Asia Bonetto dreams of ending dog euthanasia in the United States.
So she started the Mutternity Project – a maternal dog rescue in Santa Monica – to connect mother dogs and puppies to new foster and adopted homes. Since she launched the organization in June, she has already been able to save nearly 30 dogs from getting euthanized. Bonetto credits growing up with dogs of her own and being raised by a single mother as her inspiration for starting the organization.
“I was raised by a single mom who then passed when I was 21, so I’m very attached to the whole motherhood topic,” she said. “Seeing these dogs that came in from a shelter, trusting you and being so grateful – because you actually can see how grateful they are to you – for protecting not only them, but the babies as well, it’s very, very special. So that’s why I decided to start the Mutternity Project.”
An Italian native, Bonetto moved to Los Angeles when she was 16 years old to study filmmaking at Santa Monica College. She started fostering dogs with the Labelle Foundation, an animal rescue headquartered in the Wilshire Vista neighborhood.
“They were a huge inspiration for what I do. I saw the huge impact they make because they have saved over 5,000 dogs,” Bonetto said. “And I saw the demand on mother dogs because they are always the ones who get euthanized in the shelters, or they get stressed out and their puppies die, or something always happens. It’s just a very bad environment for them.”
Bonetto said she knew she wanted to start her rescue in the Santa Monica area after seeing how the community came together and showed up for each other after the L.A. wildfires in January. She matches interested foster parents with dogs based on their hosting capabilities. Potential dog parents interested in adoption go through a vetting process that includes a home check and a meet-and-greet with the dog before taking them home. Bonetto said she starts every week by analyzing lists of dogs scheduled to be euthanized in shelters across Southern California and sees where she can make the biggest impact. She targets shelters outside of L.A. because they have higher rates of euthanasia, she added.
“We work a lot with the San Bernardino City Animal Shelter. They are very overcrowded. Unfortunately, the whole Riverside County, San Bernardino County, their situations are way worse than here in L.A., so they get a lot of moms and pregnant dogs, and so we work a lot with them,” she said.
Shelters typically make the decision to euthanize dogs when they are overcrowded or when particular puppies are sick or have behavioral problems, Bonetto said. Mother dogs are often overlooked by potential adopters and sometimes thought to be aggressive due to being overprotective of their puppies.
When deciding what dogs to save, Bonetto said she has to make difficult decisions based on her confidence that she can find the dog a permanent home, especially since she does not have space to host more dogs herself. Pitbulls, German Shepherds and some larger breeds in particular are difficult to find a home for, due in part to how much they eat.
“Do I have enough fosters? Am I going to be able to find a foster to take this family in? A lot of it is also, am I going to be able to get this family adopted?” she said. “Financially, it’s a big commitment, and that’s the other challenge because as a rescue, we don’t get money from the government like shelters do, or city shelters get it from the cities. We’re all donation based.”
Bonetto said that each adoption is deeply emotional for her and one in particular stands out – her first one for the Mutternity Project. Bonetto was able to rescue a mother chihuahua mix from the San Bernardino City Shelter who had five puppies. A family from Burbank adopted one of the puppies, whose name is Birdie, and still send Bonetto pictures.
“The first adoption was very emotional for me because I was very stuck in all the operations and a little stressed to be honest – like, why did I do this? Why did I even do it? It’s so hard,” she said. “And then whenever we had the first adoption, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so special.’ Because seeing the family get so excited about bringing a new family member in, I just remember I was so excited.”
Bonetto welcomes more parents to foster or adopt and is having a fundraiser at the Marina Del Rey iHop on Sept. 20 to find new homes for mother dogs and their puppies. In Italy, Bonetto’s home country, it is only legal to euthanize dogs if the animal is severely ill or dangerous. Bonetto’s ultimate dream, she said, is for the same laws to apply in the U.S.
People interested in fostering or adopting dogs or donating to the Mutternity Project can visit mutternityproject.org.
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By SAM MULICK