Pittsburg, California - The Well-Pet Vet Clinic in Pittsburg was packed with patients on Friday afternoon. One of them had the name, Fireman. The little gray, tan, and white puppy was curled up in a wicker basket, he was sedated. "The dog is in an extreme amount of pain," said clinic nurse Beth Allen-Garland. "Someone did something really awful, it's either a severe chemical burn or somebody tried to light his ears on fire." Fireman was found on Wednesday in the play area at Antioch Animal Services. The area is surrounded by a six foot tall fence and volunteers say they don't know who may have dropped him off, or how they were able to. Kristy Keusch, one of the volunteers, decided to foster Fireman. Keusch says she can't figure out what caused the dog's injuries. "If he were to fall or stand in a chemical it would affect his paws, but his paws are not affected. I feel someone tortured him." Keusch has teamed up with Umbrella of Hope, an organization that says it saved more than 500 cats and dogs from Contra Costa County shelters last year, to help in Fireman's recovery. The Chihuahua mix will have to have his ears amputated due to the extent of his injuries. Beth Allen-Garland says Fireman should be able to live out a great life despite his injuries. She also says a thousand dollar reward is being offered by Fido Alert for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. "You kind of wonder about the people walking among us willing to harm an animal, let alone a baby animal." Fireman is hoping someday to find a loving full-time home. Umbrella of Hope says he could be up for adoption in four to six weeks. Adoption Information
Message from Umbrella of Hope: 'We have had over 100 inquiries about him as of 6 p.m. on Friday, April 3rd, 2015. Due to the sheer volume on inquiries we have received already, we will be unable to respond to inquires asking questions on adoption inquiries until he is made available for adoption. We will post updates on Fireman (just like all of our animals) on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Umbrellaofhope - please like our page https://www.facebook.com/Umbrellaofhopeand follow us to ensure that you receive updates.'
Donation Information Umbrella of Hope says monetary donations can be made to their Paypal at beourpet@gmail.com. Their tax ID number (tax-exempt) is 45-4103375.
Fido Alert - East Contra Costa County (Facebook post) ** $1000 reward offered for information leading to the arrest/prosecution of person or persons responsible for the chemical burns & abandonment of 8 week old puppy outside of Antioch Animal Services between March 30th & March 31st ** This is Fireman, he is barely 2lbs of Chihuahua mix. He was found outside of Antioch Animal Services on Tuesday whining & wincing in pain. His body hurts when he moves. His nose hurts when he presses it to anything. His ears are flaking apart. He longs to be picked up, but it hurts. Someone brought him to the shelter whilst it was closed. Someone found him or someone didn't want him, but surely someone will recognize him or know of his litter mates. He was immediately pulled by a rescue & will be treated for his injuries, for his pain, his ears will have to be amputated, he will need a lot of emotional support too as he fears being touched in light of his pain, but we are confident he will pull through as he already has won over many hearts in a matter of days who are all hoping for justice for this little guy. Please share Fireman, someone knows something or someone, whether this was an act of cruelty, neglect or an accident, this little guy should not have been left alone in the middle of the night even if it was within feet of the shelter. Our thanks to the staff & volunteers at Antioch Animal Services & to the care provided by Umbrella of Hope that will see Fireman healthy, healed & eventually in a home that will love him.
