NRRO HSUS - Hope and Dreams

It is so wonderful to know that there are plans in place for the 2007 year for the horses. Here is one more of HSUS NRRO's opportunities for 2007.


The South Dakota Horse Sanctuary Project: Another long story....but we were asked to help buy hay for horses on a great SD wild horse sanctuary due to extreme drought conditions and rising hay costs. After researching how to best help this good agency it was determined that just buying hay would only treat a short term symptom. So we did help with hay...but in March we will also be running a special project to contracept over 100 of the special mares on this ranch so that a burgeoning 2007 foal birthing would not compound the problems. This one time intervention will give the sanctuary the breathing room to address the drought and hay price issues without the added stress of more horses to feed. At the same time will may be doing some minor fence and building maintenance projects and working to both embrace and accept the growing population of black tailed prairie dogs on the ranch and to develop a long term management plan that includes both horses and p-dogs.

Continued Interview HSUS NRRO

Dave (HSUS NRRO) talks about another "Best Opportunity"


2) The Alaskan Outreach / Model Dog Lot Program: This one is in it's infancy...but we are trying to promote and fund more bush clinics, more spayed and neutered subsistence mushing teams and a few model dog lots that do not involve short chaining dogs. To most reader this would not make sense unless they visited the remote villages with me and saw the need for animal care, and improved standards. But we are slowly building a network of programs and contacts to attempt to make long term progress at improving remote village animal care standards

MR. BLACK - aka "Cuddles"

Mr. Black -aka "Cuddles" showed up at C.A.T.S.' door about a year ago. He was not neutered and had obviously been a stray for awhile. But in no way was he a feral! His favorite spot in the whole wide world

is cuddled on someone's shoulder. And he is an equal opportunity employer - any shoulder will do!

We haven't been able to find this wonderful guy a forever home because he is FIV positive. He would need to be in a one cat home. He has also developed stomatitis, a painful chronic condition affecting the teeth and gums.

None of the treatments tried have been effective; we are being advised to have all his teeth extracted. This will be complicated by the FIV, but our vet said that despite this, he is in fairly good health.

C.A.T.S. is running in the red, so we're scrambling to find the funds to cover Mr. Black's dental surgery, but

we are committed to doing everything we can to help this sweet affectionate cat.

Contact: Jane DeMartino, C.A.T.S.

Mr. Black's Fund

3415 LeRoy Street

Schenectady, NY 12304

Continued Interview HSUS NRRO

Here's the continuing interview with Sandra Merwin, AHAA artist and Dave Pauli of the HSUS.

The question Dave answered was: What are some of your best opportunities this year for HSUS NRRO?
Whew... we have more opportunities than we have months....Well.. in addition to the 2007 versions of Certified Rez Dog, Habitat for Hounds, RAVS, and an amazing first quarter legislative slate of proactive bills in all eight states. ( We have the record opportunity for Felony Cruelty, Felony Animal Fighting, Student Choice, Canned Hunting and Animal Facility Inspection Acts in many states) But it is probably best if I highlighted three NEW programs that we are trying to plan and fund for 2007.

1) The FOAL / McCullough Peaks project: June 4-10 Cody WY. This one is mostly secured but I still have a few details to secure. This is a seven day investment of staff and resource time to provide non-emergency training and vastly improve some federal and private habitats for wild horses and dozens of other species. Here's how this one is taking shape. First we got the request from a local Cody non-profit ... the Friends of a Legacy (FOAL) group that is working to build a wild horse interpretive center adjacent to the McCullough Peaks Wild Horse Management Area (MPWHMA) to help them with the planning and funding. Like most projects the discussion starts small, the needs are identified and the project take shapes. In this case FOAL was initially looking at projects like some minor fence building and property cleanup and we considered a weekend cleanup project. But after talking to the BLM wild horse specialist we found out there were dozen of potential habitat projects that they would like to do to compliment some projects that a private grazing lease holder had done last year. So we identified a large number of missions like removal of old dangerous internal fences, building new fences, building water guzzlers to provide water for wildlife and to distribute the horses across the MPHMA and some trenching, junk pile cleanup, bridge building and other projects that could be completed as a community event. Then we decided to umbrella the project as a training exercise for our regional network of animal disaster responders so that they could come to Cody and learned critical disaster response skills like implementing Incident Command Structure, serving as a Safety Officer, a Public Information Officer or a HSUS Strike Team Leader. This move allows us to provide the structure necessary to make this a profession safe and targeted training event AND wildlife habitat project. Then we add some special additions like finding a private donor to fund a Youth Conservation Corp team for the week and some special wildlife and emergency medical training and we will be having a pretty special project that is an excellent example of a private/public networking to help improve this Wyoming Wild Horse Range and to benefit our region for the next large disaster response that impacts animals. This one is the real deal and will allow us to field test our disaster volunteers, our trailers and equipment and at the end of the week to know that we have really done something to help the horses, and the other species that we will be doing habitat projects for including the bluebirds, horned toads, scorpions and prairie rattlesnakes on the MPWHMA. I have still not funded the food service, the blue bird nest box and several other components of this project if this tickles someone's fancy!!!!




