IDA Blog

Animal Rescue

The past week has seen some steps forward for elephants in circuses. These are only small steps but they represent progress for elephants and, for Dumbo, a life that has improved in significant ways.

Dumbo a circus performer no more

For nineteen months, we searched for Dumbo – the African elephant who killed her handler at a Pennsylvania Shrine Circus in April of 2010 and then disappeared from view. The USDA confirmed an open investigation into that incident, following a complaint from IDA. With your help, we were persistent in demanding the USDA’s urgent attention to Dumbo’s welfare, filing complaints and mobilizing people to write to the USDA on her behalf, while making efforts to locate and monitor her.

We can now report that Dumbo has been moved to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado; she is finally out of the hands of her circus “owners’” – the notorious Frisco family.

This is not the perfect solution. Of course, we would have much preferred that Dumbo spend the rest of her life at a natural habitat sanctuary in a more suitable climate. But we are pleased that she will no longer be forced to give rides or perform circus tricks at the point of a bullhook; the zoo manages its elephants using protected contact. She will no longer have to endure the intense confinement of travel.  And she now lives with three African elephants, ending years of solitude.

For Dumbo, who is known as Jambo in her new home, life is better.

Ringling hit with the biggest fine ever by USDA

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has hit the owner of Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus with a $270,000 fine to settle charges that the circus violated federal animal welfare law. The charges involved numerous violations over the past three years, including

• forcing a sick elephant to perform
• endangering animals and the public by failing to safely handle an elephant who broke away from her handlers during a pre-show
• carrying food for the tigers in the same containers used to remove waste from the cages

In all there were more than 24 violations cited, and the fine is the maximum allowed by federal law ($10,000 per violation). The circus has agreed to train staff to comply with welfare requirements, as well. While Ringling officially admits to no wrongdoing, and the fine is nothing more than the cost of doing business for wealthy circus owner Feld Entertainment, Inc., the media is generally getting the message that there were significant animal welfare violations that prompted this settlement, which means that the public is hearing about Ringling’s abuse.

IDA joined with other animal groups to organize the largest circus protest ever against Ringling in Los Angeles in July. We will continue to monitor Ringling and other circuses, to file complaints with the USDA, and to educate the public about the suffering of animals used in the circus.

For more information about IDA’s work on elephants in circuses, go to www.helpelephants.com.

Today, Wednesday, Nov. 2^nd, began like every other busy day at Hope Animal Sanctuary. Lisa, Sarah, and B.J., our new teammate, had their hands full with the care of our precious animals. Danielle, the delicately featured brown bay, is still having a bit of trouble with her right front hoof, but is doing better.  Her mother, our Dolly, seems content, but is struggling with her deformed hoof.  Our time with her is cherished.

Our new resident, Arlin, has taken well to his environment but needs a friend. He is a Barbados sheep. He probably doesn’t know how blessed he is. Our friend, Arlin, animal control officer (ACO) for Winona, Mississippi, went the extra mile to see his namesake safely delivered into our hands. The four-hoofed Arlin escaped the trailer he was being transported in and was captured and delivered to the Sell Barn. Technically, the Sell Barn had no claim on him, but it wouldn’t agree to his release without payment. The asking price was $150. Our buddy raised the bounty, and we picked up the newly freed Arlin.  He certainly has moxy. He challenged the emus, horses, and each of us when we initially approached him. A good stomp of his right front hoof, followed by lowered horns and impact on whatever barrier was between us quickly gained respect for his wishes.

Three more abandoned pups arrived. Haystack, Helga, & Hannah are thin, have mange, and are simply adorable.  If it weren’t for the next transport to Colorado, we don’t know what we would do.

By late afternoon I thought I’d wrapped up our business in town when I received a timely call from “Doc” Abernethy, whose Veterinary Associates clinic was on my way home. The newer Grenada ACO had brought a dog in for euthanasia. He’d had a call from a man who’d kicked in a neighbor’s door after his mother had seen a dog in the kitchen window of a house that had been abandoned for months.  The occupant had moved in May and had stopped her irregular visits. There was a horrid odor permeating the air around the front of the house.

When the man and another neighbor entered the deserted home, they were stunned to find two young dogs had been confined to the kitchen and one had succumbed to cannibalizing her lifeless sibling or perish.

I accompanied the ACO to the scene, documented the evidence, and accepted custody of the dog for Doc’s capable and caring hands. I called the chief of police to ask for support. Two officers and the senior ACO joined us.  A report was taken, and you can rest assured that IDA will assist with the prosecution of the callous soul who simply stopped caring for the two precious lives she entrapped. She could have called animal control, asked a neighbor for help, or even just let them loose if she was too lazy or unthinking to ask for help.

