Help Humane Soc of Louisiana help needy shelters

The Humane Society of Louisiana has taken on the arduous task of
coordinating disaster relief and preparedness, fundraising efforts,
allocating supplies, and creating greater exposure for the hardest hit
parishes' abandoned, abused and hungry animals being sheltered in less then
adequate conditions made worse from Ike, Gustav and Katrina.

Please make a wish come true for the Humane Society of Louisiana!
[I delete direct links to make contributions as it is risky to make donations through third party sites-just go to http://www.threewishesfoundation.org/la_humane_society.html website to get donation link)
Sponsored by Three Wishes Foundation

BIG PRIZES: NOV 6, 2008 DRAWING FROM LIST OF DONORS
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, Coleman E. Adler & Sons Jewelers and Gray Line
Tours / New Orleans Steamboat have all donated items to help raise money for
the 30k in 30 day campaign. The items are valued from between $500 and $100.
A drawing from the list of donors will take place on the 6th of November
when winners will be announced.

Every one who donates to the campaign online has a chance to win:
- Dinner Jazz Cruise for 4
- Westwego Swamp Boat Cruise for 4
- Gray Line Cocktail Walking Tour for 4
- A $500 piece of Lagos jewelry
- Sheraton Package for a 2 night stay for 2 people with complimentary
breakfast located on historic Canal Street, bordering the French Quarter

Help out the Humane Society of Louisiana and Three Wishes Foundation by your donation of $25 or more and you will receive one of the cute plush barking or meowing pets!

Help us raise money for animal care, building and supplies.
Please help us provide care and service to animals in these hardest hit parishes.

Last days for purchase to help Whiskerville

As noted in a comment by Mishak, "EFA-ArtistsHelpingAnimals is featuring Whiskerville as our charity of the month - we are donating to them through sales in our Etsy shop at this October - for more information please see:
http://efaartistshelpinganimals.org/ (or see the shop at http://www.etsyforanimals. etsy.com"

There are only a few days left this month to get a neat gift and help out Whiskerville. So go to their Team Store--maybe you will find a Christmas gift or one for yourself.

Bay Area Pet Adoptions needs help

I got behind but I am back and catching up. And though Hurricane Ike has long gone, small animal rescues and shelters are still in great need. Bay Area Pet Adoptions is a shelter is San Leon, Texas which is right on bay not far from the Gulf Coast that suffered significant damage from Hurricane Ike. This is one of their photos showing some of the damage. Below is a list of their updated list of needs.

>>Current Needs 10/27/2008 We still need so many things to continue helping the animals:
1. Financial Contributions: Donate online here or mail a check to PO Box 638, Kemah, TX 77565.
2. Veterinary Gift Certificates for Special Needs Animals.
3. Volunteers for Off-Site Adoption Days. View details here.
4. Gas Cards for use our Adoption and Supply Van.
5. Storage Building (ours were damaged by Ike).
6. On-Site Volunteers: We need volunteers to continue with cleanup and ongoing recovery.
7. HeartGard Heartworm Prevention/Frontline Tick & Flea Prevention Spray.
8. Small and Medium Stainless Steel Water/Food Bowls for Cats.
9. Filing Cabinets and General Office Supplies (our main building and contents have extensive damage).
10. Volunteers! We need your help. Please view our Volunteer needs.

Recovery Update 10/27/2008
• Our phone system is still not functioning properly, including our fax.
• We are unable to accept credit cards until we receive a new machine.
• Our hours are 12-5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday until further notice.
• Closed Wednesday & Sunday.
• Our facilities have suffered severe damage and there is still much work to be done. View photos.
• We are working out of the remaining habitable buildings. If you visit us for an adoption, please be patient.

Please Help
• We rely on donations and minimal adoption fees to house, feed, and provide medical care to the
animals at our facility.
• We do not receive any government funding.
• We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
• We have been serving the Houston Bay Area since 1967>

Thanks to Miskat for bringing this group to my attention.

