Dr. Angie Krause (00:00)
Welcome back to Tails of Truth where we tell the truth about veterinary medicine. I'm Dr. Angie and this is my co-host and veterinary nurse extraordinaire Jojo. And today we are talking about the ICE raids and how it relates to all the animals that are being left behind.

JoJo (00:20)
This one's getting... It's not political, it's human.

Dr. Angie Krause (00:23)
Yeah, this is, this is not political. And when we started this podcast, one thing we wanted to do was tell the truth. And if this type of truth telling loses us some followers or gets us into hot water, we're ready to step in.

JoJo (00:39)
We've decided the risk is worth it because it is too hard and irresponsible, in our opinion, to not name what's happening in our country. And we were like, where's the line in terms of how to filter? We always tell you this is *Unscripted* And so we decided we're not sure where that line is.

Dr. Angie Krause (00:51)
Yes.

Unscripted.

there is a line and I guess what I want to say is if I can't convince you to care about the people that are being kidnapped off the streets, I want you to at least care about their pets. Like where can I find your compassion and your empathy? So maybe it's here.

JoJo (01:21)
Yeah, because if you're listening, you obviously love animals. So we have that in common. There's the there's the commonality.

Dr. Angie Krause (01:25)
Yes.

Yes.

It's February of 2026 and ICE is currently conducting, what do call the operations raids? What do we call them? ⁓ In multiple cities. Yes. In multiple cities across the United States. And what happens is all these people are being detained. And while that has a huge effect on communities.

JoJo (01:39)
inhumane actions.

Dr. Angie Krause (01:57)
And we are not downplaying that. We also want to shed light on the effect it has on the pets in those communities as well. And JoJo, you were telling me that veterinary visits in those communities are down by how much?

JoJo (02:13)
Well, it's just missed visits. So people on the schedule who are no shows are up 20 to 30 percent, which makes sense. Right. If you are at risk and at risk could be because of your skin color, the language you speak, the area of town you live in. I mean, who knows at this point? Yeah, you're probably just going to skip that appointment. Everything feels risky.

Dr. Angie Krause (02:34)
Yeah.

Yeah. So your pet might not feel good and they might have symptoms, but you feel like, you know what? I can't risk getting detained by ICE today. So I'm not gonna, I'm not going to bring my pet in or I'm not going to take my dog for a walk.

JoJo (02:50)
Yeah, that's happening because people have been detained while walking their dog. And yeah, deep breath for that. You have to do a simple task of walking your dog. A woman recently was picked up because she was speaking Spanish on the phone while walking her dog. And what's happening is that what we see how people are being treated.

So now if we go one step down for animals, those animals are not being nobody's calling somebody to come get the animal. So some of the animals are just loose. Some are being tied to to poles or whatever is in the area. But that animal no longer has its person. And that person no longer has this animal. And so that's just one aspect.

Dr. Angie Krause (03:21)
Right.

JoJo (03:36)
of it. So dogs are not being walked. People are not showing up to their vet. Of course, we there is a story out of Minnesota that's just heartbreaking. I'm sure there's a lot of stories, but a dog lived in a vehicle for 30 days after his person was detained. Like no government agency called and said, Hey, there's a dog in the vehicle a month.

Dr. Angie Krause (03:57)
Wow.

JoJo (03:57)
There was, guess they they're trying to figure out how this dog did that in the cold. There were a ton of blankets in the car, so it probably just kept itself warm. And then they found a bunch of like food wrappers. So it's just been. Eating. I don't know, and I just think about the person on the other side of that. If if I knew that my animal wasn't being cared for, it might be just slowly dying in my car. I can't even say that without like tearing up.

Dr. Angie Krause (04:04)
Wow.

what's in the car.

or in your house?

Yeah.

JoJo (04:23)
Yeah, or in your house. And so this is happening. We can't pretend it's not happening. Shelters are completely overwhelmed. So in places like Florida and Minnesota. And I don't know where else because I don't know how much information we're really getting.

Dr. Angie Krause (04:38)
because

Right. Do you think that ⁓ people are relinquishing their pets as a result of these raids just in case they get detained? Yeah.

JoJo (04:52)
I do. don't know that that's fact,

but I know that there's another story. I mean, just there's a beautiful story of, you know, there are certain neighborhoods that are being targeted. And so when a group of people were detained, a group was detained, I just realized I had a grammatical term. A group was detained. ⁓ There were 10 dogs rescued by another undocumented

Dr. Angie Krause (05:12)
Mm-hmm.

JoJo (05:19)
person who saw that all of his neighbors got picked up. And so he went from house to house to house and gathered their animals and those go to a shelter. And so one, that's amazing that he took that risk for another being. And I think this is where I come from it. We're all beings. We have four legs, two legs, like we all are deserving of empathy, compassion, respect, care, food, shelter.

Water, the basics. A walk.

Dr. Angie Krause (05:46)
Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

JoJo (05:51)
And so I guess what I heard you open with is if we can't touch on the humanity of it or maybe you're a human who's like, I don't know how to help. I don't even know where to begin because I know I feel paralyzed that way ⁓ at times. And you want to start with the animals that need support that I think that's a really compassionate place to start. And so shelters need money.

