Fire kills 140 cats, 3 dogs and numerous small animals at animal shelter

A fire swept through the Humane Society of Durham Region shelter early Wednesday, leaving about 180 animals dead, police said.  (The website for the shelter states the number of animals killed are 

In its wake, those who cared for and loved the animals inside were heartbroken. Teen volunteers could only hug each other, sob and place flowers outside the charred, boarded-up building on Wednesday afternoon.

"I was the investigator. I brought in the animals that were abused," said Debby Houghton.

"A lot of these animals were abused in Durham region. They were starving or neglected and came here to be safe," she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

Another woman noted that many of the animals had to fight to stay alive, only to die from the heat, smoke and flames.

Fire had engulfed the building when firefighters arrived about 2:30 a.m.

Emergency crews managed to save nine dogs, a rat and two cats from the building, located on Waterloo Street in Oshawa. About 140 cats died from smoke inhalation, as did three dogs and about 40 small animals including some rabbits and a guinea pig.

The damage to the building is extensive, police said in a news release.

"The building suffered extensive fire and smoke damage estimated at approximately $250,000," it said. "The cause of the fire has not been determined and remains under investigation."

The animals that were saved were sheltered in police vehicles until officers with Oshawa Animal Services arrived to rescue them.

The pets are now at a 24-hour animal hospital in Whitby where they are being examined.

"This is a horrific event and our hearts go out to the Humane Society of Durham Region," says Kate MacDonald, CEO of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"The SPCA will be assisting the Humane Society in any way we can during this emotional time."

http://toronto.ctv.ca 

Donate to the shelter or attend one of their fundraisers. 

Make 2009 the year for animals!

Make this year the year for animals!  If you truly care about the welfare of animals, this is your year to prove it!  If you have only one hour or one day available, there is something you can do!  I recommend donating to smaller, local shelters.  The larger, more established shelters have many supporters while smaller organizations generally have only local residents supporting them.

Things you can do for a shelter:

Offer to help at adoptions, set up cages, take down cages and anything in between!

Return calls (to people who want to donate, people who want to relinquish their cat or dog, someone found an animal, or lost an animal, etc) or make calls to recent adopters to see how the animal is doing in their new home (you can do this at home!).

Volunteer to do laundry (at home or at the shelter if they have the facilities).

Foster an animal! Fostering an animal means that the animal lives with you and you help socialize that animal and learn more about their likes and dislikes and personality which makes for a very informed adoption when someone comes asking about that particular animal. Check with the shelter to see if the food, litter and vet costs are covered. Some shelters only offer paying for vet care, others, like the one I volunteer for pay for everything.

If you have extra money consider donating towards their medical care or food costs.  If you would rather buy items (instead of giving money) buy cat toys, dog beds, cat trees, chew toys for dogs, scratching posts, etc.  With so many animals, supplies can wear out fast!

Walk dogs for a local shelter or help socialize cats.  Animals in shelters benefit immensely from human contact.  Having a play session, being brushed or getting a pet behind the ears calms them and reduces their stress. (Which makes for happier cats and dogs on adoption day!)

Have computer skills?  Design a shelter's website, create invitations for upcoming events, design flyers to promote adopting an animal, etc.  The possibilities are endless!

Anything, really anything, you can give to or do for your local animal shelter will be appreciated. We always need an endless supply of air tight containers to hold dry food, newspapers, blankets, towels, pillows, toys, cat litter, treats, wet food, high quality dry food, flea medications (NOT over the counter meds-only Frontline, Advantage) laundry detergent, dryer sheets, hand soap, Purell, we use Swiffer Wet to clean the floors, plastic bags (for cleaning up after dogs), plastic baggies (ziploc-type bags of all sizes), trash bags, plastic measuring scoops for accurate amounts of food (not the glass cups), Clorox wipes, paper towels, latex gloves, cotton balls, q-tips, KMR-powder, kitten formula, KMR- powder, 2nd step, Royal Canine-small bite kitten formula.  These are things that we use daily and can always use.