Humane Society endorses Obama

Humane Society Legislative Fund Endorses Obama-Biden

One of the guiding principles of the Humane Society Legislative Fund is that we evaluate candidates based on a single criterion: where they stand on animal protection policies. We don’t make decisions based on party affiliation, or any other social issue, or even how many pets they have. We care about their views and actions on the major policy debates relating to animal welfare.

It stirs controversy to get involved in candidate elections. But we believe that candidates for office and current lawmakers must be held accountable, or they will see the animal protection movement as a largely irrelevant political constituency. In order to have good laws, we need good lawmakers, and involvement in elections is an essential strategy for any serious social movement, including our cause.

While we’ve endorsed hundreds of congressional candidates for election, both Democrats and Republicans, we’ve never before endorsed a presidential candidate. We have members on the left, in the center, and on the right, and we knew it could be controversial to choose either party’s candidate for the top office in the nation. But in an era of sweeping presidential power, we must weigh in on this most important political race in the country. Standing on the sidelines is no longer an option for us.

Obama I’m proud to announce today that the HSLF board of directors—which is comprised of both Democrats and Republicans—has voted unanimously to endorse Barack Obama for President. The Obama-Biden ticket is the better choice on animal protection, and we urge all voters who care about the humane treatment of animals, no matter what their party affiliation, to vote for them.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been a solid supporter of animal protection at both the state and federal levels. As an Illinois state senator, he backed at least a dozen animal protection laws, including those to strengthen the penalties for animal cruelty, to help animal shelters, to promote spaying and neutering, and to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. In the U.S. Senate, he has consistently co-sponsored multiple bills to combat animal fighting and horse slaughter, and has supported efforts to increase funding for adequate enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and federal laws to combat animal fighting and puppy mills.

In his response to the HSLF questionnaire, he pledged support for nearly every animal protection bill currently pending in Congress, and said he will work with executive agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior to make their policies more humane. He wrote of the important role animals play in our lives, as companions in our homes, as wildlife in their own environments, and as service animals working with law enforcement and assisting persons with disabilities. He also commented on the broader links between animal cruelty and violence in society.

Obama has even on occasion highlighted animal protection issues on the campaign trail, and has spoken publicly about his support for animal protection. In reaction to the investigation showing the abuse of sick and crippled cows which earlier this year led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history, he issued a statement saying “that the mistreatment of downed cows is unacceptable and poses a serious threat to public health.” He is featured in Jana Kohl’s book about puppy mills, A Rare Breed of Love, with a photo of Obama holding Baby (shown above), the three-legged poodle rescued from an abusive puppy mill operation, and his political mentor, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), is the author of the latest federal bill to crack down on puppy mills.

Obamabiden2 Importantly, Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) has been a stalwart friend of animal welfare advocates in the Senate, and has received high marks year after year on the Humane Scorecard. Biden has not only supported animal protection legislation during his career, but has also led the fight on important issues. He was the co-author with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the 108th Congress on legislation to ban the netting of dolphins by commercial tuna fishermen. He was the lead author of a bill in the 107th Congress to prohibit trophy hunting of captive exotic mammals in fenced enclosures, and he successfully passed the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On the Republican ticket, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has also supported some animal protection bills in Congress, but has been inattentive or opposed to others. He has voted for and co-sponsored legislation to stop horse slaughter, and voted to eliminate a $2 million subsidy for the luxury fur coat industry. But he has largely been absent on other issues, and has failed to co-sponsor a large number of priority bills or sign onto animal protection letters that have had broad support in the Senate.

The McCain campaign did not fill out the HSLF presidential questionnaire, and has also not issued any public statements on animal welfare issues. He was silent during the downed animal scandal and beef recall, which played out during a high-point in the primary fight. Yet he did speak at the NRA convention earlier this year, and is the keynote speaker this weekend in Columbus, Ohio, at the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance rally—an extremist organization that defends the trophy hunting of threatened polar bears and captive shooting of tame animals inside fenced pens.

