April 30, 2017

Dear Animal Lovers, Advocates, Rescuers & Activists:

Stella's got extra special thanks and love to send out today, to her dear friends Thunder, Rain & Storm Cockwell, Clovy Pellman, Lexis Brouillard, Chewie Dwyer and all of Auntie Robin's horses!  We are extremely grateful to everyone for the financial aid, and also for the emotional support, and the exchange of ideas/sharing of experience. This is becoming QUITE the education! 

...Stell's pretty darned frustrated not being able to exercise normally... but I do think she's enjoying the extra TLC. This week she was just DYING to get away with horsing around...but I know this girl like a book... It's quite the job to get her to come down/calm down when she gets squirreley... When she's in good spirits, she's known to "fly through the air sideways" grrrrrrr, grrrrrrr, shakes her head, and "dares me" with her eyes... She's so funny! I spent most of the week re-directing her behaviours...and preventing the sideways fly-by...thanks gods for SQUEAKS! 

I was gardening last week for hours each day. One day, she literally threw her Kong at my head! Dear dog... keep you all posted! 


BREAKING NEWS

First baby Bison born in Banff in 140 years. Regrettably, for all Parks' Canada's "progressive" talk, they can't seem to find something better to name the little one other than "calf 1" and Cow (mom) 10. Honestly. And don't even identify his/her sex. Sheesh. 2017. Might as well be 1940... 

Have you seen this beautiful stop-motion footage of snow leopards in China? Please share. The world needs to know just how sentient all creatures are...

Villagers in India knitting XXX-tra large pyjamas for rescued Elephants to help them brave a stretch of really cold weather (thanks Antonia Zerbisias for posting!):

Los Angeles bans the use of wild animals for entertainment! Civic action!
(Ed note: get thee to your town's municipal offices, folks! We can't keep waiting for federal action, we must work from the municipal level "up" and keep stacking our successes...) 

More good news: Mexico bans dogfighting! 

BEST PRACTICES & EMAIL SIGNATURES

Look at this beautiful, intelligent, sentient soul. Download his/her picture to your desktop (I dare ya!) and use it as inspiration to walk further and further away from animal products. 



ANIMALS & RESCUERS IN NEED

Rescuer in serious need! ...Some of you may know me from my work with Project Maddie. Others may know me as a Co-admin of the C4P Facebook page. After starting a new job in March, I was thrown a serious curve ball by my new employer, and now I am urgently in need of assistance to cover rent for May 1. If I have to leave my apartment I have places I can go, but none that will allow me to bring my pets. As a very private person, it's extremely difficult to ask for help but Mitch helped me realize my pride won't do me one bit of good if I end up losing my home and my furbabies are scattered to new homes because that is the one thing I could not recover from. Most of my pets are rescues and would be nothing short of traumatized to find themselves separated from me, from one another, and I from them. If you can find it within you to help me I promise to pay that kindness forward. (Ed note:  Kim and I have known each other and worked together, for a long time -- she did amazing work with the Project Maddie Pet Foodbank, and also, she has co-admined the C4P Facebook Page for years, truly providing me with a lot of technical support, as well as content curation. She has handled many sensitive issues across this network over the time I've known her -- not to mention has worked hands-on with so many rescues! Anyone able to help, would be awesome...also, please note, Kim has serious subject-matter-expertise in insurance... if you want to review your insurance bundles, please take advantage of her knowledge and expertise...) 

"All hands on deck!" says our fearless leader. We have 18 dogs and 19 cats currently awaiting transport to safety. The time to join us is now! This sweet poodle made it to our friends at SPIN rescue in Ontario, last week. Help us make more happy endings like this by joining our caravans from Québec to Ontario and the Maritimes. We do it about one hour-long leg at a time. [email protected]


Help needed for Stray Cat:  The cat is 1-2 year old male not neutered but I would pay to have him neutered. He is FIV and FLV positive. He is shy with strangers and will run away but once he gets to know you he will roll over for a belly rub. He likes to be brushed and loves his treats. He may have once belonged to people renting down the street but they moved away last year. He has been in some fights but I have never seen him start a fight but I have seen other cats run after him to fight. I have seen him cross the street to avoid other cats. Now that he is used to my dog he doesn't seem to be frightened of her. I live in Cambridge but will transport the cat if a place is found. Contact Lorna at: [email protected]


INFO


Secondary Stress Traumatic Disorder SSTD and compassion fatigue
-- animal rescuers are particularly vulnerable. Practicing self-care, taking breaks, saying NO every now and again, sharing with colleagues in rescue, are all good coping mechanisms (thanks Lawrence Pinsky for posting): 
COMMUNITY EVENTS

Am hosting a  garage sale to fundraise for C4P Animal Rescue on June 4th. We are  accepting donations of gently-used everything! If you're spring cleaning mode, please, keep C4P in mind. All you have to do is call and let me know when you're in area, we can make arrangements to get your stuff. Can also do pick ups in GTA area. Seriously would LOVE to meet more people from our network ... please don't be shy ...Anyone able to  donate lamps, furniture, rugs, baskets, bric a brac, appliances, picture frames, linens, oh, and of course, pet items!...  in good working order/condition  (no kids' stuff pls - unless it's antique/curio) , would be truly helpful. Call: 905.726.2011 / 63 Victoria Street, Aurora, ON L4G 1R3 (Yonge/Wellington). 



C4P Network continues to amaze me, week over week. The amount of sharing, knowledge exchange, support, collegiality, goodwill...just astounding. Thanks everyone, for helping Stella and I keep the faith.

For all the precious animals, m.