I have not personally adopted or fostered any animals through Friends of the Animal Community…read more(FOAC). I cannot speak from experience in that respect. That being said - I have encountered Friends of the Animal Community often at events in the area, and I have personally witnessed the positive impact that they have had and continue to make within the Tuolumne community. From FOAC's hardworking volunteers - to the inspiring community that rallies around them through donations, fostering, etc - FOAC has cultivated a powerful network of kind animal loving individuals, who work tirelessly to help animals in need. It can be challenging for many people to adopt or foster - due to space concerns, rental rules, funds etc. The number of animals needing homes in the Tuolumne area is staggering. FOAC is often limited with what they can do - due to limited space, limited funds, and limited foster/adoptive homes - but they never stop persevering. FOAC regularly uses social media to increase awareness about animals that need help in the area. Sometimes it is a social media post about a dog that recently lost its owner. Sometimes it is a post about a cat that needs to be re-homed. Sometimes it is asking for immediate fosters for new puppies. The list goes on. I am often blown away by the power of a FOAC social media post. It is inspiring how quickly people will respond on a FOAC post about an animal in need. Sometimes people step right up and offer to foster and/or adopt (they will then go through the proper formal application process to proceed). Sometimes people will tag friends - who may be looking to adopt or foster. Sometimes people will offer donations to help with medical costs etc. Sometimes people will offer virtual love and share out the post. No matter how people show up - the most important thing is that they do. FOAC gets this. They welcome all support. FOAC and their volunteers are always quick to respond to questions on social media posts. Not only do they answer quickly, but they answer honestly. They recognize the urgency to find safe loving homes - whether they be temporary or permanent - for the beautiful and often scared animals in their care. You can learn more about FOAC events, and or ways that you can get donate and/or get more involved with FOAC here: https://www.foac.us Please see the official info about Friends of The Animal Community directly taken from their website: "Friends of the Animal Community (FOAC) is a non-profit, mostly volunteer organization dedicated to meeting the medical and social needs of adoptable pets, providing the path to a loving forever home. We rescue and adopt dogs, cats and other animals. We are a small organization dedicated to relieving over-crowding at Tuolumne County Animal Control (AC); promoting the health of abused and abandoned animals; reducing unnecessary euthanasia; and ultimately expediting movement of homeless dogs into permanent, loving homes. As its name denotes, FOAC also provides assistance in meeting the needs of pets belonging to people in our community. These needs include re-homing a pet whose owner must relinquish it, or who can no longer care for it, and, in extreme emergencies, we have helped with financial assistance for medical issues or boarding and feeding. We are the only dog rescue group in Tuolumne County that offers this free service. Essentially, we give animals another chance for a better life." Trust.

I love how much they care about the animals. They do so much, and go above and beyond. Not just for…read moreanimals, but people too. I love FOAC!

After losing our rat terrier, Frank to cancer our 14 year old chihuahua, Frida seemed lonely so we…read morestarted looking for a new friend for her. We found a Chi/ pug mix at the Humane Society of Jamestown and made an appt for a Saturday when we both would be off work. Frida and "Tango" seemed to hit it off immediately at the greeting. They played well and it seemed like a great fit. The facility was impressive and the girl who brought "Tango" in for the meet and greet was sweet. We went to lunch and talked about it and decided to take him home. They said we could foster for a month to decide. We filled out the application for that and took him home to Modesto. "Tango" turned out to be full of energy and Frida being older had a hard time adjusting. We did everything we could to monitor them together and they seemed to work it out on their own. On the site, before even contacting them, he was 3. As we had him longer, it became apparent that he was younger. Luckily Frida is quite tolerant and they play well even though "Tango" wants to rough house a lot. My biggest concerns: They never asked to see pics of our home/ yard. We seemed to have the opposite experience than most of the others that reviewed. They handed him over almost too easily. They didn't check on him for over 2 weeks. When they finally called i brought up his age, they said they'd look at his file and that he was 1.5 years. I had seen another dog on their site that interested us, and asked about him and the girl rudely asked "so you may want to bring back "Tango" and try "Chico"? and I said we could possibly want to adopt them both. She said "Chico" had a leg issue and was going to see a specialist. I said I'd like to know the outcome. Her general attitude was put-out at best. We decided to keep "Tango" and he is now called Lanegan. I called them about 5 days before the 30 day foster was up to pay his adoption fee and was never asked one question about how he has doing, how they get along. Nothing!!! I found that really sad that they cared so little about his well being and adjustment to our home. Just and over all strange experience. We are happy with Lanegan and Frida seems to enjoy having a new friend around.

The entire team was amazing during the whole process. I left with my new best friend, Ozzy, and my…read morefiancé and I couldn't be happier. They allowed us to sit with as many options as we wanted and overall gave us all the background information we needed to make the best choice for ourselves and our family. Would recommend for sure!

The staff at the Escalon Animal Shelter are very kind and compassionate people who really care…read moreabout the animals there. Unfortunately, this shelter will be closing at the end of October due to a merger with the Oakdale shelter and sadly, the staff do not know what will happen to any animal that is not adopted by that time. Please consider adopting from this shelter to save a life and please tell your friends and family so more animals can be saved.