Imagine being confined with your sister and slowly starved and dehydrated.  Imagine the desperation of climbing to the window to seek help, freedom, and then being alone, terribly alone when your sister lost her fragile grasp on life. Think of first nuzzling her for comfort and then as her lifeless body faded and she was no more, resorting to the instinct of survival. How long will it take Wanda to be herself?  She’s emaciated. As she lay on the exam table fleas careened in and out of her dull hair.  She stared straight ahead, fearful of making eye contact, the whites of her eyes so revealed that her beautiful brown irises seemed stark and desolate amidst a panicked world of confusion.

I promise you Wanda will heal with us and learn to love life.

Little Holly and Bo Jangle are home with us.  Holly, an adorable kitten, has had her badly injured eye removed; Bo Jangle’s hip, side, and back healed with no apparent intervention after what was probably a brush with a vehicle, and Miss Beasley is recovering from the amputation of her badly healed leg.  These are just a few of the treasured lives we’ve been blessed to help in the first few days of November.

And none of this could have happened without you.

We will presently update you about our transport to Colorado. We just want you to know how much we appreciate and value your support. We were able to take 8 kittens and 89 dogs and puppies to find their forever guardians. The 5 puppies we recently pulled from beneath a home (their mother had been killed the day before), and the 6 neglected puppies we gathered from beneath a trailer were all on board and are doing well!

 

To support our work please click here.

Many people are not aware that quite a few common human foods can make our animal companions very ill, and many are even toxic.

 

We all know that they love to get into everything they can (this is their job, after all), so be sure they don’t have access to the foods, beverages, cleaners, chemicals, and other products that will harm or possibly even kill them.

Please share the following list of poisonous foods and products with everyone in your household.

• Chocolate
• Xylitol (commonly found in gum, candy, baked goods, and toothpaste)
• Alcoholic beverages
• Hops
• Milk and other dairy products
• Coffee
• Tea
• Caffeine
• Apple seeds
• Peach pits
• Apricot pits
• Cherry pits
• Grapes
• Macadamia nuts
• Walnuts
• Mustard seeds
• Onions and onion powder
• Raisins
• Yeast dough
• Avocados
• Moldy foods
• Raw (or undercooked) meat, eggs, and bones
• Garlic
• Chives
• Mushroom plants
• Potato leaves and stems (green parts)
• Tomato leaves and stems (green parts)
• Rhubarb leaves
• Salt
• Tobacco
• Marijuana
• Eggplant
• Prescription and over the counter drugs
• Fat trimmings and bones
• Ham and other salty meats
• Liver (can cause vitamin A toxicity)
• Tuna (can lead to malnutrition or cause mercury poisoning)

Consult with your veterinarian or animal nutritionist before feeding your animal companions food not specifically intended for them.

 

Additionally, more than 700 plants have been found to be harmful to animals.  Please research all plants and flowers before bringing them into your home.

 

Many commercial animal companion foods contain reject meat from diseased animals that isn’t fit for human consumption, and it is believed that this is causing higher incidents of cancer in our animal companions.  If you want to keep the inedible slaughterhouse waste out of your dog’s diet, a vegan dog food might be the healthiest choice for your dog.  Regrettably, many of the leading food companies also test on animals, so please be sure to choose a food manufacturer that doesn’t.

 

For more tips on how you can be a great guardian and help keep animals safe, please visit our Guardian Campaign.

 

To support our work please click here.

 

Work every day of your life to right what is wrong.

 

This week BJ Martin joined our staff at Hope Animal Sanctuary.  BJ is a vet tech with 15 years experience who has worked with a wide variety of species, including emus.  She will be an invaluable asset to our team. She’s already proven her worth. On Thursday, BJ, Sarah, and I dedicated our day to caring for our animals and then set out for Macon, Mississippi, to Heartworm Test 33 of approximately 100 dogs needing medical care and guardianship. We didn’t arrive until 10:30 p.m. and didn’t wrap up until after midnight, finally returning at 2:30 a.m. With cases involving so many animals, every opportunity to provide help must be seized. We brought Ella, who is among the 145 dogs when the rescue began, home as her male companions were sparring over her.

 

I’ve been in contact with “Animal Planet’s” hoarding program over a period of months believing it would be aiding in the Macon case. After the production department passed and rescheduled several interviews I was told the case wasn’t chosen because family members weren’t in conflict over the issues related to the case. What a shame.