Niš (Serbia) - There are hundreds of dogs, wagging their tails and running free on fenced-off land in a Serbian town, and one man knows each of them by name. Sasa Pesic, out of work like around 17 percent of Serbians, came upon four abandoned puppies in woods near his home. The discovery changed his life dramatically, setting him on a path to becoming an advocate for stray dogs and opening a shelter in Nis in southern Serbia. Today it is home for more than 450 animals, but Pesic may soon have to move his canine horde as the city wants him to find a new location. "I know exactly how each dog arrived at my shelter, I know their names, personalities," says Pesic as he patted one of his charges. When the 45-year-old walks into the shelter, set on a piece of land near the center of town, hundreds of dogs of all sizes and colors run to him barking happily in greeting. The refuge is located at a former equestrian club stable that Pesic got rent-free from the owner back in 2010, where the dogs can be outside all day long. "It is only when night falls that we put them in their cages. They are happy this way," he says, adding that all the dogs have been vaccinated, sterilized and have microchips. There are 280,000 registered dogs in the Balkan country, but veterinary authorities say it is practically impossible to determine the exact number of stray canines, many being pets abandoned by their owners in hard economic times. An endless fight The sheer size of the problem makes the work of advocates like Pesic even more important, says Jovan Stojkovic, who is in charge of animal issues in the municipality of Nis. But recently the city, claiming the shelter's land belongs to it, told Pesic that he would have to leave with his dogs. That immediately sparked protests by animal rights groups. Tens of thousands of people signed a petition to prevent closing down the shelter, forcing the city authorities to back down and pledge to find a solution. "The city supports what Sasa is doing," Stojkovic tells AFP. "We are certainly not going to allow these dogs to end up back on the streets, that would be a disaster." For Pesic and his six volunteers, working with the animals is a non-stop business. "This is an endless fight. I don't have time to eat properly and even less to think about a private life," Pesic said. "You have to fight every day to provide food and care for all these animals." When starting out, Pesic was getting food for the dogs from local bakers and slaughterhouses. But supplies soon outstripped demand and he had to push for donations, especially through social networks. "People, especially from abroad, were rather open and backed our project. We need some $5,400 to $6,400, for our 400 to 500 dogs every month," he says. The battle to rescue stray dogs, which began in 2008, grew as people began bringing him abandoned pets that they found and the number of those ill-fated animals rose to 60, leading Pesic to move them to the current shelter. Ana Mitrovic, a shelter volunteer, believes the city will stick to its promise to help find a new home for the hundreds of canines. "I am confident that the city will help us to find, by the end of the year, a suitable location, a lasting solution to continue our activities," the 35-year-old woman tells AFP. And especially since the shelter is also trying to have its residents adopted. "Since opening, we managed to find homes for 250 dogs," Pesic says proudly.
Houlton, Maine - Abused, disfigured and abandoned. If anyone had good reason to have a massive chip on his tiny, furry shoulder, it’s Emerson the cat. Instead, the 10-year-old unofficial mascot at the Houlton Humane Society is devoting all of his remaining lives to spreading love and joy as he greets everyone walking through the shelter’s front door. Emerson is not like other cats, having suffered serious damage to his spinal cord and a snapped neck, according to his owner, and Houlton Humane Society, Executive Director Heather Miller. Those injuries left him without the use of his back legs, the inability to urinate and chronic issues affecting his ability to eat and drink on his own. But as Emerson clearly demonstrates as he gets around using a special feline wheelchair apparatus, it’s hard to keep a good cat down. “He was brought in to us last August,” Miller said Friday as Emerson wandered around checking out what was going on in the society’s reception area. “A lady found him, and when he was checked out by our vet, it was determined he had a broken neck, spinal cord damage, broken ribs and what looked to be chemical burns on his feet.” By September, Miller and her husband, Jonathan Miller, who have huge and very soft hearts for “special needs” animals, were working with Emerson on getting him to use a wheelchair that Jonathan Miller, in true Yankee fashion, had created using PVC pipes and bicycle training wheels. “It was almost too heavy for Emerson to get moving,” Heather Miller said. “But someone saw it on Facebook and sent us a cat wheelchair.” The “chair” holds Emerson’s back legs off the floor and allows him to use his front paws to pull himself around. It took awhile to convince Emerson of the benefits of the new adaptive device — the inherent laziness of cats did not help the process, according to Miller — but by December he was scooting around with little trouble. “We put him in the wheelchair for a couple of hours at a time,” she said. “In the beginning, he had to get his front leg muscles built up.” He is a sight to behold, Miller said. Emerson’s injuries left the cat with a permanent tilt to his head giving him a somewhat quizzical expression. The inability to control his bowels or bladder means he wears a kitty diaper, and Miller