Who do you call when u come across a stray? We all know her for her obsession of concerts, baseball, soccer, and her love for rescuing animals in need: Aubree Jaye Pelon.

Pelon has been volunteering since she was nine years old, and has kept at it for about nine years. She first started working in Washington in 2010, at an animal rescue called Ginger’s pet rescue. Pelon still keeps in touch with that rescue to this day. 

One day Pelon was playing competitive soccer, which she plays year round, making her life a little more hectic. After a soccer game, Pelon had to pick up guinea pig food at Pet Smart and ended up leaving with Zippy, a two-year-old Chihuahua for her to foster. Her mom thought it would be a great idea to be involved with a special cause, and to spread the word about adopting from rescues since they learned their lesson about buying from a breeder.

Looking into Pelon’s past, she has always loved animals, the first pet she ever had was a yellow lab named Duke. Duke is still alive today and makes a huge impact in her life.

“We originally bought duke from a breeder which is something I regret even though I love him. After we bought Duke, he blew out his ACL’s, which is what drove me to foster because he couldn’t exercise much. Fostering other animals is what encouraged him to exercise,” Pelon said. Duke was one of the many pets she had already owned, but was the first one to be considered hers.

Since she began working, she has been involved with three different rescues, and is currently working at a location in Modesto called, Pupz n’ Palz. She has been working there for six years and enjoys every second of it.

Pelon is mainly involved with Pupz n Palz, however often works with other rescues, such as Cali Fid, a reptile and small critter rescue in Modesto.

“I enjoy how all of our other fosters are super supportive, and we are like a giant family,” Pelon says. You can find her on most Saturdays working at Petco in Modesto from 12:00-3:00 cleaning cages, and adopting out animals.

To add on to all the volunteer work that she does, Pelon also fosters animals almost 24/7.

“Fostering has impacted my life drastically, it is really important because it socializes the foster animals which therefore allows the animals to be adoptable,”  she says. Pelon fosters rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, and kittens, and occasionally dogs. She almost always has animals to foster and adopts out litters of kittens monthly.

Pelon enjoys doing her rescue and wouldn’t do anything else in replace of it. She feels as though it has changed her at a young age to appreciate animals no matter their condition or past.

Pelon explained that her favorite part about fostering and rescuing is, “I feel like some animals are judged based on their scars and pasts, and fostering has allowed me to adopt out animals that could be considered damaged and it is my favorite part to see those animals nobody thought could be adopted, go out to a loving home. It is the best feeling and I wouldn’t change that for anything,”