While McCain’s positions on animal protection have been lukewarm, his choice of running mate cemented our decision to oppose his ticket. Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) retrograde policies on animal welfare and conservation have led to an all-out war on Alaska’s wolves and other creatures. Her record is so extreme that she has perhaps done more harm to animals than any other current governor in the United States.

Palin2 Palin engineered a campaign of shooting predators from airplanes and helicopters, in order to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. She offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals, even though Alaska voters had twice approved a ban on the practice. This year, the issue was up again for a vote of the people, and Palin led the fight against it—in fact, she helped to spend $400,000 of public funds to defeat the initiative.

What’s more, when the Bush Administration announced its decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Palin filed a lawsuit to reverse that decision. She said it’s the “wrong move” to protect polar bears, even though their habitat is shrinking and ice floes are vanishing due to global warming.

The choice for animals is especially clear now that Palin is in the mix. If Palin is put in a position to succeed McCain, it could mean rolling back decades of progress on animal issues.

Voters who care about protecting wildlife from inhumane and unsporting abuses, enforcing the laws that combat large-scale cruelties like dogfighting and puppy mills, providing humane treatment of animals in agriculture, and addressing other challenges that face animals in our nation, must become active over the next six weeks to elect a president and vice president who share our values. Please spread the word, and tell friends and family members that an honest assessment of the records of the two presidential tickets leads to the inescapable conclusion that Obama-Biden is the choice for humane-minded voters.

From http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/09/humane-society.html

Spindletop Refuge still really needs help

>>Spindletop Refuge has taken in lots of dogs, primarily bully breeds, pit bulls that deserve a chance, and have had nowhere else to go...they do a great job there, and rehome them whenever possible and appropriate.

Leah tells me they are having a tough time bouncing back from hurricane damage - and she herself was seriously injured by a horse during the cleanup efforts.

They could really use some donations now, to tide them over. Any amount will help take care of the almost two hundred dogs they have there, as well as rescue horses, and even a llama...

They have been shoveling two feet of mud out of their buildings by hand, because a bobcat rental would be $700...if anyone has a line on a bobcat they could use, that would be great.

But for the moment, if you could spare a few bucks, they could really, really use it. Leah has always done her part and taken pit bulls that nobody else wants - she rarely asks for help, but she has asked now...thanks for anything you can do.

http://www.spindletoprefuge.com/>>>

Help Whiskerville Shelter thru contest

Whiskerville is that small animal sanctuary in Texas City, Tx, near Galveston, that I posted about earlier. It accomplishes a lot with a very little. They are desperately in need of funds to purchase a power source for emergency power to provide circulating air in a very hot and humid location so their animals (and the human helpers) don't get so stressed.

There is a website called ZooToo that is conducting a competition that will result in a make-over for a shelter. The shelter gains points when supporters join , post photos and videos on their site, write a review, comment on the news or one of several other internet activities on their site.

Whiskerville has only 320 points so far--sadly, this make-over should be awarded the most deserving shelter. Oh, well--let's give Whiskerville a shot at the makeover. Register to begin helping them. SeEtta

Daughter of man killed rescuing dogs is found

"Answers come too late for Ike worker's daughter
Clear Lake woman uses Web to track down adult child of man killed while saving dogs from freeway
By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 7, 2008, 10:29PM

The e-mail from a stranger in Clear Lake was to the point, and an improbable end to a Pittsburgh woman's 13 years of searching for the father she hadn't spoken to since she was a kid.

"Is your father's name Robert Emery? The whole city of Houston is looking for any relatives," read the message.

Alaina Emery was startled as she stared at a computer screen while in the library at paralegal school.

Trembling and swept with emotion, she misunderstood the reason for the question.

"Why is the entire city of Houston looking for him?" she typed back.

The exchange would quickly lead to Alaina, now 25, realizing her long-lost father was Robert "Bob" Emery, the mysterious Hurricane Ike relief worker killed the night of Sept. 27 as he dashed onto the East Freeway to rescue three dogs stranded in the emergency lane hugging the median.

