animal rescuers - resources - support

[violaine]

i thought that i would place this topic under the support heading, as anyone who is involved in animal rescue work, probably could use a little bit of support from tme to time i'm on a committee of the humane society, and work many fields. so, feel free to discuss experiences outside of rescue work.

please write about an animal rescued, how he/she was brought to you attention, finding the rescue group and transporting of rescues, fostering, dealing with inflexible/behind the times animal control shelters, model of excellence shelters, bending ears of commissioners, and/or legislation/law- how a bill becomes a law, share resources, et c.

http://www.ddal.org/legislation/federal/bills/

[Andrew, Jr.]

Belle,

Thank you for this! I am home all day, and I find so many different kinds of animals. I have found bats, birds, dogs, cats, elk, deer, and even a bison that wondered off his owner's property. I work with animal rescue, along with my vet who also works with both animal rescue and ASPCA. She is a Godsend to me, and the animals she has helped.

I only take in strays. I have a dog, Dino Martini. And I have 3 cats, Madison, Gabby, and Sophie. I rock them to sleep every day until their eyes roll to the back of their heads and they start to snore.

I cannot imagine my life without my animals. They are a huge part of who I am as a human being. I feed birds, squirrels and chipmonks. I recently found 2 box turtles this year. I took them into my vet, who is making them well. They had some disease that she is treating with medicine. Once I get them back, I am releasing them back into the woods. The boxwood turtle I found 3 years ago is now huge. His mate had babies in my front yard in my iris's. The eggs were looked like chocolate eggs you get at Easter. I watched them like a hawk, and soon enough, the babies were born. It was wonderful to watch. The one think I do to know that the turtle's are mine is to dab a bit of white out on their shell. Not a lot, but enough to last for a while. And I reapply it when the white out fades.

I can just talk and talk about animals. They are such a joy.

Love,
Andrew

[NotAnAverageGuy]

Good thread topic Violane!!!!

I try to do what I can to get rid of the stigmatism Pit Bulls have against them.

Pitbulls and Parolees on Animal Planet is a rescue I do support.

[Andrew, Jr.]

Dog Fighting is huge in Maryland. They have places all over the state. Personally, I don't care for the bully breeds because I was bitten by a German Shepard when I was a youngster. And I don't agree with dog fighting at all. I think it is just plain wrong.

I really believe when raising any animal it is all about the owner, and how the owner raises the dog. If you put a pitt bull on a tread mill, and then starve the dog, and tangle a kitten in front of him - we all know what is going to happen. It's terrible.

As for Animal Planet, I have problems watching that show. It gives me nightmares.

[Kimbo]

I bet ya aren't surprised that I stop in here...

I'm probably considered a bit crazy by many when it comes to my opinion of animals. I rescue them often..I have 6 cats myself and am constantly trapping something in my neighborhood to get spayed or neutered. I will apologize now for my attitude and impatients with those who turn a blind eye. I just can't.

I've been heavily involved locally and throughout the states in animal rescue. I've taken on local authorities on behalf of the animals, and I was one of the crazy people who did animal rescue in Katrina. I've also worked with Red Cross, FEMA and a few states to help implement animal rescue into their emergency preparedness.

I've a few stories when time allows which is not the case tonight, however I had to drop in and say hi.

[Novelafemme]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

Belle,

Thank you for this! I am home all day, and I find so many different kinds of animals. I have found bats, birds, dogs, cats, elk, deer, and even a bison that wondered off his owner's property. I work with animal rescue, along with my vet who also works with both animal rescue and ASPCA. She is a Godsend to me, and the animals she has helped.

I only take in strays. I have a dog, Dino Martini. And I have 3 cats, Madison, Gabby, and Sophie. I rock them to sleep every day until their eyes roll to the back of their heads and they start to snore.

