If you know me, then I don't have to tell you that I'm an animal welfare activist. I'm your go-to person when you're looking to adopt a pet, need to find a vet or doggie day care, find a stray animal (domestic or wild) and don't know what to do next, need to re-home your pet, or have a question about animal feeding or care. I've lived in RSM for close to 20 years, 15 of which have included animal rescue.

From the time I was a part of the Rancho Santa Margarita Cityhood Committee, everyone knew that if and when we built a local animal shelter, I would be involved. Well, as it turns out, after 10 years as a city, we still don't have our own animal shelter. When RSM incorporated on Jan. 1, 2000, Rancho Santa Margarita became a contract city, which means that we contract with outside entities to provide the majority of our city services. Overall this was a smart fiscal and managerial decision. On the other hand, going this route didn't leave us many viable options for animal care services.

Which leads me to a misconception about Rancho Santa Margarita:  that our animal shelter is the Mission Viejo shelter. Ask anyone who doesn't own an animal, or owns one but hasn't licensed or lost it. I'm willing to bet that they have no idea where our shelter is, or they think we share the Mission Viejo shelter.

I'm sorry to say that is not the case. Time and again I come across otherwise well-informed local residents who don't realize this. The city of Rancho Santa Margarita is one of 18 cities in Orange County that contract with the county for our animal shelter services.

OC Animal Care is at 561 The City Drive South, in Orange, across  from The Block at Orange. That is RSM's local animal shelter.

If your pet is found on the streets of Rancho, be prepared to make the drive north past the treacherous Orange Crush to reclaim Scruffy. That is, unless he is licensed and/or microchipped. Why does that make a difference? Because animal control officers carry laptops and microchip scanners in their trucks so that they can quickly locate owner information and return Scruffy to you if he has been chipped or is wearing a license.

On the other hand, you should know that if licensed and/or microchipped Scruffy wanders over the border into Mission Viejo and is picked up by that city's animal control services, he will 1) be identified as coming from RSM, and 2) be transferred to the Orange facility if not claimed immediately.

Here's one thing to be thankful for: The OC Animal Care website is very thorough and easy to use, and the staff updates it throughout the day, seven days a week. If Scruffy does go missing, you can look for him online at ocpetinfo.com, under the "How Do I?" drop-down menu link "Find a Lost Pet." If you don't see him, you should make the trek up there, just in case.

With so many cities using one shelter, OC Animal Care is usually bursting at the seams with animals. If you're looking to adopt a pet, you'll find a vast array of animals available for adoption under the aptly named "Adopt a Pet" link. Before you go to a pet store for any kind of pet, take a look at this page. You might be surprised at what's available. As of today, if you're interested in a python snake, there's one available. Just yesterday, I received a message about a young female sheep for adoption. Not that you can have a sheep as a pet in Rancho—but you get the point.

In the coming weeks, I plan to provide news, answer questions and, of course, post many adorable animal pictures for you to ooh and ahh over. This will be especially true, of course, if the photo is of your own pet, chosen as our pet of the week. So get those questions and pictures ready, and e-mail me.

P.S. You may wonder why I've chosen the generic name of Scruffy. As it turns out, the name—for me—isn't generic at all, since it's the name of one of my own four-legged friends. Here's his portrait, and now that you've seen him, I'll look forward to seeing photos of your own furry family members.

About this column: Longtime Rancho Santa Margarita resident and animal lover April Josephson answers questions, dispels myths and posts countless cute animal pictures in her weekly column.