 

But thanks to local activists and members of at least one grassroots group, an effort to help the animals was launched. The activists began documenting the dogs, Dr. Bushby (Mississippi State University Marcia Lane Endowed Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare Department of Clinical Sciences) and his student surgery team provided 22 surgeries, Friday the 15^th, (we were there to aid with pre- & post-surgery needs), Homeward Bound (the group founded by MSU veterinary students) arranged for the transport of some of the dogs, and we will be taking some of the dogs to Colorado on our next transport. There’s much more to be done, but it will have to be in steps if every option to place the dogs will be accomplished.

 

The six pups Lisa and I removed from beneath the trailer of a local man are faring well as are the seven adults we wrenched from him.  Apathy, drink, and ignorance have contributed to his years of neglect of animals. This time we will put an end to his contribution to suffering.

 

Two wonderful young women raced three pups to us whom they found bound in a shirt on an unpaved county road. Sadly one of the pups passed the next morning, but his sisters, Beezle and Bonnie, who are absolutely adorable, are thriving.

 

Friday I had a zillion things to do that just couldn’t be put off, including heading to Starkville, Mississippi, for this year’s Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue class at MSU. It’s a given that the more we have to do the more certain priorities will change with the next phone call. Sure enough, a local Duck Hill police officer called to ask for assistance for the pups of a mother dog who was killed on the road in front of the house she’d chosen for her den.

 

The elder couple that owned the house volunteered their grandson to assist with rescuing the pups, who were huddled beneath the center of the house against the center junctions of the wooden foundation.  As the house was so low and the pups were so far in, even the slender frame of a young man couldn’t fit beyond a few feet of the outside wall. We bound my pole net and a segment of wooden molding and the young man went to work. He was exhausted after retrieving the first two pups. The police officer’s family had come for the vigil and his smaller son took up the effort. All five of the babies came out safely and in good condition. They are now flourishing.

 

On my way back from the rescue class this evening I rendezvoused with a man who rescued a dog from a rest stop in our region. The dog may have been abandoned, or he wandered there in search of food. Either way, he has endured deprivation, is very thin, and appears to have suffered injuries from a brush with a vehicle. We’ll have him checked out tomorrow.

 

Last Sunday, Glory went to her new home. A family that pampers their horses and has multiple pastures in which to do so has adopted our beautiful and good-natured mare. We couldn’t be happier.  Glory was emaciated when we rescued her from a barren parcel unfit for pasture. Her companions had died and she would have, too.  We are so grateful for our sanctuary and the support of friends who partner with us to carry out the hope we promise the animals with whom we are entrusted.

 

To support our work please click here.

In a great win for elephants, the Toronto City Council voted to send the Toronto Zoo’s African elephants, Thika, Iringa and Toka, to the PAWS Sanctuary in Northern California. The council voted in May to close the zoo’s elephant exhibit, but decided to send the elephants to another zoo and not to a sanctuary—though a sanctuary was not out of the question if an appropriate zoo was not located.

 

But things turned around last week when Councilor Michelle Berardinetti presented an urgent motion to move the elephants to PAWS amid rumors that the Toronto Zoo was zeroing in on a facility that would not meet the council’s criteria for the elephants. The council had specified that they be sent to a warmer climate and to a facility that did not use bulhooks on any elephants. Councilor Berardinetti’s motion passed by a resounding 31-4.

 

Thanks to the compassion of the Toronto City Council and the hard work of Zoocheck Canada, Thika, Toka, and Iringa are now assured a permanent home in a facility that offers far more space than any zoo, a climate suitable for elephants, and only positive reinforcement training.

 

IDA is very proud of its role in helping these elephants. We sparked the effort to save them in 2009, when IDA called for closure of the Toronto Zoo’s elephant exhibit following the unprecedented deaths of four elephants in less than four years, and urged the Toronto City Council to send the elephants to a sanctuary. The story was widely covered by the Canadian media. IDA kept the pressure on when we made Toronto the first Canadian entry on IDA’s annual Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list. And it is thanks to the perseverance of Zoocheck Canada that this wonderful victory was finally achieved.

 

Now it’s time to turn our attention to the plight of solitary Lucy in Edmonton, and assure that she, too, can live out her life in a sanctuary in the company of other elephants. And we can’t forget all the other elephants living in inadequate conditions in Canada and elsewhere. With your help and support, we can bring about the mammoth changes they need.

This is about love, loss, and some of the animals we recently had the privilege of rescuing but who didn’t make it. It’s been a time of genuine sorrow. I know I don’t need to tell you how badly we hurt. Compassion is at the heart of all of us at IDA: staff, volunteers, and supporters. We all are too familiar with the gnawing pain of loss. This morning I walked about in a daze and had to fight to keep alert as I was transferring one of our young dogs to a compatible group. Life moves on, but the memories of the ones who leave us are indelible, imprinted on our minds forever.

