Dog caught up in ICE raid where owner was seized is found

Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times on Jul 16, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — Some animal advocates feared that a dog featured in a Times story about the pets of people being deported would be euthanized, after he was taken to an undisclosed L.A. County shelter.

But 3-year-old pit bull Chuco has been located at the county's Baldwin Park animal shelter, preserving the chance that he could still be adopted.

Chuco was with his owner when immigration agents raided a Home Depot in Barstow a little over two weeks ago, animal advocates said. His owner was arrested, but a friend at the scene managed to grab the dog and take him home. Not long after, his landlord seized the pet and took him to a shelter. She didn't take note of the shelter's name, but snapped a photo of the place. Chuco's owner was deported.

Esther Ruurda, who co-founded the SPAY(CE) Project, which provides spay and neuter services — and sought to help Chuco find a home — texted the photo to a shelter volunteer, Rita Earl Blackwell, asking if she could identify the location.

Blackwell investigated with the help of a shelter employee and they found Chuco.

He can be viewed on the county's public database of available animals.

But "it's tough for a pit bull in L.A. in our current shelter crisis," said Blackwell, a veteran volunteer. County shelters are more crowded than she has seen them in 15 years, she said. Advocates point to people having abandoned animals they got during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising cost of veterinary care — including spay and neuter procedures — and now the increased immigration arrests as reasons for the high numbers.

Dogs — large ones in particular — can be hard to find homes for, according to some advocates.

More than twice as many dogs were relinquished by their owners at L.A. County's Palmdale shelter in June than in the same month last year, according to data obtained by The Times. At the county's Downey shelter, the count jumped by nearly 50%.

But Chuco has an engaging back story and Blackwell is hopeful that, even though he is "in a sea of unwanted dogs," that will give him an edge that leads to his adoption.