Accidental Animal Rescue Center Blog

Since 2004 the two artists, Phil Dynan & Anastasia Nelson have been caring for abandoned animals. Since then they have taken in over 400 animals – everything from squirrels to llamas. The two artists did not set out to open a Rescue Center, it happened purely by accident.

The first “official resident” at the Center was a Barbados sheep. She came from a neighbor who didn’t want her. One sheep, what the heck? The two artists took her in. But shortly after her residency began, she gave birth to two beautiful offspring. Animal care, which had been previously confined to the artists’ one dog and two cats, suddenly got a little more interesting.  What do you do with three sheep? They needed food and shelter – immediately. And so, the Accidental Animal Rescue Center began. Luckily, Ana Nelson had started out as a veterinary student at UC Davis. (She later switched to art, but had some animal care training.)

Soon after, as the local economy tanked, animals began to mysteriously “appear” at the artists’ studio. Some were left on the doorstep, some dumped in the pasture behind the rural studio. At first, it was mostly cats and kittens.  But pretty quickly, large animals started turning up as well – goats, sheep, a donkey and a llama were some of the biggest. Eventually even a calf would need help. Dogs and cats would be consistently left for the artists. Sometimes they were left with permission, but most often not.
This blog tells the stories behind some of the animals. Many came, many left, some died, and some were re-homed. Click here to see some of the portraits we've done of the animals.

Anastasia with abandoned kid

(Above) "Joy" was found on the road. She had been hit by a truck and was left for dead. Phil happened to be on his way home and stopped to get the body off the road. But Joy was still alive, although she had an eye hanging out of the socket and appeared lifeless. The owner saw her and did not want her. Phil and Ana took her to a vet immediately and surgery saved her life, but she lost one eye. In the photo below you can see that another rescue, Mimi, has assumed care for the tiny "Joy". Joy is now doing very well and adjusting to her new life with the two artists at the Rescue Center.

This dog (Luna) turned up 25 miles from her home with an ID Tag. We rang the owner and he drove out to get her. He was a very rough type and the dog would not go near him, but ran and hid. The owner was angry and said "You keep it"...and so we did keep little Luna, a delightful, warm and loving dog.

This was "Bella". We witnessed her birth on an abandoned property and when the mother rejected her, we called the local Emergency Response people to help. Bewteen the lot of us we were not able to keep Bella alive. I still remember her birth - SO beautiful and it brings tears to my eyes thinking about holding her as she passed away. We aren't able to save all the animals - some are weak from neglect and starvation when they arrive. It is a hard truth to live with, but necessary to "move on" as tomorrow there will be another animal that will need help. Bella became the subject for a beautiful print published by a card company in Colorado. (Digital art by Myunghey Kim from photo by Phil Dynan)

We are on a large Reservation and on this day a cow had given birth to this calf, but left her a half mile behind, in a ditch. Anastasia carries the calf up the steep hills and Phil was able to walk the calf back to the herd, where one of the cows - probably the mother - accepted the calf. Sometimes you are successful reuniting the animals with their rightful parents or owners.

Misty (the goat) was born in a field and immediately left to die. A neighbor witnessed the event and brought the kid to us - only hours old. We bottle raised her in our house and she was one of the most loved animals we've ever had here - loved by humans and other animals alike.

We received deaf Lizzie from a Cattle Dog rescue group. She was being constantly harassed by the hearing dogs and needed special attention. We learned ASL (Sign Language) to communicate with her and she became a model used in presentations at AKC meetings. She was also my running companion for many years and made the cover of this "My Special Dog" magazine. It is worth noting that the usual custom around here is to destroy dogs born deaf. She was "lucky" in that she was held as evidence in a police investigation of a dog-mill owner and the police turned her over to the Cattle Dog group, who turned her over to us. The dog-mill owner - who had tortured over 200 of these dogs - was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

The orange kitten was named "Mouse" as he bagged a mouse as a kitten! That year we had 84 cats "dropped off" at our Center. We re-homed about 60 of them - one even went by airplane to Florida (3000 miles away). Kittens and cats are the most lilkely animals to be left with us. Right this minute we have 9 new kittens. "Mouse" was adopted by a farmer - no surprise there!

Both Phil and Ana are working artists and are able to look after the animals between painting sessions. Some require a LOT more care than others. This is Anastasia bottle feeding two who had been abandoned by their mother. BTW, Ana was holding the kitten up for the photo...but the proper way to bottle feed is to lay the kitten in a natural, belly-down position -- never, ever on her back. Hold the kitten's head stable with your non-dominant hand.

One of our first "visitors" was Chilindrina. She had a home in this rural area, but was simply turned out and not allowed in the trailer on the property she came from. SO, she moved in with us. The first day we had her, we removed over 100 ticks from her little body. She had pups not longer afterwards. We still have relatives of Chilindrina with us today.