Mare and Colt by Sandra Merwin was painted after talking with Dave about the FOAL program coming up in 2007.

Continued Interview HSUS NRRO

This painting reminds me of the young and needy animals that Dave Pauli from the NRRO is continually helping. Here is another part of the excerpt from his interview. Dave is continuing to answer the question: What are some of NRROs successes this year.

"And although not always the highest profile cases ... the literally DOZENS of individual animal rescues we provide each year are perhaps the most rewarding part of this vocation. Most of these cases involve us taking physical custody of the animal and in 2006 they included a caiman, a half dozen turtles from different sources, and a raft of native wildlife including hawks, owls, falcons, pelicans, raccoons, deer, dozens of ducklings and a host of other individual rescues. Some of these are orphaned wildlife but most are "pets" that have gotten too big, too mean or too costly for their caretakers to handle. Each case in unique, each case has it veterinary bills, special diet or special circumstances.... but all are similar in that we are made aware of an animals in a negative situation and by applying some individual attention we can change the situation to the best possible situation for the rest of that animals life. There really are simply toooooooo many of these cases every year to pick a favorite and the favorites end up being those cases that we have in hand at that moment. For today we have "feral rat" that had several dental problems and rather than deal with them the owner apparently turned the rat loose outdoors. We got her a few months ago and she was really in poor shape and her local rescuers could not afford the bi-weekly vet bill to clip off her mis-aligned teeth. She is now an NRRO office project and she is looking very good and has accepted both our special soft diet and the in-house dental work necessary to provide her a normal life. We also have a half dozen feral turtles turned over by Fish and Game or by people who did not know how to care for sliders, snappers or box turtles during the winter months. The Red Eared Sliders that people bought in Pet stores but then released in Montana ponds will be headed ( pending receiving state approval) to their state of origin for release. A large snapping turtle that had been in captivity for 14 years ... was not a candidate for release...so he has recently been placed in a lifelong reptile sanctuary where he will share a pond with another snapper. Each story of taking an animal from a small and often un-natural place and getting it back to it native range or a much larger improved living situation makes it worth it. Some of the projects like last months Ice Rescue Project of three domestic ducks in Bozeman that were threatened by local dogs as their pond froze solid is an example of project that are tough to justify on a balance sheet but are also opportunities to help that cannot be passed up. In this case the locals could not gather the resources nor trained people to conduct an unsafe ice rescue of the domestic ducks before the ice froze and the awaiting dogs could reach them. We sponsored a three person billings ice rescue team ( me, Suzi and Disaster Rescue Trainer Kim Little) to go over and demonstrate to local animal control and a fire department rescue team how to safely do an ice extraction. The ducks were captured, ( and moved to a private winter pond), the local trained and the situation addressed. Again it is sometimes difficult to justify the staff time and resources to these smaller rescues...but to the three ducks, the affected property owners and the animal control and fire fighters...this was a win win solution!!!!"

Interview with HSUS Director, part II

Dave Pauli from HSUS NRRO (Northern Rockies Regional Office) continues answering the question about some of the successes that NRRO experienced in 2006