The men who worked with him clearing storm debris and traveled with him from the Florida Keys described him as a big-hearted jack-of-all trades, but knew nothing of his past." read the full story here

Another way to help Spindletop Rescue

In addition to sending donations to Spindletop rescue, I found that there is a Cafe press site for them where the following items can be purchased with a small profit going to the Rescue:

logo wear- t-shirts, sweatshirts and other clothing items
dog t-shirts
greeting cards
and many other items with several logo options

View the items here

Spindletop Refuge-updated needs

Spindletop Refuge was the first small group I posted about as their needs began even as Hurricane Gustav (which hit the week before Hurricane Ike) was looming. Here is an update I just received and I am re-posting the original information on them (you can see pics of the damage from Ike at http://www.spindletoprefuge.com/Ike%20Hits%20Hard.pdf at the end:

"First, "thank you" to everyone for their support, concern and donations. Spindletop is still trying to recover from Ike, although some progress has been made. Below is an update on behalf of Leah and the gang at Spindletop:

The staff is working long days, seven days a week getting Spindletop back on its feet in conjunction with keeping the animals on Spindletop's program. The past few days brought really nice weather so they got a lot done! They've been working on cleaning up the property, securing fences and digging two feet of mud out from underneath a 5,000 square foot building. A Bobcat would make this job a lot easier but it comes with a $700/ month rental fee, so they are doing it all by hand and shovel. At this point they are approximately one-third done with the cleaning project.

The cost of labor is approximately $12,000; covering four weeks, seven days a week. FEMA does not cover expenses related to clean-up, so they are on their own. Currently, FEMA and Spindletop's insurance are going back and forth over who covers damage to the buildings. According to FEMA and Spindletop's insurance company, assistance regarding the repair of some of our buildings (e.g. kennels) is second priority since they are not homesteads. Leah said she fully understand this, of course, but since Spindletop is a rescue for animals this makes things difficult. For now, FEMA and the insurance company are going back and forth as to who is responsible for covering what and how much.

Electricity is on, although it will go out for a full day every now and again. They had some excitement last week when a transformer caught fire. Luckily, there was no damage. To add to the excitement, on Sunday, October 5th Leah got kicked by one of the rescue horses and broke her arm in two places and fractured her hip bone. They were cutting trees on the fence line in order to secure the back of the property so the rescue horses would be safe. Leah thought all the horses had been secured, but one friendly girl followed her and she didn't know it. Leah realized the horse was behind her as a large tree limb was falling. As she smacked the horse's hind to get her moving she turned, saw the limb and kicked at it. The horse didn't mean to kick Leah, but she got the worst of it. The tree limb was not harmed, but Leah was! Leah protected her abdomen with her arms when she saw the kick coming. As a result, she wound up with one clean break and one nasty break. Leah is now out of commission leaving Spindletop down one full working body. Leah said she doesn't have much of a tolerance for pain and that's she's in a lot of it. I'm guessing the staff is keeping their distance. I'm in New Jersey, so I'm safe!

Among the generous donations Spindletop has received in response to our first update (Thanks, everyone!), they received just enough tarps to cover the play yards (Thanks, Zandra). They are expecting some bad weather in the next day or two so they are holding off putting them up until the weather passes. They just got them, so they don't want to lose them already! Also, Kong Company donated 180 Kongs to Spindletop (Thanks, Lauren!) Spindletop is still in need of the following:

Indestructible balls
Nylabones (Perhaps the company will donate?)
3 Gallon water buckets
Cash donation to cover labor expenses
12x12 Tarps
Luck

Again, thank you for your support and generosity! Please know that I let Leah know every e-mail I receive in response to the updates. We'll get another update out soon, please bear with us as Leah is recovering and Spindletop is working overtime on getting back to full capacity.

Sincerely,

Lynne
Friend of Spindletop Refuge

On behalf of Leah Purcell
Director of Spindletop Refuge"




Original post on 9-22-08:
"Hello to all of our Friends and Supporters,

I wanted to send an update to everyone that has inquired, donated and helped through hurricanes Gustav and Ike. First and foremost, thank you so much for thinking of the dogs here at Spindletop. They have benefited in spirit as well as in comfort due to your prayers and generosity.

