EDITION OF FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2018 (PetPowellPress) -- Here comes the Memorial Day weekend and, please, remember to think safety first -- dodge the heat carefully, hydrate carefully, swim carefully, drive carefully, dine carefully, drink carefully, exercise carefully and tend to your animals carefully. If you’re only going to be sedentary this weekend, sit carefully. This is a holiday weekend for everyone -- those who work, play and endure the heat while dreaming of autumn -- late autumn. Early autumn can be summery.
In this edition we’ve got a need for feline fosters (hence the use of that photo), a blind pup and her puppies rescued in Oklahoma, animals on the clock in North Texas and -- whoa! -- it looks like that big summit with North Korea and the USA has been either called off or delayed.
So, can you help with three out of four of those situations? I won’t even ask if you’ve got a way to corral that volcano in Hawaii. We will, however, offer a local volcano solution in today’s CONTEMPLATIONS. But, first the animals. They’re important.
FELINE FOSTERING:
A PURRFECT OPPORTUNITY?
Yeah, I feel guilty using “purrfect,” but I feel guilty not being able to foster because we’re all full up with cats and kittens in our own little involuntary foster program -- thanks to all in Zip Code 75224 (ours!) who don’t spay and neuter their cats.
Anyway, the relentless animal advocate and diligent supporter of Euless Trinity GAP Rescue Karen Lee of Barkleyworld.com sent an appeal for cat and kitten fosters.
For people interested in entertaining fostering duty, Karen explains, “Some [cats and kittens] are in the Euless Animal Shelter at 1517 Westpark Way and some are with severely over-worked GAP Cat Foster Mom Juanita at [email protected]”
She says potential fosters can also get the low-down on fostering from her at [email protected]
You saw that big box-o-cats in the opening segment. The four “adorable kittens were left in a box at a local church -- they are at the Euless Shelter and available for foster or adoption on Friday (May 25).” [LARRY ASIDE: Interesting place to abandon a box of kittens, but, well, like the Bible says, “Bless the beasts and children.”]
That other photo of kittens? Those are two 7-week-old bobtail kittens and a 10-week-old kitten named Venus. They’re in the shelter, too, as are five adult cats (see the bios of Stormy, Dexter, Rainbow, Cleopatra and Raven on the Trinity Gap Rescue page HERE.) And, Karen says, “There is a gorgeous gray mama kitten nursing kittens. She seemed friendly but the kittens were scared.”
Foster Mom Juanita “has 4 kittens from a Calico mama that need another foster -- kittens are 5-weeks old.” And she also has an orange kitten, Asian, who “suffered some type of burns, blisters on her paws and back and needs a quiet place to heal.”
[LARRY ASIDE: OK, fostering goes on and on around here. We don’t need to mention any more of the animals, we’ll just stipulate that fostering is a constant need with the Euless Shelter and GAP Rescue and any other organization that opens its doors to cats and dogs and other animals. Pick your favorite breed and volunteer. Pick a breed you’ve always wondered about and volunteer. Pick a shelter, pick a rescue group, pick a zip code and volunteer to foster. Be that happy transition between uncertainty and a forever home.]
ARRIVING IN MULTIPLES
AT THE MESQUITE SHELTER
Yes, I’m fascinated by the publicity efforts of the volunteers at the Mesquite Animal Shelter and I’m wondering if there are stats that show adoptions and rescues have increased since this campaign stepped up the drive to save lives.
That means we’ll notice things when we get a flow of appeals from the volunteer bio writer Judi Brown.
People dump pairs of dogs and triples of dogs wind up running together en route to the shelter.
Like, for instance, the white and tan, 3-year-old dog Fox (38621174) and Red (38621196) , the big ol’ dog 9-month-old dog, were surrendered on May 21 “due to a change of lifestyle.” The human change of lifestyle has put these two dogs on the needle list for Friday morning. Both are easy-going dogs and Fox recently had a litter -- who knows where those dogs are now... geezalou.
Then there are these three -- Binky, Dinky and Betsy. They came in as strays on May 18.
Binky (38604465) is an 11-pound, six-month-old Rat Terrier/- Chiweenie mix. Dinky (38604467), the fawn dog, weighs six pounds and has the
same family tree.
Both are “overwhelmed” by their situation, Judi reports.
When she met Binky, "I had to carry him as he was too fearful to walk on his own. When I put him down he would just stand rigid like a statue.”
Dinky? “He trembles, but relaxes when held. When put down, he cautiously approaches and lays down next to you.”
Betsy? She’s around six years old, is a Beagle/Terrier mix and “was pretty fearful, but she began to relax and come out of her shell once she was in the yard. Her natural tendency was to head to a corner. As I spent more time with her, she un-tucked her tail and she even wagged it...” Sixteen pounds of dog (38605562)
.
