After only one season on Hulu’s romantic comedy Strictly Sexual: The Series, viewers have already fallen in love with 29-year-old Kristen Renton’s almost angelic character “Summer.”

Renton’s role as “Ima” on FX channel’s Tuesday night crime/drama Sons of Anarchy has made many love to hate the hard-nosed vixen. And her character as spoiled rich kid “Morgan Hollingsworth” on NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives may have stirred up envy in some.

With so many personalities played by this blonde bombshell lies one of her most important roles. This role yet not glamorous, but highly rewarding is humanitarian. Behind the many faces of those glistening eyes and sunny smile is a heart of 14-karat gold.

For as long as she can remember, this Denver, Colo.-born, Florida-raised beauty has spent much of her time saving the lives of animals in need. Not only does she work at two southern California animal shelters, but this angel of mercy personally fosters puppies.

When she is not prepping for her newest acting endeavor, Kristen divides her time between philanthropic efforts and raising her Boxer/ Bull Mastiff mix Roxy and pure-bred Boxer Cooper, which she shares with an ex-boyfriend.

UnleashMagazine.com: I’ve familiar with joint custody with children. But how does that work with pets?

Kristen Renton: Cooper lives with my ex but whenever I want to see him, I can go over and see him and take him to the park or anything like that.

Hopefully, your custody decision didn’t involve lawyers and courts.

No, they’re not like children. It’s not like that.

So, are your dogs rescues?

Yes, they’re both rescues from Boxer Rescue Los Angeles. I work there and (at) another rescue called Tazzy Animal Rescue Fund out of Burbank. I would never purchase an animal, only rescue.

Adopt, not shop, huh? We need to have a lot more people promoting that. We need to get a lot of these animals out of the shelters and into good homes.

Exactly! We do a lot of rescues with the death row dogs that we pull right before they’re put down.

What else do you do for the rescues?

Because I’m in the public eye, I do a lot of fundraising whether through Twitter, Facebook. We throw different fundraisers throughout the year…I foster. I pick up dogs at shelters. I go to the kennels when I can and clean and feed dogs, give them baths. I do a little bit of everything.

You really get down and dirty with the dogs.

Absolutely! I shovel poo with everybody else. [Laughs]

How long have you been doing rescue work?

I’ve been doing rescue work my whole life. Even when I was living back in Florida, I would always donate to the ASPCA or Humane Society or Wildlife Fund. There’s not an animal that I wouldn’t want to save.

You foster animals as well. How long have you been doing that?

I have been fostering on and off since 2005, I believe. Last year, I started raising puppies because their mother had been killed. Their mother had passed away and the puppies were abandoned because the breeder didn’t want to deal with it. One of the ladies from my rescue went and grabbed them and I ended up raising them since they were five days old.

What sparked your passion for volunteer work?

Seeing the love that comes from these animals is completely unconditional. They could give a shit who you are, what background you come from, what religion you are. They don’t care. They just give you love. To get that kind of love is such a rewarding experience. And to actually see them find a home is such a beautiful thing, to see the way the lives of this family is enriched and vice versa. There’s nothing more beautiful than that.

They have such a blind way of viewing the world.

Yes! Exactly! And I think that human beings should take some notes from these animals because we judge people too quickly. We judge people too much and we base love on things that we shouldn’t base love on.