 

Eleanor, our beautiful angel. Eleanor was the first of the animals rescued from the hoarder case now in litigation. As we walked up the driveway I spotted her lying in debris, a “burn pile.” I spoke to her as I approached.  She didn’t even recognize our presence.  As I leaned and picked her up, she awoke, but too weak to struggle to move. When we reached Veterinary Associates, “Doc” Abernethy gave her little chance of survival.  As the days passed, she responded to the pampering of both Vet Assoc. and HAS staff.  She loved and craved attention.

 

 

 

 

Eleanor seemed to be prospering. She put on weight, her skin began to heal, and her hair grew. But she was weak, often wobbling as she walked or stepped up to her deck. She showed symptoms of having survived Distemper, the disease of which four of her companions succumbed.

 

 

 

 

Our devoted volunteer Lisa Martin cares for many of our special needs animals. Eleanor went home with Lisa and Mike for the individual care we hoped would aid her recovery. Sadly, she began losing her appetite. She curled tightly and shook from pain or neurological impairment.  Last week I went to Canton, about an hour south of the sanctuary, to bring Eleanor home for Doc to evaluate. Dr. Osborne was also on hand when I arrived.  He ran tests, Doc ran more tests, x-rays were taken, and the diagnosis was renal failure.  Eleanor’s plight of deprivation and disease took its toll on her organs. There was to be no recovery. Sarah and I sobbed as we said goodbye to our precious. My insides ached.

 

 

On the morning that Eleanor passed away Doll told friends: Eleanor lost her battle with kidney failure this morning. I cannot begin to express the grief we feel. We fought for and loved Eleanor since the day I picked her up out of the horrid debris pile she was lying in. Eleanor was dying. With the aid of Veterinary Associates in Grenada, Mississippi, we nearly brought Eleanor back to health. She began gaining weight, thoroughly enjoyed our affection, and fought for her life. Our hearts are crushed. Help us continue to fight for innocent animals like Eleanor.

 

 

A few years ago, we received a call from officers at Camp McCain, the Mississippi National Guard training site, asking for haven for an abandoned puppy. When he arrived we just laughed and blurted out, “Puppy!” Kendall was aged, all but toothless, blind in one eye, and his ears were gnarled from who knows how many survival fights. He was so food-deprived that he was impossible with other dogs. We fed him in an enclosure and gradually introduced him to dogs with whom he wouldn’t feel threatened. As time passed his fears gave way to sheer joy. Just looking at Kendall put a new perspective on any difficult day.

 

Kendall and our Tobey were both survivors. The old bulls on the hill, they occasionally bumped chests like two elder men challenging one another to an arm wrestle. We laughed. Their skirmishes lasted all of seconds as they’d both lose balance and topple—always with the dignity of their esteemed stature.

 

How do you fill such a void?

 

In another disturbing and painful turn this morning, two of the seven pups we rescued from the Lott case last week succumbed to Parvo.  We first lost the little guy with severe bite wounds to his forehead.  The other pups seemed to be thriving. They ate, drank, played (all in the Quarantine Room), and then they suddenly stopped eating. Little Regan, the heartiest and most demanding, was the first to show signs of distress. We were shocked. She was so full of herself, so alive.  She was one of the two who passed last night. We weren’t able to learn who her sibling was as we couldn’t handle them because we are struggling to save little Arlin, another pup who came in after days without his mom or food.

 

I am praying for some happier news to send your way soon. Sarah, our wonderful assistant, is now bottle-feeding kittens, and there may still be hope for Arlin. We just rescued thirteen puppies and three adults from beneath a local man’s trailer. One of the mothers of the pups is called Lottie, who was in very bad shape and seems to be getting stronger. Sadly, seven of the puppies have died after intense medical intervention, while the remaining six are in guarded condition. Stay tuned …

We are currently being sued by Eleanor’s hoarder for trying to save her.  Please click here for further details and to learn how you can help.

To make a donation to support our work please click here.  Thank you!

Every dog is a story. In South Korea, millions of dogs are subjected to the most unimaginable agony until their last breath, at grim and squalid dog meat farms and meat markets—the very bowels of existence—with their pitiless smell of human injustice and cruelty. They come to sorrow in these hellish places, imprisoned in filthy and desolate cages, where puppies are usually separated from their mothers, all awaiting their fate. According to a persistent and mystifying belief, the greater the terror and pain a dog experiences while dying—the more he suffers—the more intense the boost in adrenaline in the flesh for a tastier meat, as well as a real boon for a man’s virility. A life snuffed out. Everyday cruelties perpetrated casually and without remorse.

