- Kern’s Kindness highlights people in Kern County making a positive impact on their community.
- This week, we feature two local animal shelter volunteers who use social media to get dogs safely out of the shelter and into loving homes.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The ongoing animal crisis in Kern County has inspired many to volunteer to move dogs out of the shelter and into forever homes. As of the latest count, Kern County Animal Services shelter staff say just over 400 dogs are in their care. In today’s Kern’s Kindness, we introduce you to two volunteers who, on top of their full time jobs, run social media pages dedicated to saving dogs.
Walking through the shelter, you hear the typical sounds: barking, whines and the clang of the kennel.
On a busy Monday, two kennel-mates, Zacky and Victory, trade out the noisy kennel Q04 for something a little different: the peaceful, quiet yard out back.
“It’s like you get so attached to these dogs,” Kelci Van Der Horst says.
The pups spend time in the yard with two volunteers who use this area as a platform to find dogs their forever homes.
“I try to take a really good picture of the dogs. A lot of the intake photos, the dogs are just coming in and they’re scared. It’s not—it doesn’t really depict what they look like,” Denise Smith said.
Kelci Van Der Horst and Denise Smith are two of many volunteers who, on top of their full time jobs, took up content creation to showcase dogs in the local shelter.
They run Facebook and Instagram pages, independent from the shelter–full of videos they record and edit themselves.
“A lot of of us have families, we have jobs, we have other obligations, but we always find a way to carve out time to come down here,” Smith said.
“It takes a lot. We come here—one day I filmed ten dogs in one day,” Van der Horst said. “I went home and edited all the videos and I was—it was a full day.”
While they’re out there, Denise and Kelci try to get as many photos and videos as they can, even creating makeshift tripods, to get the perfect shot.
“This is the only place they really get a chance. I mean, in the kennels they don’t show well. It’s so crowded in there. It’s loud and distracting,” Van der Horst said. “This is a place where you can show who they are.”
The videos allow people to see the dogs’ personalities–giving the dogs a chance to find safe homes.
Through consistent posting on Facebook and Instagram, they say they’ve gained a group of loyal followers–and the network of support even stretches across the country.
“[They’ve] never touched these dogs or seen these dogs, but through our videos and pictures, they feel a connection to these dogs,” Smith said. “They share pictures videos where they live and they arrange transport. Just through us volunteers, we have dogs in Washington, Oregon all over the state of California…we have a dog in New Jersey and we have dog in Tennessee. Those dogs were all seen for our post.”
What keeps them coming back multiple times a week? The real results they’ve seen.
To give you an idea on the immediate impact these videos can have: We met Zacky on Monday to film this story, and a video featuring her was posted on Instagram later that day.
On Wednesday, Zacky found her forever home.
“In 2024, I did around 268 individual dogs that I brought from kennel out here to the play yard or took on the Streets of Bakersfield,” Smith said. “My goal this year is 365 dogs.”
Their success rates of getting dogs safely out of the shelter environment are noticeable, but they say they’re not stopping anytime soon.
“Last year I featured, I think, 202 dogs…and only 16 were euthanized,” Van Der Horst said. “Which is a pretty good success rate, but I’d like that to go up. I’d like to have a 100% success rate.”
If you’re interested in volunteering at the shelter, you can fill out an online volunteer application at thislink. To view adoptable animals at Kern County Animal Services, click here. Check out Denise’s Facebook and Kelci’s Instagram.
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