Dr. Angie Krause (06:03)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

JoJo (06:16)
Shelters need fosters. Your neighbors need to be known.

Dr. Angie Krause (06:20)
Yes.

JoJo (06:21)
Go take a dog for a walk for a neighbor that can't. Go take a dog to the vet that a neighbor can't. Just show up, be in community. That's what I think the answer is. Yeah, be a community member. It's just food, scarcity. If you're worried about being detained or deported, you're probably holding your money a little closer. I would be holding my money a little closer.

Dr. Angie Krause (06:32)
Yeah.

JoJo (06:42)
And so getting access to food. Some places, some food pantries are really low on food and are asking people to deliver food.

Dr. Angie Krause (06:50)
yeah. And they have food pantries for pets too. And so consider donating to those. know here we have Colorado Pet Pantry. Yep.

JoJo (06:53)
huh. I do.

Yeah,

I think there are a lot of touch points in which people can start to serve or to, as I said, be a community member because I think it is really hard for us to grasp if it's not happening. Like if you're not seeing it with your own eyes in your community, it's really hard to understand that that is happening.

Dr. Angie Krause (07:22)
Absolutely. Yeah, it's like you see it on the news and like when you see this, you're just kind of seeing whatever footage someone's grabbed with their cell phone, but like you're not understanding the people that person is leaving behind the animals, the house, you know, people are just going about their daily lives and then they just don't come home or maybe they're showing up to their immigration hearing and then they...

They expect that, you know, they're just going to do their hearing. They're going to do the formalities and get through everything. And they just don't, they just don't come home. And the effects of that are very widespread. And when you're hearing this information, it's just easy to forget about all those effects. The ripple effect of that.

JoJo (08:10)
And I know there are organizations, because I've been kind of doing my research of where can I be of support? Like I want to do more. And so there are organizations that allow you to foster just while somebody's in their process.

So they don't lose their dog because shelters have a certain amount of days before they release them for adoption. And so, yeah, it's something ridiculous. I think some of them are expanding the amount of time that they have. But also what I've been reading, so I'm like, OK, what do you do if you are a person who's worried about being detained? And this is kind of universal for just crisis management in general, is you can have something in your window that says,

Dr. Angie Krause (08:26)
⁓ okay, that's cool.

Yes.

It's like three days, yeah.

JoJo (08:54)
that you have an animal or an extra like a contact person on their collar. So if you have a person who's willing to take your animal and I know I'm just saying dogs like think of dogs as the ones that are loose and out in the world, but there are definitely cats. Yeah, so put an extra name on their collar. So when they're found, they have a support person to pick them up, let somebody know that you're at risk to check on your pets.

Dr. Angie Krause (09:09)
Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

JoJo (09:20)
Yeah.

Dr. Angie Krause (09:21)
Yeah. And know your neighbor. ⁓ In this neighborhood, we were affected by a wildfire. And now as a result in the whole city, everyone has a plan. And so, like you said, this is a different kind of an emergency and it's not a natural disaster, but having that plan with your neighbor, which is probably a really scary thing to do right now. If you're undocumented, could be perceived as undocumented or anywhere adjacent to that.

to reach out to a neighbor. And this is the design of the system, right? And so even, if you can be the person, like if you're feeling safe in your presentation right now, if you could be the person to reach out to people that don't feel as safe. And, you know, it's kind of amazing how many people are not feeling safe, whether that's like, I have a really good friend who is married with two children.

And her husband is here on a green card. And so they can't ever leave. can't, you know, like, and so he would be presenting like American. He doesn't really have much of an accent. so you would think someone like that wouldn't be in danger, but I think, I think it's all fair game, especially now that we're starting to talk about deporting American citizens.

JoJo (10:40)
Yeah. Well, OK, I wasn't going to talk about this, now I am going to because let's just keep un veiling. So let's do it. I have two children of color. I have that are adopted and they are carrying their papers, you guys. So let's just be real. And one of them has had friends picked up from ICE in other areas of our town. So I while I.

Dr. Angie Krause (10:42)
I'm

do it.

JoJo (11:06)
present as a safe skin tone, I live with people who are not safe. And so for me, this is very, very real. For them, it's very real. They're scared. They're thinking about time a day, where they're at, who they're with, what papers they have. It's real for them. Which makes it real for me.

which also, I also believe what I'm seeing, you know, in other places. I know that some people do not, but it's, it feels so irresponsible just to be quiet and to not be doing something. So I guess my plea is if you're not doing something, find the something. And if the something is, I donated a bag of dog food, that makes me really happy.

Dr. Angie Krause (11:47)
Yes. I guess what I would like to say to just close it, close it out. If we can't convince you to care about the people that are being taken from their homes, from their dog walks, from wherever they are, can we convince you to care about their pets?

JoJo (12:03)
That's a perfect ending.

Dr. Angie Krause (12:05)
Yes, and we would love to hear from you. We would love to hear your thoughts, your experiences. Let's be in community, leave a comment wherever you're hearing this, whether it's on social or YouTube or any of the podcasting channels. We'd love to hear from you and we'll see you next time.

JoJo (12:25)
Take care of yourself. Bye.

Dr. Angie Krause (12:27)
Okay, bye.