I cannot imagine my life without my animals. They are a huge part of who I am as a human being. I feed birds, squirrels and chipmonks. I recently found 2 box turtles this year. I took them into my vet, who is making them well. They had some disease that she is treating with medicine. Once I get them back, I am releasing them back into the woods. The boxwood turtle I found 3 years ago is now huge. His mate had babies in my front yard in my iris's. The eggs were looked like chocolate eggs you get at Easter. I watched them like a hawk, and soon enough, the babies were born. It was wonderful to watch. The one think I do to know that the turtle's are mine is to dab a bit of white out on their shell. Not a lot, but enough to last for a while. And I reapply it when the white out fades.

I can just talk and talk about animals. They are such a joy.

Love,
Andrew

{{{{Andrew}}}} I just love your post and can relate to so much of it!

As a child ~ animals were my sanctuary. I found safety and refuge in caring for them and in the peace they offered amongst the craziness of my life.

As an adult I have had to work diligently to not bring home every stray I come across. Living in a border town means that I see A LOT of homeless animals and it tears me up to not be able to help them as freely as I would like. But...I do what I can by volunteering at our local animal care centers and by offering my home as a foster site when I can.

There are animals that I have had in my home that, due to experience, I would not have back...but for the most part I can weigh the benefits against the draw backs and find that the unconditional love and laughter these animals have brought into my life have, by far, been well worth the time, money and energy spent.

[Andrew, Jr.]

Animals are just fur gifts from God. I know that I would be so lost and alone without them in my life. When I was very young, I would come home with everything imaginable.

I would win animals from the State Fair, like Igawana's. I even lost one in my mother's house. To this very day, it was never found. I have no idea of where that baby went. It was a big guy too.

Then there are the hundreds of goldfish that I would fill up my blowup pool with water for them. For some reason I felt the need to rescue the animals from the fair.

Animals validate my life. People just shoot me down. Animals just want me to love them. It is love at it's best.

[violaine]

oh crumb! i typed about a page, and now it's gone. had to take some calls and walked away from the post. i'm going to start over, in a document file, save it, and return with one of my most recent Dobie Rescues. i will describe the entire process start-to-finsih.

great to see you all. thank you for sharing your expressions of love toward animal-friends.

[violaine]

i shall use a green heading for safe; yellow for content warning; and red for may find very disturbing.

Daz’s Story.

A woman on my committee posted a brief to our FB page about a dog called "DAZ" at our local animal control shelter: A stunning dobie in need of a home. Our shelter is high kill- meaning, the animals are there for only three days. Animal Control falls under a Municipality:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipality

Sometimes, animal control, rescue groups, and the humane society come from different places with regard to best serving the public/animals. This is a very important distinction to make because Animal Control where I live [and I am quoting!] exists to “keep roaming and biting dogs off the streets” and are not “required to keep the animals longer than a three day period”.

So, we placed a three-day hold on Daz, as that was longest hold animal control permitted us. The Process began! I telephoned dobie rescue groups in my state, wrote to them, as well as dobie rescue groups in neighbouring states. I sent out lots of emails to all of my contacts and included the FB page. The woman and friend- on my committee was totally devastated by what she saw going on inside of the shelter. In fact, she did telephone a county commissioner later that afternoon because: The council generally functions as a parliamentary or congressional style legislative body, proposing bills, holding votes, and passing laws to help govern the city.

Daz was soaking wet when he was brought out to meet my friend during their meet and greet at the animal control shelter. My friend was barely able to pet him, and spend time with him, as the staff were standing over and rushing the visit. She needed to take a photo of him, and send to dobie rescue to verify he was a dobie. While Daz was outside of his run, it would have made sense to clean the enclosure, but that was not the case. after he was placed back inside the spraying of water and chemicals began! I have several letters from people who have written letters/emails to the humane society about witnessing this very same thing - out in the open at our local ACS.

We had to place a second hold on Daz, and my friend claimed to be very ill, so it was approved by ACS. Dobie rescue were an awesome bunch, and trying hard to find a foster for Daz. Time often gets down to the wire with animal rescue work, so I acquiesced to the universe, and then several local people came forward to offer temporary fostering for Daz. Thank goodness! Everyone plays a vital role in a well-coordinated rescue effort, and the feeling of comradery is unbelievable. Plus, there was an awareness of the culture of the ACS we were dealing with, and dobie rescue was not amused about the shelter’s inflexibility. A letter was composed to the county commissioners from dobie rescue, and the woman on my committee telephoned and spoke with a commissioner also.