Now that the storms are over I can share a brief summary of the preparations we took for Gustav, which never came but the cost were realized in preparing for its arrival, and the heavy blow Ike delivered, leaving substantial damage to our property and buildings.

Following this update are a few pictures of the damage caused by Ike. The lama in one of the photos sustained some minor injuries but has been seen by a veterinarian who came to Spindletop to examine him. He is recovering and doing very well. Please note that the gate he is standing behind is a gate made to contain steer; it is extremely long yet damaged by the storm.

The Preparation
With Gustav, we moved both the rescued dogs and rescued horses to higher ground and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't show up. Not even nine days later we were doing the same thing, except this time we had to relocate some of the animals to go to other sanctuaries for safety reasons. With Ike, we were up against the clock and had moved all the animals literally in the nick of time. The winds were already gusting around 40 mph when we got the last group of dogs secured and sheltered from harm’s way. The “fire drill” with Gustav left us tired and both emotionally and financially stressed. With Ike, we waited to make sure he was actually coming . Gustav and Ike have been very hard on the dogs.

As is becoming customary, John Richardson flew into the storm bringing Connie Anderson (both from New Jersey). John was monumental in helping us with the Rita evacuation, over 300 dogs, more than half of them being Katrina dogs in the care of Spindletop. John and Connie took time off from their own animal related jobs, their families and their animals. They couldn't come too soon either, as we had waited to confirm Ike was happening and on his way. At the time of their arrival, Spindletop was working with a skeleton crew due to the fact some of the employees have young children and needed to stay with their families during the storm. Connie was monumental in helping with the dogs in the house which, in effect, freed up one person to help with the remaining dogs.

We placed 43 dogs in my mother's house (we’ll pretend she was thrilled about that) and the rest were moved into the boarding/evaluation kennel in the front of the property, which is normally an indoor/outdoor kennel that holds 24 dogs. Given the situation with Ike, all dogs were crated and stacked in order to accommodate additional dogs. This proved to be a good move as Ike poured three feet of water into the rescue kennel, caused major damage to the overhead doors and caused severe roof damage by the time all was said and done.

The Aftermath
The rescue kennel will be a total loss; there was almost a foot of mud from the water. We lost all of the tarps that covered our temporary exercise pens, two regular exercise pens, all dog toys and water buckets.

We had three heavy duty tents that housed our supplies (crates, washer/dryer, tools, blankets, toys, etc.); Ike took the tents with most of the things in them. Several of our emergency purpose crates simply vanished.

We have lost a lot of our perimeter fencing due to downed trees and every one of our pastures for the rescue horses are damaged, some severely.

We are still working with a skeleton crew as most of our employees had damage to their own property and need to attend to their problems along with extended family who were hit hard by the storm.

We depended on generators as we anticipated the loss of electricity; we were told we would be without electricity for approximately one month but luckily electricity came on at night Sunday, September 22nd. We hope it stays on! Phone service is spotty at best and we just recently started receiving regular mail. Currently, only a few banks are open for business. We are now able to get gasoline locally now, but there is such a demand that the lines are extremely long. Spindletop was depending on the use of gasoline and propane, costing approximately $200 daily, hopefully with the electricity back on we can save some money here. Originally we had to travel to Brenham for provisions, but grocery and feed stores located closer to us are opening. This is important as it will help reduce our already high gas cost. The stores have non perishables that do not last long due to demand.

I’ve hired laborers to fix the perimeter fencing. Spindletop cannot be fully functional with the dogs until the fencing is repaired. Several trees need to be cut down before we can repair the fencing. They are beginning work Saturday…and will have to share one chainsaw!

As if walking the dogs and assessing the grounds isn’t difficult enough, the water brought a new concern; snakes. Yes, snakes. The most cost effective way to deter the snakes from parts of the property, most importantly the shelters for the people and animals, is placing cinnamon sticks around the perimeter of the structures you want to deter the snakes from.