Other things that we use that we don't necessarily need as often are collars, leashes, harnesses, food bowls, water bowls (stand alone and ones that attach to cages), cages, carriers, beds, scratching posts, cat trees/towers, brushes, cat window perches, anything that the cats can scratch on, not necessarily just scratching posts (cats have different preferences on scratching), night lights, rotating floor fans, space heaters, brooms, dustpans, trash cans, clip boards, pens, bird feeders, bird seed and anything else you can think of.

Whether you buy treats for $1.99 or a cat tree for $199.00, it will be appreciated! The more you donate, the more money shelters have to save more animals!
 

Click here to find your local shelter 

A little bit can go a long way when you help out a local animal shelter! Most of the people there are volunteers and are not paid anything. Some are a more commercialized and have very few volunteers with mostly paid workers. Those shelters have generally been around longer and have more supporters and get more donations.

And lastly, support the no-kill shelters! Why would you want your money to go to kill an animal?

What do you do for your local shelter?

I found a cat/kitten outside...now what?

This story has been moved to www.examiner.com

Can you help in Ohio?

Pet Guards Shelter, 950 Hardy Road, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223, is a low-cost spay, neuter and vaccination clinic for dogs and cats, as well as a shelter that houses and adopts out unwanted cats.

The shelter is seeking donations of 1,500 square feet of vinyl flooring, a 5- to 7-ton vertical-discharge, roof-mount heating and cooling unit, a tankless water heater, window tint, signage and awning materials.

In addition, it needs these volunteers: a licensed HVAC installer, an electrician, a flooring installer, a window tinter, a sign maker and an awning maker.

To volunteer, call Joe Elton, 330-431-9391.  For information on donations only, e-mail donations@pgfundraising.org. Information is at http://www.petguards.com.

Can you give an animal a temporary home?

The Friends of Parkville Animal Shelter Volunteers and Community Friends Needed to Save our Strays!

FOPAS is always in need of foster homes for our cats and dogs. With limited space available at the shelter, without your help we will need to turn animals away. 

Your support will save their lives!

What is a foster home? FOPAS provides food and medical care while the foster family provides love, attention, opportunities for socialization, and an indoor home until the cat or dog finds a forever family. 

Long and short term commitments are available. We ask that you transport the animal to Saturday adoptions and/or be available to meet a FOPAS volunteer with the potential adoptive family evenings or weekends.

Fostering is a very rewarding experience and you can help us know more about the animal's personality and behavior so we can match him/her with the best possible home.

If you are interested, or would like to know more about fostering, please contact Leslie at friendsofparkville@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance for your friendship and support!  

Visit our site at www.parkvilleshelter.com 

Boy Scout Builds Five Feral Cat Houses to Help Kitties

A Boy Scout on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout has built 5 feral cat houses with the help of his father, a veterinarian, and some fellow boy scouts.  He has donated them to The Cleveland Animal Protective League who will distribute them to residents who feed feral cats. 

The elevated wooden houses have an entrance on one side that will allow cats to go around an interior corner to a compartment where body heat will help them survive the winter. Cedar chips or straw can be added to increase their comfort. The shelters have a removable top so they can be cleaned.
Harvey said, "Lending a helping hand to cats who can't be socialized and will never know the pleasure of a lap or the stroke of a human hand is surely a selfless and model act of citizenship for all of us."

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/11/cleveland_a_boy_scout.html

Consumed by thoughts of cats

I am becoming increasingly consumed by the thought of cats and chained dogs outside in the cold. I live in Kansas City and it is starting to freeze at night. During the day, I am able to push the thoughts of shivering kitties from my mind. As the clock ticks by and evening comes, I become anxious that I can't save all of them.

