The Young and the Restless star J. Eddie Peck, who portrays Cole Howard, recently sat down with Soap Hub and talked about how his passion for helping animals has helped save many furry friends’ lives. Peck is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of animals in need. He works tirelessly to find homes and foster families for the shelter’s most vulnerable residents—those on the urgent list.
It’s In His Roots
If you follow Peck on Instagram, you know that he’s dedicated to helping animals find forever homes. He not only helps his furry friends in the Los Angeles area, but also those in Cool, California, Joplin, Missouri, and Santa Clarita, California. The actor helped facilitate an Amazon wish list for need at the Castaic Animal Shelter following Southern California’s devastating wildfires earlier this year.
MORE: Here’s what you should know about J. Eddie Peck.
“We have an epidemic in this country right now of unhomed animals due to the rise in animal population over the pandemic. When folks were home during the pandemic, many people” decided to bring a pet into their home. “Then the kids go back to school, people go back to work, and not everybody is able to manage that situation…they end up oftentimes either surrendering the dog to a shelter or we had dogs all the time that people just let them go and just hopes somebody else will find them and give them a home.”
“There are approximately 6.5 million dogs and cats currently in just the public shelters,” Peck said. “Out of those, approximately 920K will be euthanized to make room for incoming.”
Unfortunately, many animal shelters around the country are overcrowded. Because of that, some are forced to euthanize animals that they don’t have room to care for. Peck helps foster and place these most at-risk pets in people’s homes. If he’s unable to find a new home, Peck often fosters or adopts them himself.
Peck’s passion in life is helping these animals who cannot help themselves. “What I do here is focus on those at-risk urgent dogs that are oftentimes the ones that are hard to place.”
Not all at-risk animals can be placed in the area, and Peck helps raise funds to place them in other locations. “Some dogs are transported when there’s an adopter that’s out of the area or out of state. Oftentimes [we raise] money for their transport or for their training to make them more adoptable, better assessed, that sort of thing,” Peck said.
Additionally, Peck is often able to find funds to help would-be pet adopters out with things like pet food and vet costs so that they can welcome a new animal into their households.
His love for animals began as a child in Missouri. His mother ran an animal rescue, and it’s been part of his life ever since. Peck wouldn’t tell us how many pets he has, but he’s welcomed many dogs, cats, and other animals over the years.
If you’d like to help, here is the Amazon Wish List for the Castaic Animal Shelter. Also, keep an eye on his Instagram page because Peck frequently shares photos and videos of pets that need placement. Soap Hub will also share updates on Peck and the animals he’s trying to help place throughout the year.
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