There are a lot of unhoused pet owners in LA and I always worry about the health of both the people and the animals. This is a nice story about someone doing a good deed that no doubt makes all concerned breathe just a little bit easier:
There aren’t many willing to voluntarily go out to spend the day on Skid Row, and even fewer with the goal of giving away free stuff, but Dr. Kwane Stewart, also known as “The Street Vet” is nearly famous because of it.
Kwane runs the 501(c)3 non-profit Project Street Vet, that takes donations and volunteers out onto the streets and to homeless encampments to provide free medical care for their pets, and last year they were able to help nearly 600 animals receive medical care.
It’s estimated that 10-25% of the homeless population of America own pets, for companionship, and occasionally for security. It goes without saying that many don’t have the means to take proper care of these animals, whom they often love more than anything else in the world.
In 1997 Stewart was buried in student loan debt when he graduated from the University of Colorado, before bouncing from one miserable rescue shelter to the next. Out of frustration for his career choice, he just started spending a few hours a day providing free medical care to pets of the homeless in LA.
This went on for 7 years until he had an encounter with show biz that spawned Dr. Kwane: The Street Vet, a one-season Canadian TV show that attracted pet product firms, volunteers, and philanthropists to his mission.
In 2020, he and his brother Ian started his non-profit that provides free exams, vaccines, flea medications, supplies, and information to people experiencing homelessness on how to raise their animals with the limited means they possess.
Charity organizations partner with animal clinics and Project Street Vet to open pop-up clinics where the homeless can bring in their pets for even more sophisticated medical care, as well as procedures like spaying and neutering. Project Street Vet also assists qualified pet parents with their pet’s veterinary care through financial assistance grants.
Their website produced a 2021 year-in-review which they describe as being very generous.
Their 2022 report for activities in Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Webster, Florida, report that Project Street Vet saw and helped nearly 600 pets, as well as nearly 150 people receive financial assistance.
They rely entirely on charitable contributions, and anyone who wants to donate time or money can do so here.
I befriended an unhoused fellow in my neighborhood a while back largely because of his adorable friendly little dog named Rufus who was just irresistable. One day the man just disappeared and we wondered what had happened. As it turned out someone had stolen Rufus and he went into a mental health spiral landing in an inpatient ward for a couple of weeks. When my friend was better he went looking at animal shelters and as kismet would have it, Rufus was in one of them and they were reunited.
The last time I saw them, he had just gotten a Section 8 apartment in another part of town and was working part time. He and Rufus saved each other’s lives.