Friday, March 12, 2010

A Moment Of Silence



Good evening everyone,

It is with great sadness that I report that the stray cat that my family had adopted was hit and killed by a car today while trying to come home.

She had bolted out the door when company came to visit this morning and we were confident that within a half hour or so she would be back, crying to be let in (this is what she would always do when she wanted in. That or climb the windowscreens.)

Shadowfax was a very pretty little girl with long white hair and piercing eyes.

Our house was built in 1860 along the main street in town which is unfortunately VERY busy. I found her in the middle of the road facing the house and can only assume that she was on her way home to us and never made it. Just 30 more feet and she would be on my lap now.

Please take a moment today to hug your cat, dog, or other furry friends and cherish every single moment that you have with them. You'll never realize how huge a part of your life that they really are until they're gone.

Shadow fax went from being a starving, frozen stray that came to sit in front of my store one night to a spoiled-rotten princess that slept on my couch.  We will always miss her and only hope that wherever she is now, they have an unlimited supply of toys, food and good upholstery for her to lounge on forever.

I leave you with these thoughts:

"Dost thou cherish life?
Then do not squander time
for it is the thing life is made of."

                - Benjamin Franklin

Thank you all!

Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all the people that have helped us so far!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Montana Rancher Starves More Than 200 Goats, Horses

Dogs, and cats, and... goats, oh my!
A Montana rancher in a community where there really are more goats than people is facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly starving 200 of those goats to death.
Neighbors of Dodson-area rancher Jon Carman alerted state livestock officials to the suspected abuse Feb. 4. Investigators went to check it out and reported finding hundreds of dead goats, including babies, piled on top of each other in a barn.
Three others are said to have died with their heads stuck in a fence, with still more found in a trailer.
Dodson allegedly locked the animals in a barn without food or water for more than a month. Phillips County Sheriff Tom Miller says a few goats and two horses on the property survived.
Dodson was arrested, and pleaded not guilty to aggravated animal cruelty. If convicted, he faces up to two years in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Please take action against this and sign our petition to make sure that he receives the maximum sentence.

Puppy Thrown In Dumpster May Have New Home

A case of animal neglect in Davenport. A puppy stuffed in a duffel bag and thrown into a dumpster outside the Freight House in downtown Davenport.

Luckily for her, Freight House maintenance worker Jaret Gelande was heading to the dumpster when he just happened to see a set of big eyes staring back at him. "I bent over to pick up the garbage can and dump it in. Well, I look into the garbage can and I see the little puppy sitting inside the garbage can and I'm like, ‘No, no, no, that can't be.'"






But it was. A black and white puppy, about 3 months old, her head poking out of a duffel bag. Gelande says, "The bag was almost zipped up. I think the dog used its nose to unzip it and get out."

His first thought? "No way. No way would somebody be that stupid to do that to a dog."

Gelande says someone tossed the puppy into the dumpster along a busy road Monday afternoon. He thinks he found her about half an hour later. "It was just sitting in the back of the garbage can - shaking. That to me is just a heartless act by a coward. It shook her up real bad."

With a little coaxing, Gelande was able to calm her down and brought her inside. He looked through her bag for ID, but instead found tennis balls, a leash and some chew toys.

Now she's settling into a routine at the Scott County Humane Society. Executive Director Pam Arndt says no matter how many times an animal is dumped - it's still shocking. "You would think that you would go, ‘Oh great, another one.' But you don't. You just go, ‘What is wrong with people, why do they do this?'"

But there are also people like Jaret Gelande, who's just happy he noticed her, and can't seem to get her off his mind. "I would've really felt bad if something would've happened to something that sweet and that cute. In 5 days, if the dog doesn't have a home, it will, ‘cause I'm taking it home."

The shelter's policy is to hold strays for 6 days. They think this puppy is a Jack Russell / Beagle mix and her initial health tests look good. If Gelande passes a background check and the puppy passes a behavior test, the two could end up together.

Gelande says from now on, they'll be keeping the gates to the dumpster closed and locked.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Shelter Dog Finds New Life, Goes to Chile to Help



