vulnerable to disease, a problem that is compounded by high population and low rescue and adoption rates. Large feral cat populations create many calls for animal control offers to pick up kittens, especially in summer, a.k.a. “kitten season,” when many litters tend to be born. Moreover, while rescue groups commonly take in dogs from shelters, they often opt to rescue cats from other situations because the spread of disease in shelters tends to be swift and fatal, especially for kittens.

The sad reality faced by all shelters that do not turn away incoming animals is that space is limited, and room must be made for arriving kittens. If adoptions don’t keep pace with arrivals, animals who would otherwise make wonderful companions are “put to sleep.” UHA is looking at many options to improve the health of shelter kitties, and to increase their rates of rescue and adoption. (We don’t have exact numbers on shelter adoption rates yet, but some have said it is as low as 5-10%.)

To help combat the transmission of disease, we are seeking ways to support the shelter’s efforts to keep the cattery as clean as possible, starting with making it really easy for visitors to keep their hands clean. We would like to put up several antibacterial foam dispensers in the room, and provide signage to educate the public on how pathogens are spread from touching one cage after another (not just one kitty after another) without cleaning your hands in-between. We will also be exploring the possibility of using air purifiers that could help with scrubbing pathogens from the air with the help of extra oxygen. In addition, we are working to create a kitten foster program for healthy kittens.

Kittens will spend a week (the incubation period for the worst of the viruses, Penleukopenia) in an off-site quarantine location, our “kitty way-station,” to ensure they are healthy before being routed to foster homes, where they can be cared for until they are adopted through United Hope.

We are excited about these initiatives, and are seeking volunteers to join our cat and kitten team to help with fostering, adoption coordinating, and marketing individual kittens. If you are able to help in any way, please contact Amanda Wray at 626-605-3225, or donate to our Shelter Support Program.