Ike has left us with a lot of work to do. I, along with the staff and animals at Spindletop, would like to ask for your support as we try to recover from the damage Ike left behind. The animals, of course, are being kept top priority given the current conditions but we need to get back to normal operating conditions as soon as possible.

Below is a short list of items desperately needed:
Cash donations
Cinnamon sticks
12x12 tarps
Gift cards for Walmart or Sams
Zip ties
Toys for dogs*

*All toys were lost in the winds. The purchase of toys is an expense we cannot incur ahead of the others listed above, but toys would certainly keep the dogs occupied and happy.

[Editor's Notes: There were addresses to donate to them here that I deleted. I am not affiliated with this or any of these groups and it is poor practice for anyone to go through a secondary source like me to donate funds. All you have to do is to go to their website to get the physical address and paypal button]

As always, our priority is the welfare of the animals at Spindletop. Again, thank you for your well wishes, concern and support. Any assistance with the above items would be genuinely and immensely appreciated. Spindletop is a non-profit organization (501(c)(3): 26-1200402).

I will send updates as progress is made with procuring provisions and making repairs here at Spindletop."

Donations for man killed trying to rescue dogs

As noted in the article in the previous post, the Houston group "No Paws Left Behind" is collecting donations for the man (Robert Emery -see earlier posts) who was killed trying to rescue three dogs stranded on a Houston freeway. It was noted that the funds may be used to provide burial for him if family is not found (this is an issue raised by authorities as the man was reported to be estranged from his family) so he doesn't have to have a pauper's burial. If not used for burial, then the funds would be used for a memorial for his selfless and brave deed.

Here is the website for No Paws Left Behind: http://www.nopawsleftbehind.org/paws/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx. There is a pay pal button marked "Donate" on the bottom left side of their home page.

I am really glad to see that this group has stepped up to accept contributions and handle burial or a memorial if that is not necessary. Every time I read about the heroic actions of this man tears well up in my eyes. I would hope that someone would rescue my dogs if they got into a precarious position like these dogs did. And, as I noted before, I have put myself in serious danger in order to rescue animals including waving off a semi-truck to the opposite lane on a rural 2 lane highway while I stood between 2 hostile young dachshunds and the truck. So I'm sure I identify with this poor man.

More on man killed trying to save dogs

"Woman praises Florida man killed trying to save dogs
By DANE SCHILLER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 3, 2008, 10:12PM

The Houston owners of the three dogs that a Hurricane Ike relief worker from Florida died trying to save said Friday they feel horrible and are grateful to Robert "Bob" Emery.

Emery was killed the night of Sept. 27 as he tried to reach the three dogs, huddled on the East Freeway median, after one of them had apparently had its paw mangled by a passing car.
----
The three dogs had somehow gotten out of the yard about two days before the accident, said Jackie, who added that she and her husband spent hours driving around looking for them.

Jackie said she and her husband didn't immediately realize their dogs were the same ones in the accident.

By Wednesday, she had picked them from the city kennel, and had paid more than $400 in city fees.

The dogs named Honey and Nicky were fine, but Sweetie, a reddish retriever mix had a badly mangled paw and is hardly able to walk.

Given their fixed income, the couple Friday was trying to determine how best to get the dog back to health.
----------
The Houston nonprofit group, No Paws Left Behind, has been taking up a collection for Emery's funeral and an effort to perhaps memorialize him." Read the full story

Very sad about man killed saving dogs

"Man killed saving three dogs may be buried as pauper
Hailed as hero, officials unable to find any relatives
By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 2, 2008, 1:51AM
Three dogs rescued by Houston animal-control officers after a Hurricane Ike relief worker died trying to reach them are back with their owner, but a Florida man hailed as a hero may be buried as a pauper.

Robert "Bob" Emery, who was from Florida and in Texas to help clear storm debris, died late Saturday after dashing onto the East Freeway to reach the dogs who were huddled in the emergency lane against a cement median. He was struck by a passing motorcycle.

Officers brought the dogs to a city kennel where they were held until Wednesday when, thanks to a rabies-vaccine tag, they were reunited with their owner." Read the rest of the story