LONGMONT, Colorado — Joe is on his first rescue mission.
The yellow Labrador that was on the adoption block at Longmont Humane Society a few years ago is on his way to Chile to help rescue survivors trapped in the rubble after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks devastated parts of central Chile early Saturday, killing more than 700 people.
Joe and his handler, Linda Tacconelli, deployed on their first mission Monday morning.
They are one of six teams — part of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force based in Los Angeles County — heading to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif., to catch a military transport plane to Chile.
“The whole purpose there, of course, is to find and identify and alert rescuers to live humans that have been trapped,” National Disaster Search Dog Foundation canine manager Karen Klingberg said Monday.
“They need to be able to focus their rescue efforts before it becomes a recovery effort.”
When Joe arrived at the Longmont Humane Society in 2007, employees and volunteers quickly discovered his endless energy for playing fetch, LHS training and behavior department coordinator Sarah Clusman said Monday.
But after Joe had been at the shelter for “quite a while” without being adopted, Clusman had another idea: search and rescue.
She worked with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, based in Ojai, Calif., to drill Joe, running him through a series of tests: throwing balls and toys into bushes, throwing them when he wasn’t looking, allowing him to watch the throw then spinning him around and around before releasing him to search.
He found his target every time.
“One time, it was stuck up in a tree; he could see it, but he couldn’t reach it, and he just kept jumping up and down trying to get it,” Clusman said. “He practically climbed the tree.”


Klingberg watched Joe’s tests on YouTube and liked what she saw. She flew to Denver in late December 2007 to pick him up and fly with him (he wormed his way from the floor onto the airplane seats) back to California. Joe graduated from his initial training program in July 2008 and was paired with Tacconelli, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif., Klingberg said.
The two continued working together, training intensively to pass the difficult tests to become a FEMA-certified search-and-rescue team. They were certified in October.
“This shelter dog that was dumped turned into this fantastic animal, which Joe very much is,” Klingberg said.
Unlike Haiti, which was devastated Jan. 12 by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, Chile has a structured government with emergency response teams in place, Klingberg said.
“(But) their resources are stretched so thin, they cannot keep up with everything; they have finally asked for our help,” she said.
When task force members arrive, they likely will be briefed by Chilean officials, but no one yet knows exactly where the teams will be sent to work, Klingberg said.
The teams will be there for two weeks. NDSDF provided them with satellite phones, she said, “so we’re hoping to hear from them on occasion.”

Donate To Humane Societies To Help Animals In Need!!

Everyone,

We would like to take a moment to remind you to donate to Humane Societies and shelters whenever you can. Many, many animals are in need of our help and most may never find their forever homes without it.

Thank you,

CLAWS Admins

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

'Foie Gras' French for "Cruelty"?

Please watch the video and then follow the link to a petition to ban Foie Gras in the United States.

WARNING: GRAPHIC!! THIS WILL RUIN YOUR DAY!!








http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/ban-the-sale-of-foie-gras-in-the-united-states

Support Stronger Regulation of Pet Food Industry!!!

 This just came to us from a friend and I thought I would really like to share this story with you...

Currently, these are quotes from the United States FDA website regarding regulation of pet food safety:

"The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that pet foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled."

"There is no requirement that pet food products have pre-market approval by the FDA. However, FDA ensures that the ingredients used in pet food are safe and have an appropriate function in the pet food."

If that's all true, then how do they explain this?:

This photo was taken yesterday at her workplace. She noticed a truck come, take a couple of barrels from behind the store and replace them with two more. She asked the manager what they were for and he replied that: "They were for disposing of the nasty stuff we can't use... it'll make people sick." Needless to say, she went around later on a cig break, saw the label, and was FURIOUS!

Out of curiosity, she decided to stake out the barrels for a day and was horrified by what she saw: people using them to dump used motor oil, garbage and as toilets.

So... what I want to know now is how does the FDA define "inedible"? Does that also fall under "safe" and "appropriate function"?

Please sign our petition to ask the FDA to STOP FEEDING OUR FRIENDS POISON!



http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-feeding-our-pets-poison

Help Save Animals On Factory Farms!!

Through the support of Action For Animals, CLAWS has now posted a "click to donate" link on our page (scroll all the way to the bottom)

It's free, click as many times as you like,  and help us help these animals that desperately need it.

Thank you.

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Monday, March 1, 2010

March 2010 Newsletter

Wow guys! It's been a busy month here, how about you?

Lots of posts, articles and even a few petitions... we think February was a great success and again want to thank you, our followers, for your support.

As stated back in January, we are still planning a peaceful demonstration in City Park in Denver, CO this summer and are now in the paperwork phase (permits, licenses, etc.) and hope to have it all ready in time!

In regards to this, there is even a company that we are currently working out a deal with a company that is offering to make us t-shirts, hats, etc. and allow us to donate the proceeds directly to animal shelters and humane societies wherever there is a need! That's what we're looking for - a way to help.

Thank you all again so much and let's make March a great month as well. Remember: "1000 Hearts United" and please invite friends, co-workers and even family to join as well. We would LOVE to have 1000 members before summer.

Hope you are all well,

Ethan & Krystall - Founders & Chairpersons, CLAWS