As every dog is a story, every rescue is a story—jubilation-bringing rescues that are rays of light in a realm of darkness.

Happy Angels Dog Rescue, in Los Angeles, California, not only rescues dogs from high-kill shelters and off the streets of L.A., but also funds, transports, and places dogs from South Korea. Working with various South Korean animal organizations, including IDA’s partner Coexistence for Animal Rights on Earth (CARE) and Young-Jin Kwon of the newly formed People Defending Animals, dogs are saved from dog meat slaughterhouses, dog meat farms, restaurants that serve dog meat, S. Korean shelters, and individual abuse cases. Because many South Korean dog lovers clamor for purebreds, especially puppies, adult dogs of mixed breeds find it much more difficult to find homes there. After rescue, the South Korean organizations foster and assist in the transportation of the dogs.

Founded in June, 2008, by Stephanie Jeong, Happy Angels has transported about 150 S. Korean dogs to be placed in permanent homes in Los Angeles. The following stories highlight an odyssey of unremittingly bleak lives, and miraculous endings.

Click ‘Read More’ to read these amazing and heartwarming stories!

Click Here to learn more about what IDA is doing to help animals in live markets in Korea.

Please click here for more info and to donate.

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Several times a year we learn of tragedies that could have been prevented. People tend not to realize that during the “dog days” of summer, for example, the temperature inside a car can climb to well above 100ºF degrees in just a matter of minutes. Because dogs can only cool themselves by panting and sweating through their paw pads, it is especially dangerous for them to sit in a hot car. Guardians love their companions and many want to take them everywhere they go. It is important, however, to realize that during the warm summer months, the safest place for your canine friends is indoors. If he or she must stay outside for long, avoid the hottest part of the day. Don’t forget to provide shade, water, and a kiddie pool.

So please consider this a friendly reminder to not leave your companion animals in the car during these hot summer months. Even with the windows cracked, dogs can suffer a heat stroke in a very short amount of time. Please leave your companions at home unless they can come inside with you.

Click here to learn more about The Guardian Campaign!

On Wednesday, June 29th, HAS volunteer Sarah Thomas, a vet tech, wildlife rehabilitator, and activist, and I set out to locate three horses in Grenada County, Miss., reported to be starving.  On our way, I got a call from my buddy Kevin Hodges, an animal control officer, water-meter reader, and part-time law enforcer for Charleston, Miss., only an hour from us, asking for help with six dogs also reported to be starving. Kevin knows he can count on our support and guardianship of animals we seize.

We located the first property where the horses were, but a privacy fence prevented “plain view” and an uncooperative sheriff meant the groundwork would have to be laid before there would be intervention.  I called Kevin to tell him that we were on our way to meet him. At 704 East Chestnut Street, Charleston resident Sherri White showed us six chained and horribly neglected dogs.  She claimed two to be hers and four to be those of her boyfriend’s relative.
After a visit to the police department, we prepared a seizure order, and crossed the street for Municipal Court Judge Steve Ross to sign. We returned, warrant in hand, and documented the heart-wrenching plight of the dogs and removed them. White protested the taking of her dogs and informed us the other “owner” refused to come when she called him. The chief and a fellow officer arrived to insure a smooth operation.

We immediately took off for Veterinary Associates, HAS’s vet clinic, to settle the dogs in and supervise as they dove into the nourishment they’d long been denied. White had stated she fed her dogs, but only fed the others if she had extra food. One of her dogs was as emaciated as the boyfriend’s relative’s dog to whom she was chained.  I listened in amazement as she told us she wouldn’t interfere when the other dog jumped her dog and would bite going for the morsel of food she gave her own dog.

The extraordinary density and inhumanity of seemingly conscious people is beyond my grasp. The gross neglect of the dogs has been recorded, they’ve been secured in a private kennel, and I’ll be filing criminal affidavits after meeting with the city attorney. Why can’t all community leaders have it so together like Charleston’s?

The plight of horses is worsening. Some blame the economy; others say banning horse slaughter in the U.S. meant “owners” who couldn’t sell their horses let them starve. I say it’s both selfishness and ignorance. Horses are being overbred just like other companion animals. Those who think they can make a buck breed and then find out there are no buyers, at least at the prices they want, and they don’t want to feed what they can’t make money off of and certainly don’t want to give away what they might someday sell. The glut of horses means you can buy a horse for $50, or get one from someone who wants to “unload.”  It’s cool to have a horse and to tell folks you have a horse. Horses are like “trophy brides”: they express status, and, of course, there are some who actually think they’ll ride. The question is how many of these people are caught up in a whim with no thought of how to actually care for horses.

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