In the Longer Term Help to larger populations of animals category....We had more than a dozen major opportunities. On several of them I cannot give detail because they still have pending trials for animal cruelty coming up in February, 2007...but they involved bringing relief and veterinary care to hundreds of animals. These cases included large scale Parrot Rescues, Equine Rescues, dog and cat hoarder rescues and ranged from 50 to 450 animals each. In some of these The NRRO played a modest role where we paid for veterinary or transport services, and in others like two large Idaho cat hoarder cases we play a primary role bringing in out of state animal care and rescue teams and in redistributing rescue animals. In some of these cases we accept responsibility for some of these animals for several years until they are finally if a good forever home situation. Other long term projects like our Bush Veterinary Outreach program in Alaska that helped bring veterinary services into 51 Alaskan villages in 2006, and our Rural Area Veterinary Services clinics which not only provided direct clinic services in ND,SD, and CO....but helped to bring hundreds of final year veterinary students from all major vet schools into the humane family by showing them the impact of humanitarian work in our rural communities. And finally our office was just able to broker donations from a fund raiser sponsored by a co-owner of the Indianapolis Speedway to direct almost $55,000 to buy hay for the Colorado animals impacted by blizzards and horses in MT, AK, ID and SD by drought and wildfire.

Interview with NRRO Humane Sociey Director

I asked Dave Pauli, Director of the Northern Rockies Regional Office (NRRO) of the Humane Society of the United States, to tell us a little about what is happening. Watch the blog in the next days and weeks to learn more about what's happening, the hope and dreams of the NRRO.

Here is some of Dave's response to my question: What animal successes are you most delighted with for the 2006 year at the NRRO?

"Hi Sandra... thanks for this opportunity. With four people covering 8 western states it is often difficult to take time to talk about the exciting work being done!!!! I just returned last night from a week in Idaho and Utah networking with folks on a variety of exciting issues....but will take a few moments this beautiful cold Montana morning to answer your questions.
1. What are some of the successes from HSUS NRRO that you are most delighted with (from last year)?
A good and difficult question... which I will answer in several ways. The NRRO is a regional office that tries to a) be a niche filler that brings truly needed resources to people needing them while b) providing long term help to the larger populations of animals while c) still being there for cruelty or rescue missions for individual animals that need help in any emergency or disaster. IT is truly tough to pick the best examples as each of the hundreds of requested interventions every year are special in their own ways. But for 2006 I think:

My favorite 2006 niche filling project was an expanded " Habitat for Hounds" pilot project where we went to the Ute Mountain Ute native nation in Colorado and supplemented our annual Rural Area Veterinary Services Spay Clinic with a host of pre-event through post-event services. The NRRO Colorado State Coordinator Colin Berry started by arranging a series of "Certified Rez Dog" adoption convoys where she networked with locals and they drove adoptable healthy rez dogs from the extreme Southern Colorado reservation to the Denver Metro area to help "rehome" some of these quality hardy and intelligent rez dogs before the event. Our team then attended the multi-day HSUS spay clinic but concentrated our efforts going door to door in the tribal housing areas giving vaccinations, puppy wormings, and front porch humane education. We also distributed free dog houses and built custom coated cable runners to give people wishing to protect their family pets a way to humanely tether a dog so that it could go from their back porch to other shaded or protected areas. This also helped to get one more dog restricted from joining the free roaming groups of loose dogs. We also accepted and brought home another dozen and a half other puppies or special case dogs for rehoming in CO, WY or MT. This Habitat for Hounds project greatly increased the community impact of a standard HSUS spay clinic because we were able to identify and transport some of the truly needed and targeted dogs into the clinic for surgeries, while bringing humane education, puppy wormings, general first aid and improved shelter to dozens of dogs that would not have been presented to the temporary veterinary clinic."

Check in later, to read more of Dave's reply.

Tbar Talk - Brooke's Fund

2007 marks the 3rd anniversary of True Blue Animal Rescue in Washington County, Texas! In the past year alone Tbar placed 84 dogs and puppies in forever homes while maintaining an average of 30-40 dogs in care at one time. They placed 29 horses in forever homes during the past year and have six horse adoptions pending final approval. Tbar helped more cats than ever and placed 43 cats and kittens into forever homes in 2006.

Two new funds have been added for 2007. You can donate at Tbar's web site.

Fund #1, Brooke’s Fund, will be used to give dogs with heavy heartworm loads the expensive heartworm treatment they need. This fund will be in memory of Blue Moon, Pal, Cinnamon, Little Caesar, Momma, Abby and Jack. Blue Moon died due to complications from her heartworms and the others were humanely euthanized because they were already showing severe symptoms from their heartworms and their bodies could not withstand the treatment.