"Fernando" was the largest animal ever abandoned here. He simply appeared one morning on our property - someone had to have brought him from a distance, as we had never seen a llama locally. He made friends with the donkey (Nugoro) - but only as long as they were on opposite sides of the pasture fence. Nugoro would not share his pasture and so we moved Fernando in with a herd of goats. He was the absolute King and the goats loved him and followed him everywhere. He had a very good life!

"Nugoro" is a Miniature Mediterranean Donkey. He serves a very important purpose at the Center - providing a huge "Fire Break" around the 7-acre property. He is also a friend and very affectionate, especially with Anastasia, his favourite person. He "tolerates" Phil, who has to bribe him on occasion! His favourite treat is a banana - usually supplied by various neighbors, who have also become attached to him.

"Bunny" looked like a goat, but was a Barbados Sheep. She came from a neighbor who thought she was a "Messed up goat". She gave birth to two beautiful girls soon after she arrived and was the first "Rescue" animal that we received. She taught us a lot and prepared us for what was to come - more than 400 animals over the next 15 years.

A baby squirrel that someone brought to us. We convinced the person to return it to where it was found and keep an eye on it. We taught her how to feed and care for it. Eventually, the story turned out really well and the squirrel is back in nature where she belongs.

We called her "Chrissy" and she came to us on her own, unlike most animals. She lived down the road with some Cartel members. They had two goats tied to their porch, "Thanksgiving" and "Christmas". The day before Thanksgiving (the Holiday) I heard a rifle shot, looked down the street and saw that a man had shot the goat called "Thanksgiving". The other goat was still tied to the porch, only a few feet away, terrified and tugging at her rope. Nothing we could do. But early the next morning, we heard a racket on our front porch. I opened the door to find "Christmas" banging her head on the screen door. When I opened the door, she charged in and sat down on the living room floor, her rope still around her neck, but torn off about a foot down. She lived out the rest of her life with us. No way I was taking her back to the Cartel people.

This is "Cindy" when she first arrived. The kitten, about 4 weeks old, was thrown over our fence in a remote part of this rural County. She is very healthy now, but frail for life, and lives with us. Phil created this digital art of Cindy, which is a popular note card design - and t-shirt (click here).

I called this dog "Daisey". She was re-homed fairly quickly, but I gave her all my love for those few weeks she with us. Clearly, she reciprocated.

She is a blind raccoon and has lived with us for about two years now (2020). She spends a lot of time in a peach tree or under our front deck at the studio. She gets along fine with the other animals. She eats eggs and cat food that I leave her and I'm sure she finds a few other things - fruit from our trees and worms from the garden.

This is Tuk Tuk. She belongs to a neighbor who is only home about 1 week of the month. Apparently he doesn't leave food for her and she has been eating with us for four years now. She regularly has kittens and sometimes brings them to us. She is feral, but very friendly.

Ben feeding "Goma". This kitten was found in the wheel well of a broken down old vehicle parked in an alley in downtown Red Bluff. It was screaming so loud that several people noticed the noise, told us, and eventually we came and retrieved the distressed kitten. She had to be bottle fed as she was quite young - maybe 3-4 weeks old when found. The name Goma (a city in the DRC) came from watching a TV show while feeding her. In the show, a lost child (in London) was too small to communicate with the Social Worker trying to figure out the child's name. The only word the Social Worker could get out of the child was "Goma" - which turned out to be where the child had come from.

"Frida Kitty Kahalo" is the smallest puppy in the photo of Phil with Chilindrina and the puppies. She was rejected by Chilindrina before she had her eyes open. "Chili" even went so far as to remove her from the litter and leave her under a shed. Phil found her by mistake while looking for a water container on a neighbor's property. We took her to the veterinarian immediately. He said she would probably not live, but after a month in the hospital he called and was so excited that she had recovered, that he came out to meet us in the parking lot. Frida became Phil's closest companion for 15 years, sleeping next to him and going everywhere that Phil went. She was frail all of her life due to a heart condition - probably why Chili had rejected her. The picture above is Ana with Frida the day we had to have her euthanised. Probably one of the most difficult tasks we have ever had. But it is part of the responsibility that we undertake in caring for these animals.

"Kelly" was a registered Australian cattle Dog. We agreed to keep her temporarily when the Cattle Dog Association called us. Shortly after they left her with us we saw that she was still lactating and that she also had underlying physical issues. a vet bill for $800 left her in pretty good shape and we waited, in vain, for the cattle Dog Association to pick her up for adoption. She became an important part of our household and lived out her life with us. This picture shows her with her favourite ball - which she rarely, if ever, left in another room.

"Smokey" and "Trouble" were left with us by people who had to move to another state. It was one of the few times in 20 years that owners left their animals with us reluctantly. But it was necessary. Smokey was quite mischievous while "Trouble" was no trouble at all. They were good companions to Nugoro the donkey.

