Babies in need

      We've posted about this before, but now's your chance to get involved with the Los Angeles Animal Service's Baby Bottle Foster Program.

A volunteer training session is being held at 4 p.m. this Thursday, May 8, and again at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10, at the Harbor Animal Shelter, 735 Battery St., San Pedro.

Miki Shaler, who helps administer the citywide program, says there are "hundreds" of under-age kittens and puppies in need of volunteer foster families who are willing to bottle feed them until they are ready to be adopted.

It's a great activity for families, she said.

"It teaches compassion so it's great for families. When (the animals) come back to the shelter, they get a special designation that they were a fostered kitten so they're more sociable and will have an easier time adapting. They've been raised from hand so they're much more friendly."

Foster families also can adopt their kittens.

The bottle feeding is a commitment -- "It's not unlike having babies in your house," Miki said, with feedings every couple of hours. "It's work, but it's rewarding."

Interested? Contact Aeisha Ridgeway, the Harbor shelter's New Hope Coordinator, at aeisha.ridgeway@lacity.org. Or you can call her at 310-548-2632.