dresses him in a “onesie” to avoid his getting chafed by the sling holding him in position on the wheelchair. Staff at the humane society have blinged-out the chair with bright stickers, ribbons and a jaunty pennant announcing that Emerson is “Number one.” As if he needed any reminders of that, Miller said. The tabby has his own Facebook page with about 14,000 friends and has helped raise thousands of dollars for local animal rescue organizations through personal appearances and endorsements. “The mailman asked me not long ago, ‘Who the heck is Emerson?’” Miller said. “He gets way more letters and packages than I do and has a lot more clothes than I do because people keep sending him outfits.” Around town, Miller said she is not known as “Heather,” but as “Emerson’s mom.” Spend a few moments with Emerson, and it’s easy to see why he’s gathered so many fans. “He is precious,” Caroline Rossignol of Connor Plantation. said when she met Emerson on Friday. “He is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” Rossignol was at the humane society Friday with her grandmother Willa Rossignol to see about adopting a dog, but were sidetracked the moment they walked in as Emerson strolled/wheeled over to meet them. “This is a first,” Caroline Rossignol said of seeing a cat in a wheelchair. “But he seems happy and well adjusted.” Her grandmother agreed. And after hearing Emerson’s story of past abuse, she said she is happy he has found a good home. “Anytime I come to Houlton, I am going to come and see this baby,” Willa Rossignol said. Emerson is not the only special needs pet the Millers have. On Friday, Kino, a 200-pound St. Bernard with congenital heart failure and rescued from a meth lab, was hanging out near the front desk. “She has to be with me all the time,” Miller said. “I once had to leave for six days, and she did not eat the entire time I was gone.” In addition to Emerson and Kino, the Millers share their home with a variety of other special needs pets. At home are five dogs, two that are blind and three with three legs; four three legged cats and two blind cats; and a several rabbits with their own health issues, including seizures and blindness. Miller admits the ongoing costs of caring for and feed Emerson a special diet can be expensive and a lot of work. She declined to comment on the exact amounts she and her husband spend on Emerson and the other animal’s care, other than to say they are happy to sacrifice vacations and personal items to do afford it. “People know I will take in the animals no one else wants,” Miller said. “They all deserve a chance, [and] the payback is the in the reward of how forgiving these animals are.” But Emerson, Miller said, is very special. “He is my heart, my baby boy,” she said. “He has so much personality, and he doesn’t know he’s different.” People can learn a lot from the resilient feline who seems to only want to be near people, despite what humans likely did to him in the past. “Emerson holds no grudges,” Miller said. “He’s a very forgiving cat.” That’s not to say he does not have his moments, such as when Dr. Lori Brown, the humane society’s veterinarian, came in to examine Emerson and give his ears a good cleaning Friday afternoon. “If he could walk, he’d run away right now,” Brown said as she used elongated swabs to clean the cat’s ears. For his part, throughout the procedure, Emerson glared at the wall registering his displeasure as only a cat can. But soon he was again purring and doing what he does best — making people smile and reflect a bit on the blessings in their own lives. “People always feel sorry for themselves,” Rossignol said watching as her granddaughter tried to take a photo of Emerson, who was more interested in head-butting the cell phone. “But look at Emerson — he’s more human than a lot of humans I know.” The Houlton Humane Society gladly accepts donations mailed to P.O. Box 548, Houlton, ME 04730. Donations can also be made at animals@pwless.net
It’s no secret that New York City ain’t what it used to be. Anyone longing for the old, New York will be pleased to know that at least one group of people are keeping fun alive with parties as illegal as they are adorable. I am speaking, of course, of the underground gatherings of a small but dedicated group of ferret fanciers who brazenly flout the health department’s recently reiterated ban on keeping a tiny weasel in your home. A reporter from The Guardian was recently able to gain admittance to one of these decadent affairs (presumably after being blindfolded and led down a dark alley), and what he found may shock you. In The Guardian’s exclusive video snapshot of the illegal pet demimonde, the toothy terrors can be observed chasing each other around, licking humans they barely know, and taking hits of an unidentified brown substance. “They love this stuff,” sneers one libertine. Adds another, somewhat ominously: “When they calm down, they’re very affectionate.” One particularly concerning shot shows an all-out interspecies tickle-fest raging on a mattress. Thankfully, the camera pans away before things get too real. “They are the best of both worlds,” says one of the ferret ladies. “As playful as a dog, as clean and aloof as a cat.” She then added that cities where ferrets are legal have had no problems with “excessive biting.” Only the normal level of biting, thanks. This gleaming theme park of a town being what it is, there’s probably little hope that the practitioners of this alternative lifestyle will ever being able to step out of the shadows. Nevertheless, one ferretphile remains optimistic: “Hopefully one day, people will reconsider and not be fearful of something that they’re not necessarily familiar with.”