In 2006 a dog named Brooke came into Tbar's care. Brooke had a heavy heartworm load but was not showing symptoms such as coughing and difficulty breathing so her vet felt she would be a good candidate for heartworm treatment. Thanks to the Art Helping Animals group and several Tbar members enough money was raised to pay for Brooke’s expensive treatment. Brooke was given the heartworm treatment while in the care of her foster mother and has recovered and is doing well. The fund to pay for Brooke’s treatment has some money left over to help future dogs that come to Tbar with heartworms. The hope is that Tbar will be able to build this fund so to offer treatment to every dog that comes in with a heavy heartworm load before they become too sick for help. Of course the ultimate goal will be to educate people about heartworms. In Texas every dog has 100% chance of getting heartworms if they are not given heartworm preventative. Please help us spread the word so we can decrease the number of dogs who become sick due to heartworms.

Fund #2, Spay/Neuter Fund, will offer rebates as incentive for people to get their dogs and cats spayed and neutered and to help spay and neuter pets whose owners cannot afford the cost of vet care at all.

In the past True Blue Animal Rescue could only afford to spay and neuter the animals that were in their care leaving more and more unwanted pets born to unaltered animals. Tbar would like to begin this new campaign to get out and fix as many pets as possible in 2007 in hopes of dramatically decreasing the number of unwanted pets. Specific details for this fund and the rebate to be offered will be announced very soon.

Donate to either of these worthwhile funds at "How you can help Tbar."
Visit Tbar's web site at www.tbar.org/

--Excerpted from the Tbar January newsletter, Tbar Talk. Brooke's story, First Things First, can be read at http://txsauce.typepad.com/

Please Help Stop the War against the Mexican Wolf

Mexican Gray Wolf

10" x 8"

Acrylics on Canvas

© R.J.Andreae 2007

(Sold)

The Mexican Gray Wolf needs your help – tell Congress to investigate violence against the wolves.

Fewer than 10 years ago, the federal government reintroduced Mexican Gray Wolves into Arizona and New Mexico: progeny of the few wolves that survived the government's six-decade extermination program and that were trapped for captive breeding. The reintroduction was meant to recover and restore to the wild Mexican Wolves after their near extinction from an extermination campaign that included poisoning, trapping, shooting, and den-excavating.
But now the government is again killing Mexican Wolves: locating them by radio collars and shooting them from the air, digging up wolf pups that then don't survive captivity, trapping wolves and splitting up family packs.
Why is the government doing this? Because the livestock industry successfully pushed for rules and protocols that require such aggressive predator control of wolves in the Southwest, far beyond government violence carried out against wolves or other endangered animals elsewhere.
Five years ago, the non-governmental panel of scientists who wrote the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's official Three-Year Review of the reintroduction program urged changing those rules. The government has not done so, and instead has trapped and shot so many wolves that the projected growth of the population to more than 100 animals at the end of 2006 has not been achieved.
Even worse, the limited gene pool of the Mexican Wolf - stemming from just seven animals who survived extermination - is being squandered and lost as a result of excessive removal of wolves from the wild.
Last month the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to save the Mexican Wolf. The lobo also needs your direct help. Please request congressional hearings into this mismanaged program in order to apply added pressure on the Bush administration to stop the war against the Mexican Gray Wolf.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s): Your Congressperson Your Senators
Below is the sample letter:

Subject: Mexican Wolf & endangered species hearings

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

Please use your influence to push for oversight hearings into the Bush administration's subversion of science in recovery of the Mexican Gray Wolf as well as other endangered species.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ignored the urgent recommendations of an independent science panel that called for reforms in the Mexican Gray Wolf reintroduction program in New Mexico and Arizona. The recommendations would bring the program up to the same standards as other endangered species recovery programs such as that for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and in the Lake States. The panel's recommendations, issued in 2001, warned that without changes, "survival and recruitment rates . . .are far too low to ensure population growth or persistence. Without dramatic improvement in these vital rates, the wolf population will fall short of predictions for upcoming years."As predicted, Mexican Wolves have not grown to the 100-number minimum that was projected and intended to be reached by the end of 2006. During 2004 and 2005, the population even declined. And the gene pool of this critically endangered species is being narrowed, foreclosing future opportunities for recovery. Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator David Parsons has stated that his former employer "is systematically undermining recovery of the Mexican wolf" and that its "management appears to throw science out the window." He says that "Anti-wolf politics have been controlling agency decisions and actions to the detriment of wolf recovery."Other endangered species recovery programs also have suffered from political interference by the Bush administration. It's time for Congress to take a close look at how science is used - and subverted - in endangered species recovery programs. The case of the Mexican Gray Wolf should be exhibit number one.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Sponsor a Final Refuge Dog

Please let me introduce you to Queenie, a 13 year old Lab who has had a hard time. Queenie's long time owner was killed in an automobile accident and she wound up in the pound where she became more and more depressed as time went by. Luckily, Queenie was taken in by Old Dog Haven and is now one of the Final Refuge dogs spending their final days at Old Dog Haven or in one of their wonderful foster homes.

