Animals find sanctuary with Safe Pet Program

FURRY FRIENDS —€” Judy Knapp holds kittens she is fostering for The Center's Safe Pet Program as they meet her terrier Sky and Bubba the St. Bernard-Australian Shephard cross. It is unknown if the kittens will be able to return to their home. Bubba was not able to return to his family and stayed with Knapp after entering the Safe Pet program. Democrat photo by Krysten Kellum

The Center for Violence Free Relationships provides shelter to victims of domestic abuse whether they have two legs or four, scales and tails too. It's part of their Safe Pet Program that began when Judy Knapp, 50, formerly the senior zookeeper at Folsom Zoo, joined The Center's staff as director of education and training.

Knapp lives in Placerville where her wooded acreage is a temporary and sometimes permanent home for all sorts of pets. The Safe Pet Program gives temporary care to the pets of victims of domestic abuse. Half the animals in the Safe Pet Program are able to return home.

Knapp started the Safe Pet Program with a background in not just zookeeping but in rescuing exotic animals. The exotic animal gig comes with the territory if you've ever worked at a zoo, as many people take pets there they can't care for.

"I grew up with abuse and I'm very vocal about it because there are resources now and there wasn't when I was a kid. Animals are what helped me be resilient through all of that," Knapp said.

As The Center's director of education and training Knapp travels the county educating people with her violence prevention presentations. She incorporates some of her animals into the presentations as teaching tools to show personal safety as used in nature. "Animals need to stay safe, like the turtle uses its shell. We need to be safe sometimes too," Knapp said explaining how the turtle demontrates her mantra of "No, Go, Tell" meaning: Say no, get away, and tell someone when a person makes you feel uncomfortable.

"It's a way to normalize it for the kids. The animals stay safe and we stay safe. My job combines my two passions: kids and animals," Knapp said.

And that's why Cary the box turtle helps her teach. Knapp has had the turtle for 15 years, giving her a home because someone didn't want the green-shelled gal. Still warming up out of hibernation this turtle stayed very safe inside her shell and didn't come out for a photo.

Ruby the salmon-crested cockatoo came to Knapp as an exotic rescue and like Cary the turtle is an education tool. Ruby is known to repeat the words "Hi, pretty girl" to passing humans. She teaches us to say "no" by squawking, to "go" by flying away and to "tell" by communicating with the rest of her flock. In Ruby's native Moluccan Islands her flock could number in the hundreds. Ruby is loud and could live to be 100 years old. This is why many parrot owners have trouble caring for these birds and have sought Knapp's help.


At age 16 Knapp started her own bird training business and found herself rescuing her first parrot. It was the 1970s and a popular television series titled Baretta made cockatoos more popular than dogs, according to Knapp.

Cockatoos are one of several varieties of parrot native to the rain-forests of Australia and New Guinea.

"These are wild animals. They used to fly nets over the rainforest to capture them," Knapp noted while feeding mini-peanut butter sandwiches to a cockatoo. The 1992 Wild Bird Conservation Act put a stop to the import of wild birds to the United States. "Exotic animals don't make good pets. I'm really picky about how I take care of them and how other people take care of them," Knapp said.

Bubba the 10-year-old St. Bernard-Australian shepherd-cross is another of Knapp's adoptees. He's been with Knapp for five years now and is often at her side. Bubba is missing a canine tooth and is fearful of gunfire.

"He acts like a dog that has been shot at. When I get these dogs I can tell how much violence they have suffered," Knapp said, "but Bubba's pretty resilient." A 1998 study by the Buffalo Police Department and the SPCA of Erie County found that one-third of residences with reports of animal abuse also had domestic violence complaints.

Then there's Suki the calico and her five kittens that are just 6 weeks old. Hopefully the cats will be able to return home. But only time will tell."With domestic violence oftentimes the animal is neglected because the kids take the main focus," Knapp said. Victims of domestic abuse can also delay leaving a violent home for fear of their pet's welfare. "Many victims, up to 25 percent, report that concern for their pets had affected their decisions about leaving or staying with the batterer. Higher proportions of rural than urban women reported that their partners had threatened or harmed their pets and that concern for their pets had affected their decisions.

The Safe Pet Program also recently took in a ball python, iguana, a pair of fish and a tarantula. These animals were not only victims of domestic violence but ignorance as well. "Most people don't know how to take care of these animals and that's where my zoo background comes in," Knapp said, listing the numerous requirements to keep these creatures healthy. Providing animals like iguanas the right diet and habitat can mean life or death.

"One of my goals is to get pet stores to stop selling [these animals]. First reptiles and then I'll move on to parrots."

"Rhino — I think that's the only animal I haven't taken care of," Knapp laughed before crediting her family as her support network in caring for so many animals. "I couldn't do this without my family," Knapp said as her son Cory, 19, and husband Jim, 59, helped the ball python wake up for a meal. Growing up around all sorts of animals, Cory joked, "I could see a tiger walking through here [the living room] and it would be normal."

Knapp and the animals do birthday parties as well.

Knapp needs help paying for food, medicine and light bulbs to care for the animals. Help out by donating to The Safe Pet Program or drop off recyclables at The Center to assist in funding the program. For more information about the Safe Pet Program call Judy Knapp at The Center for Violence Free Relationships at 530-295-4204. For information about exotic animal rescue call her at 530-417-0256.

Krysten Kellum

Krysten Kellum has worked for the Mountain Democrat since 2006. She currently is the Photo Editor at the newspaper. Her Australian Cattle Dog Penny is the Mountain Democrat newshound.

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