A neighbor with goats also had an old delivery truck on her property. One of her herd - her favourite - got tangled in metal netting that hung from the back of the truck and was struggling to get free. This goat, "Sin Nombre" attempted to help the other goat and ended up losing one horn as a result of his heroism. The tangled goat expired before getting free and the owner could not bear to keep SinNombre - who she saw as a reminder of the death of her favourite goat. So "Sin Nombre" came to live with us. He was kind and intelligent. We painted this picture of him, which is a popular note card as well.

"Mimi" was kept in a cage made of steel and cement for the first two years of her life, then given away on Craig's List. Mimi's nutritional needs had not been met during the years in captivity and though very young, she needed major dental surgery. Her owner, who had gotten her on Craig's List, could not afford the dental surgery and also knew that Phil had lost his companion, Frida, recently. She lovingly gave Mimi to Phil and Ana. Mimi needed 10 teeth removed the next week. She also has some social issues - PTSD maybe - and took a while to warm-up to the other animals. She spends most of her time with Phil and Ana and sleeps next to their bed. She is much better in social situations now and sometimes greets guests, though not always, preferring her privacy. In an interesting twist, she "adopted" our latest recsue (a Patterdale we call Asmara) and has developed a very affectionate and close relationship with the new dog. As you can see, she appreciates the outdoors and loves to dig, just as Dachshunds were meant to do!

"Asmara" (named after a city in North Africa where Phil once lived) was found abandoned and starved along a rural road. She weighed three pounds when found and appeared to be a puppy because of her size. After four months with us, she is completely healthy. It turns out she was much older than first thought, stunted due to a lack of care and nutrition. She had been beaten and it took months to end her fear of hands and feet. She was "adopted" by Mimi (above) and we think they understand each other because both had been abused. They have bonded and after six months, Asmara has also bonded with Phil. She was much quicker to bond with Ana, so we think perhaps a male figure had abused her. She is a Patterdale (from Northern England) and very high energy...BUT she can also relax and is proving to be a very good companion in the house. She loves to lie on the sofa with Mimi, Phil and Ana and watch TV. Her favourite show is "Inspector Rex", which stars a German Shepard. (If Rex "speaks", Asmara sits up and pays attention.)

"Roxie" was left behind by a couple who ran a scam on the owner of a nearby house. They pretended to "buy" the house, moved in, and then refused to make payments. It took more than a year to legally evict them. They left three cattle dogs, a domestic rabbit, and a goat behind. All of the animals just left tied up behind the house in a forest. When we found Roxie, she had been severely wounded and was malnurished. It took months to rehab her and she became very attached to Phil & Ana during the process. She is still with us and a very good companion, loving and affectionate. We re-homed the other two cattle dogs; the rabbit disappeared, and we still have the goat (Bunny).

"Bunny the Goat". We found her in the forest, tied to a tree on with a rope that was only two feet long. She had been eating bark for weeks and was terribly malnurished. She is a Boer goat and now weighs quite a bit, not at all like when we found her. She lives with us at our house (outside though) and while we have sometimes lost goats to wandering dog packs (Pitts mostly, trained locally for fighting), Bunny has never lost a battle and, if attacked, sends dogs wimpering off the property. This gal knows how to use her horns and hooves!

"Awesome Rawson" saw Ana driving to work one day. He was walking along Rawson Road at the time, a pup on a very rural road in the middle of nowhere. For some reason, he decided Ana was his last hope, and although he had not tried to follow other cars, he decided to follow hers. He ran behind her for more than a mile, until his feet were bleeding. Ana hadn't realised he was behind her the whole time, but when she finally saw him, she stopped and wrapped his feet and brought him home that evening. He lived a long and happy life with us. We have a "ship's ladder" that goes up to our bedroom loft and he learned to climb it using his front legs to pull himself up. Then he would curl up into a tiny ball and sleep in a cat bed, til we got him a bigger bed. (He did have to be carried back down the ladder.) He was a true friend, much loved and appreciated by all the other animals here as well.

"Alberta" (above in person and with Ben from Barcelona as a 20x16 foot mural) is the daughter of Bootsie. This is her story: We've had animals seek us out and arrive on their own four legs, but the weirdest encounter was when I was standing in line at the Post Office. Something was tugging at my pant leg, I looked down and this strange looking creature without fur hugged my leg and would not let go. She hung onto me for dear life - literally, as I would discover. I could not remove her and had to drive home (with clutch and stick shift) with her attached to my leg. It took two of us to detach her. We put her in a quarantine room, where we confirmed it was a cat (at first I thought it was a possum). It turned out she had been tarred and set on fire. It would be a long time til "Bootsie" recovered and was pretty expensive. It never became "apparent" that she was pregnant as well - she just suddenly delivered five beautiful kittens. She was the best mother cat I've ever dealt with - and the same day her kittens were finally weaned, she laid down in the sun on a soft patch of grass and simply passed away. We still have two of her kittens, Alberta and Coatai.

A painting of Alberta done in 2020 that found a good home with Tyyler Burret. It really does capture the essence of this magnificent cat.