To ask about helping these or any Mesquite animal dumped alone or dumped in a pair or a crowed, call the shelter at 972-216-6283 or email [email protected]
THE BLIND OKLAHOMA DOG
AND HER THREE BABIES
Another tale of canine woe inspires the heart of Terry Lynn Fisher, the hard-working, low-financed, but resolute rescuer in Burns Flat, way out in Western Oklahoma.
“Oh, my sweetness, this family is adorable,” she wrote.
They came from Watonga, Oklahoma, northwest of Oklahoma City, and just over 70 miles northeast of Burns Flat.
Terry Lynn explains, “A lady posted them on a sell site and someone sent it to me. She sold babies but was giving mom away. The mom being blind, it worried me so much. I went and got them and took them to rescue....
“Momma is small. And so sweet and loving. Thank goodness the babies are healthy. The place I got them from was a horrific place. Made me sick. I’m so glad we got them.
“It ended up being a 6-plus-hour round trip but they are all safe.
“My granddaughter and friends went with me and held the babies. I want to thank everyone for helping get them. I can’t imagine what may have happened to them, especially the blind momma. I’m so blessed to have such wonderful people care about the animals here.”
To ask about helping these and to ask how to help Terry Lynn finance the vet bills they’ll run up and to ask how to adopt them, email their rescuer at [email protected]
TWO CONVICTED
IN COCKFIGHTING CASE
This happened on Monday and we learned about it from the SPCA of Texas which had helped the seized animals in a July 10, 2016, raid on a cockfight in Dallas.
There were 120 fighting roosters and other animals -- and, as reported, there were 15 dead fighting cocks found, too. Some live dogs were saved.
The SPCA says 20-30 people managed to flee; 20-30 didn’t and got Class C misdemeanor tickets for watching a cockfight.
Two others went on trial Monday, nearly two years after the raid. Plea agreements were reached.
The SPCA news release says the property owner pled guilty to using his property for cockfighting -- a Class A misdemeanor. The other guy pled guilty to a state jail felony -- four years probation and required to pay the SPCA $760 in restitution for the feeding and caring for the confiscated chickens.
You can see photos of the seizure HERE The SPCA got custody of the animals at a hearing on July 19, 2016. Every time the SPCA gets custody of animals seized in a raid, the organization incurs new bills. To keep the cruelty investigation program alive and the seized animals alive, too, go to www.spca.org/helptheanimals.
[LARRY ASIDE: The sentences in these two cases appear to be light to animal lovers, I suspect. But, maybe there’s a way to increase the punishment for such horrifying criminal activity involving animals. Get in touch with the Humane Legislation Network of Texas to see what sort of efforts to “make the laws as mean as the criminals” are going to be made in the next session of the Texas Legislature. Go to thln.org.]
CONTEMPLATIONS:
WOULD A VOLCANO WORK FOR DALLAS?
We’ve got dangerous bugs, zany roadways and the occasional armed creep in Dallas. It’s time for something safe. A volcano.
Maybe I’ll stop by the local volcanologists watering hole tonight -- Magma Joe’s where all the tables are lit with lava lamps -- and see what the Society of Texas Volcanologists has come up with. I'm kidding about all that. I did look on Monster.com and didn’t find a single volcanologist job open in Dallas and Tarrant County as the weekend arrives. Nope, we’re not living in the hotbed of volcanology, thank heavens. Of course, you may know that Pilot Knob, in southern Travis County, is one of many extinct Texas volcanoes -- not much tourist value in a volcano that looks
like a Texas hill. [LARRY ASIDE (regarding photos “curated “from online sites): That first photo is of the volcano at Pilot Knob -- almost an illusion. That second photo is what we’ll call a “promotional view” of the Trinity River and Downtown Dallas -- you might see that much water in the Trinity once or twice a year -- it’s the kind of illusion that suggests to prospective business partners that Dallas has a great waterway. Not yet. Not even enough water to support a casino boat year-round. The third photo is a suggestion -- what could be.]
But our beloved Dallas has the opportunity now to grab the hot ticket for tourism.
With those two great bridges across the Trinity River in downtown Dallas, all we need now to really draw the tourism is installing a working volcano in the river bottoms. We don’t have an indoor ski slope yet or an artificial wintry mountain range, but we could add to our traditional big-draw tourism attractions one big thing: a volcano.
Can you imagine the crowds coming to Dallas to line
the river’s banks and watch the volcano erupt -- the Old Faithful of the prairie? (Sorry for mixing geysers and volcanos.) A clever engineer could figure out a way to have a flashflood barrel thorugh the bottoms to wash away the fake lava -- except for that portion that would be sold as souvenirs. Visit Dallas -- Home of the Hot Rock,” the labels would read.
Heck, everything’s B_G in Dallas. Imagine that photo with volcanic eruption in the background! Talk about a hot ticket! Sorry, didn't intend to use the word "hot" so much in a weekend that's supposed to see triple digit temps without any help from a volcano.
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