I was thrilled to death when we go the go ahead from dobie rescue to get Daz out of the shelter! He had been in there without sunshine or any outside fresh air- for six days! Dobie rescue had faxed over their vet info, as Daz needed to be neutered. I paid for him to be adopted out- 10$ adoption fee, and 14.95$, which should have been waived [most shelters work with rescue groups, realising the animal will be S/N, chipped, et c. and are about the animal not the $]. It’s not even like 10$ + 14.95$ is a lot of money, right? Daz was already chipped anyway. We took him outside and he nearly pulled me onto the ground! He is a large dog, and was running for freedom! We took him to several parks to let him explore and exercise. I did a mini-eval of his temperament considering the situations- he was an OS [owner surrender], had been locked up and sprayed with water/chems for nearly a week. Daz loved children and other dogs. After about a half an hour, he finally “looked” at me. Then he kissed us. I wanted to live with him, and offer a forever home to Daz, but I couldn’t.

On the road, Daz jumped into my lap three times! Finally, with his butt in the back seat, and his shoulders and head leaning against me, he fell asleep- and snored! We were in close-close contact with the woman and founder of dobie rescue from start to fiish. She actually heard him snoring on our drive to meet the foster. Daz jumped right into the car when he met the foster, and would be with him for a little over a week before getting neutered. His temperament was checked out during this time. Dobie rescue founder told me the day we took him out that she had a forever home lined up for Daz- if all was fine with his disposition.

All of us we pleased to hear about Daz going to his home and even laughed about him jumping the fence to meet his next door neighbour new dog-friend! [we knew that he was a fence jumper- and this info must be communicated to the rescue group. Whatever the ACS will share information-wise, is crucial info to pass along to any rescue group].

The next time I write, I’ll share steps being taken with the ACS- how to come up with a goal/plan to try and bring ACS up to date, researching ACS S.O.P.'s [our local ACS does not have a SOP!], and aiming for an environment healthier/happier for all of the shelter animals, working with county commissioners, director of animal control/chief animal control officers, rescue groups, when to involve HSUS, and even the media.

[Andrew, Jr.]

I would love to have the money to buy land to have a non-kill shelter for animals. *Deep sigh. Now that would be such a blessing for both animals and me. I hate to see or hear about any animal abused, tortured, or starved. If animals could only talk.

Belle, I loved your story. Thank you.

[NotAnAverageGuy]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

I would love to have the money to buy land to have a non-kill shelter for animals. *Deep sigh. Now that would be such a blessing for both animals and me. I hate to see or hear about any animal abused, tortured, or starved. If animals could only talk.

Belle, I loved your story. Thank you.

Andrew by law even no kill shelters do have to put down some of their animals, I came upon this once when I did volunteer work for Probation... the owner had to take in 3 dogs to be put down, these dogs were adoptable but I never got a straight answer as to why she had them put down.


Here for the shelters, it is a 3 day stay as well for certain breeds, if a rescue or someone doesn't adopt them, which is very sad.

[WolfyOne]

Very nice thread topic.

Those here that know R and I, know what we've gone through this year. It prompted us to move to another town just so we could protect the stray cats we were feeding on our porch. We have way more cats than we ever expected to have, 17 to be exact. All of them are or have been strays at one time in their lives. We started out doing catch, fix and release them back outside when they were healed. We've taken them to the vet when sick, put flea medicine on the indoor and outdoor ones. Have had a bb removed from the nose of one. Anyhow, we gathered up all the outside cats that we could because an old neighbor killed one of them with an air compressor nail gun. We managed to put 4 on a farm. The vet kept 3 for her place. A friend took 2 and a lady in a neighboring town took 2. That still leaves us with 17, in which 3 belong to a roomie of ours. It's been a struggle with 17, but we manage. It's hard finding homes for those that can be adopted out because we don't trust others around here to take care of them. We've put a lot of money out of our own pockets to fix so many cats and hopefully will find a few good people for some of them. Some of them have been attacked by our old neighbors Great Danes and are spooked easily by dogs now. Some are semi feral and trust few. 3 are 7 months old and were born outside, so we trapped them and took them directly to the vet. I do it again in a heart beat if it meant saving a life from a cruel person. I think spaying and neutering is very important, but most country folks don't. We helped clean up the over population of cats in a town that needed it desparately.