All Final Refuge dogs have been deemed too fragile to be subjected to another change in living conditions, too sick to be rehomed, or with very limited time left with us.

If you would like to help, please sponsor Queenie or one of the many Final Refuge dogs listed on the Old Dog Haven web site, http://www.olddoghaven.org/. Your sponsorship donation will help defray the costs involved in making a senior dog comfortable during their final days.

Old Dog Haven is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Contributions are tax-deductible. The costs involved in caring for one of their senior dogs include medication, vet visits, special diets, and the euthanasia procedure when quality of life has diminished.

If you have any questions about making a donation please e-mail at : olddoghaven@verizon.net

Pup Needs Your Help In New Mexico

New Mexico Airedale Rescue received a call from a local shelter. A breeder had dumped a 6-7 week old puppy because of a birth defect the shelter could not address. An adopter in the area drove the pup to an Airedale Rescue volunteer and her rescue-friendly vet clinic. Everyone adores this spunky little kid and wants to give him the best chance for a long, healthy life. Dr. C will come in on her day off to do the surgery, which will consist of closing an open gap between his belly button and penis and repositioning the penis to prevent future skin irritation and infection from dribbling urine. If you can assist with the funds for this surgery, it would be much appreciated.

Make your check payable to National Airedale Rescue, Inc., and put "New Mexico Puppy" in the memo line.

Send your donation check to:
NATIONAL AIREDALE RESCUE, INC.
ATTN: Rusty LaFrance, Treasurer
8524 Maggie Ave.
Las Vegas NV 89143

If you would like more information about this little guy or would like to donate using Paypal please use the link below.
http://www.airedaleterriers.org/swat/

NO "BONES" ABOUT IT!

UP FOR ADOPTION!

Meet Jake and Destiny...two of the most beautiful BONES BEAGLES you could imagine.
And imagine I have! I have taken on some of their sponsorship while they wait for their forever home. I do this when a painting I list for BONES is purchased.
B.O.N.E.S. or BEAGLES of NEW ENGLAND STATES is a wonderful rescue that rehomes abandoned and homeless beagles. They have a terrific website where you can read all about their work...they are staffed by volunteers and have some of the most beautiful dogs up for adoption you would ever want to see.
Please do...go to http://www.bonesbeagles.org to get acquainted with this charity.
ART HELPING ANIMALS IS PROUD TO BE AFFILIATED with this charity!
art listed for BONES:
eBay: Beagles Beach scene OIL by CHRETIEN for BONR AHAA (item 120076715894 end time Jan-25-07 04:20:58 PST)

PLEASE HELP SAVE WOLVES!

"Autumn Wolf"

Stella Violano

Sometime this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to release a proposal to strip wolves of crucial Endangered Species Act protections across most of Wyoming and de-list wolves in Idaho, where the state is poised to kill up to 75% of the wolves living in the Lolo district of the Clearwater National Forest.

This proposal could allow the use of aerial gunning and other lethal control methods to kill as many as two-thirds of the wolves in Wyoming and as many as 54 of Idaho's 65 wolf packs!

Please help me save these magnificent animals. Urge the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dale Hall, to maintain federal protections for gray wolves by sending him a message at the website below:

http://action.defenders.org/saverockiemountainwolves

In the last century, America's wolves were nearly hunted, trapped, poisoned and harassed to extinction. Yet neither Wyoming nor Idaho has addressed the core issues that once brought these magnificent animals to the brink of extinction.

These wolves are in trouble. But, together, I know we can save them. I hope you'll help...

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:

https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?s_oo=kAecrJ-7lDc1SnmGilaQNQ..&id=609

If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

It's easy to help. Just go to the website below to take action:

http://action.defenders.org/saverockiemountainwolves

PLEASE HELP!