Meet: Adopt a Pet at Edwards Team (APET) rescue

Adopt a Pet at Edwards Team (APET) Rescue got its humble start in the summer of 2001. The rescue was originally developed to support the Base Animal Control Facility in rehoming animals that were found as strays and to assist military personnel in rehoming their animals if they were unable to take them when the family transferred. Before the rescue was established, all of these pets were sent to Kern County Shelters.

While our facility is located at Edwards Air Force Base, we do not receive any funding from the Air Force or the Federal government and all our employees are volunteers. We are a private, non-profit organization that operates soley by community support through donations and fundraising. All fundraising activities/events are coordinated and conducted by volunteers.

Our current mission is to find loving homes for unclaimed and surrendered family pets. Although we do cater primarily to the adoption of canines and felines, in the past our rescue has also found homes for other animals such as a macaw, a cockatiel, an iguana, rabbits, mice, chinchillas, and a turtle. Our rescue has occasionally assisted the base in caring for wild birds until they could be transported to the closest rehabilitation center.

As our rescue expanded over the years, we have been able to assist many more families. While military family pets are still our primary focus, we also assist families in our surrounding communities with rehoming their animals and referring them to low cost vaccination clinics and spay/neuter programs. We have also become a PetSmart Adoption Partner which enables our rescue to find homes for more animals and to interact with many people throughout the communities outside of the base.

We have a continued educational outreach program that provides resources on becoming a responsible pet owner, moving/traveling with pets, the impact and side effects of declawing a cat, and stressing the importance of pet vaccinations as well as spay and neutering your pet.

Our rescue has an extensive youth program as well. Many of the middle school and high school children on base volunteer at our rescue. We provide them with mentoring in life skills, work experience, and animal care training. Many of our former youth volunteers have pursued careers in animal care.

APET Rescue provides a loving, safe, and clean living environment for homeless animals to live until new homes can be found. With monies raised through fundraising and adoption fees, we are able to spay and neuter, vaccinate, and microchip all the animals in our care. With those funds, we are also able to care for our special needs animals; those with a special diet or special medical needs such as diabetes, demodectic mange, or FIV. We are proud to have assisted in finding great homes for hundreds of animals over the years.