Not only can you search for perfect love on the internet, you can search for the perfect pet too. I…read morejust found both, in one purring fuzzy package. Adult cats are great to adopt, since their personalities are formed and you know who you're going to be living with. I wanted a male cat that loves people. A search on the online site pet finders, found 502 adult male cats within 100 miles. Then I looked for black or tabby, and a mention of an affectionate disposition. Escalon is 1hr 40 minutes from home, but they had the perfect cat! They treat the animals very well, even though the shelter itself is old style with cats in little cages. I was impressed that they take care to get to know the individual pets and their personalities. Thank you for my new partner in mischief!

if you try to get in touch with Harvest Home it's a joke. I have about 10 winter blankets the…read moreanimals could have used for warmth but the human factor is too busy. I get so frustrated with so called animal sanctuaries claiming "We're here for the animals."

I am always amazed by the amount of compassion that can be found at an animal sanctuary, and…read moreHarvest Home is no exception. The staff here does a fantastic job of taking care of countless animals, many of which were abused or neglected. Ethel the pig is a particular favorite of mine, as she is a former test subject from a research lab and still manages to adore human contact. They offer tours that are children friendly, and work very hard to adopt out many of the animals to good homes. I look forward to future volunteer projects here, because they deserve support. Keep up the great work Harvest Home!!

On January the 7th 2026 I called them about a dog that was tied to a fence out in the wind in the…read morerain in December. As of today nobody has responded that dog is still out there today. In the freezing rain and wind. So I'm writing this hoping I could put a fire under the San Andreas county animal control. This dog has zero shelter and cannot shelter himself because he's tied to a fence in the wide open I am disgusted. DD

Very nice people to interact with when adopting. The process was painful, and through. We adopted…read morean awesome puppy through them. They aided us with extra food and bedding for him. They set him up with neutering through the county vet as well.

We adopted our now 2 year old poodle mix, Jett (previously named Loki) from Pets & Pals in mid…read moreNovember. When we first arrived there, we noticed how peaceful the place was - none of the incessant barking that you encounter at the local shelter. Their grounds were well maintained. We were told the dogs are let out to run in the yard for 3 hours a day. Their website has a bio on each pet so you can read a background info on each one. Obviously when it's an owner surrender they have more information on the pet, less so if the pet was a stray. But even then, they observe them while at the shelter to give you an idea what to expect. Their system makes it easy to adopt. I recommend sending an application in to get approved first. Once you've been approved, just call to make an appointment to see a dog or cat that you would like to meet. They will hold the dog or cat for you until your appointment. This is different from local city shelters where you might see a dog or cat listed online but it might be gone by the time you get there. Their adoption fee ($350) is fair as my dog was already microchipped and his shots were updated, except for rabies. I was a bit surprised that he was released without updating his rabies. All in all, I would recommend PetsNPals to anyone looking to adopt. They definitely care about the pets and try to make their shelter stay as pleasant as possible. Please adopt, don't shop for a pet.

I have been a promotional supporter of Pets & Pals for nearly 10 years and appreciate their efforts…read moreto find homes for every pet they take in. These folks care about the kiddos they have in the program and do everything they can to match them up with new owners and homes! You can check my monthly ads featured in the Manteca Bulletin, log onto their website for all their pets, fill out adoption applications and call them for appointments to meet your favorite pet candidate! It's a great system, and I'm pleased to support their efforts! -Dave Winegarden, Realtor - Grupe Real Estate

Im still waiting to hear from them regarding adopting a Golden but they definitely do their…read morehomework vetting adoptive parents. I totally respect that. My granddog is a 14 + year golden and he is precious. I had a 13 year lab that I loved dearly and am ready for the love of a new dog..

PLEASE READ!! We used to breed Golden Retrievers and had one litter of puppies. This lady came and…read morebought 4 puppies from us, telling us they were for herself and her friends. She purchased them with full AKC registration. After buying them, she turned around and posted them as "rescue puppies" and claimed they came from a puppy mill, which is completely false. We only had one litter and our two adult Golden Retrievers. Our dogs were always well cared for, regularly seen by a vet, and up to date on all vaccinations. She also resold the puppies for much more than what she paid us. We just want people to be aware of this before doing business with her. From our experience, she buys puppies and resells them for profit while misrepresenting where they came from.

I adopted my puppy Zero from them a year ago and I did have some issues with their customer…read moreservice, but after speaking with Kerri for about an hour this morning, she has resolved all of those. If you do have a negative experience, I suggest speaking with Kerri. Even though I came off pretty aggressive with her, she was understanding, allowed me to vent, and then helped me completely rectify the situation. Regardless, they are a no-kill rescue. They love animals. And they paired me up with my best puppy friend.

I give this rescue 1 star. They beg and cry on Facebook because they can't pay their bills. Vet…read morebills and bills to run the facility. They e even made post about dogs being unhealthy because they've stayed at their facility for so long. However, they make so many restrictions for even adopting from them. I tried to adopt from them and even though I had grown up with the same breed of dog in my home I was told I couldn't adopt one of their dogs because I was a teena and not my parent. I wasn't an adult and that the dog required so much knowledge that they claimed I didn't have. But how could that be when I literally explained my knowledge of the breed. I ended up purchasing my baby from a breeder, but it's unfortunate they don't want to encourage rescuing. I understand vetting people to make sure animals go to a good home. But they should be less restrictive when it comes to letting people adopt. If I'm already paying $400+ to adopt I'm not in it to be a harmful owner. People don't have money to waste. perhaps then they would have money to run their facility instead of constantly begging. I even see they have so many requirements to foster. You either need help or don't. They made a post about a dog that was severely overweight because it's locked in a cage for multiple hours a day. How could they even let that happen. Smh. They have xoloitzuintli at their place right now and I bet they have received a lot of interest In him but I bet they wont let him be adopted