I think that's about it. Perhaps not in any kind of order, but ya'll get what I'm saying.

[NotAnAverageGuy]

I have often thought about doing a sugar glider rescue, but I have spoken to 2 rescue organizations and found out what it will take to have one and it kinda made me sad that I can't do it but donating to their cause to help them is what I have upheld myself to do.

One small donation helped at least 4 gliders in their sanctuary to get medical care, that made my day.

[Andrew, Jr.]

NotAnAverageGuy,

I had no idea about putting the animals down. No what-so-ever. To me, animals have a place in nature. The same as we do.

Now, I do believe that when, say geese for example, get too overpopulated, they need to be hunted. I have no problem with that because for the most part the geese are food. And in alot of food banks, deer-geese-ducks, are given to the homeless and those who are on a limited budget. Here in Maryland if a car hits a deer, and it is called in, the folks go and cut the deer up to feed those who are hungry.

WolfyOne,

I agree with your post about spaying and neutering. Yes, this is a good thread.

Namaste,
Andrew

[NotAnAverageGuy]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

NotAnAverageGuy,

I had no idea about putting the animals down. No what-so-ever. To me, animals have a place in nature. The same as we do.

Now, I do believe that when, say geese for example, get too overpopulated, they need to be hunted. I have no problem with that because for the most part the geese are food. And in alot of food banks, deer-geese-ducks, are given to the homeless and those who are on a limited budget. Here in Maryland if a car hits a deer, and it is called in, the folks go and cut the deer up to feed those who are hungry.

WolfyOne,

I agree with your post about spaying and neutering. Yes, this is a good thread.

Namaste,
Andrew

Oh yes Andrew its unfortunate but they do and I didn't like it but even with spaying and neutering, people can't take care of their animals so it goes to a rescue and I am not sure why they put them down there at all.

[Pennysparkles]

Originally Posted by Andrew, Jr.

I would love to have the money to buy land to have a non-kill shelter for animals. *Deep sigh. Now that would be such a blessing for both animals and me. I hate to see or hear about any animal abused, tortured, or starved. If animals could only talk.

.

Mr too Andrew, me too. My dogs are both rescues and even after 4 years my beautiful little terrier cross still reacts as if I am going to beat her when I go to put her lead on, it breaks my heart.

I so wish they could talk so I could understand better what they are telling me. But I give them all the love and light I can every day and thank spirit for bringing them to me.

Namaste

[NotAnAverageGuy]

There is a sugar glider rescue in Irving, Tx that does ALOT of rescuing, Angie(the head rescuer) barely even has time to update the website she has.

I am posting a link for anyone who wants to know more about them and the lengths she has gone to take care of her rescues and there are some stories about some of the sanctuary gliders she has and why they are there. Warning: some stories are heartbreaking and will anger the best of us.

www.hopeforgliders.org/

[Andrew, Jr.]

Are gliders a part of the farret family?

I can't look or watch at animal abuse stories, even on Animal Planet. I have horrible nightmares about it later on. I am just wayyyy too sensitive.

[Inuus]

Sugar gliders are not in the same family as ferrets.
Sugar Gliders are marsupials native to Australia Tazmania New Guinea area
Ferrets are in the weasal family same as wolverines minks fishers martens polecats stoats etc

[NotAnAverageGuy]

Thats correct not a member of the ferret family, gliders are way cuter and less stinkier anyways