I already do a lot for cats the that are near me. I live in a third floor apartment. Each night I go downstairs and feed some strays and ferals that I only see evidence of. Usually, there are people getting home or going out for the night and I feel nervous. I don't want them to see what I am doing. If they see and disagree with it, they might tell the landlord. I already know that the landlord doesn't care for cats too much. The maintenance man has thrown away numerous makeshift feeding stations and styrofoam houses. People think that feeding cats somehow attracts wild animals or something. The cats eat all the food-there is nothing left. I do get them first thing in the morning, but I guess the risk of wild animals getting the food goes down once the sun is up.  I probably should go back down after an hour or so to get the bowls, but I am already doing my inside cat work at that point.  I have 3 cats of my own and 6 fosters. It takes a lot of energy to feed all of them and change their 10 litter boxes-twice a day.  I have 4 kittens of various ages with the youngest being 4 months. I have a feral kitten I am working with daily and it requires lots of patience. 

Outside, there is only one cat that actually comes up to me only occasionally, but I see numerous glowing eyes hidden among the brush and under cars and quick movements from between trees. The one cat that comes up to me isn't too thin, I think it's a girl, she is some kind of Siamese cat. She has a bob tail, too. I am not sure what happened there...hopefully it is a characteristic of her breed.

Two nights ago, it was raining. When she came up to me her fur was wet and she was shivering. I felt deeply saddened that I had to leave her outside. I am trying to lure her up to my little house I made for them. I have to keep it by my door, which is on the (inconvenient) third floor. Although I do have one feral cat who comes up for food every night.

I wish I did not have to deal with this problem. It would be so much easier on me-and my pocketbook-if I just ignored them all. I wish that people would be responsible and take care of the animals they have so that they are not having babies and not running around outside. It isn't safe for them. I just can't know they are out there and not do something to help them.

I can tell that it is weighing on my mind, I feel the stress in my body.  I can feel my anger building inside when I think of the chained dogs who have no house or are too thin and have no body fat to keep them warm.  Dogs who have frozen water and no hay to burrow in.  Cats who are left to go into hoods of cars to try to keep warm and meet a terrible fate in the morning.  I know I can't save them all but I just might die trying to do it.  

Spay & Neuter Kansas City hosts low cost rabies/microchip clinic Nov 22

Spay and Neuter Kansas City is hosting a indoor low cost rabies/microchip clinic on

Saturday, November 22nd
608 Ash Ave
Independence, MO
10am to 12pm.

Rabies vaccinations are only $10 and Microchip Identification Chips are only $15. KCMO Pet Licensing will also be available at this clinic. Licenses are $12 for altered pets.

Volunteer Help Needed!

If you can help with the upcoming vaccination clinic or can help distribute flyers.... please email Jennifer Shive at jshive@sbcglobal.net

We need help with administration, traffic control, issuing tags and veterinary assistance.

Week Day Clinic Volunteer Help

SNKC is seeking volunteers to help with dog and cat recovery during the weekdays from 9am to 5pm on Tuesday, Thursday or Fridays.

National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week November 2-8, 2008

In 1996, The HSUS launched National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (based on an idea from the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln, Nebraska). This campaign was designed to acknowledge and promote the invaluable role shelters play in their communities and to increase public awareness of animal welfare issues and shelter services. During National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, the first full week of every November, The HSUS promotes and celebrates animal shelters across the country through media and public outreach.

What can you do for your local shelter?
I volunteer at a shelter where the cats and dogs are in completely different buildings. The lists below are only for cats.

Anything, really anything, you can give to or do for your local animal shelter will be appreciated. We need an endless supply of food bowls, water bowls, newspapers, blankets, towels, beds, pillows, toys, cat litter, treats, wet food, high quality dry food, flea medications (NOT over the counter meds-only Frontline, Advantage) laundry detergent, dryer sheets, hand soap, Purell, we use Swiffer Wet to clean the floors, plastic baggies, measuring scoops (not the glass cups) . These are things that we use daily and can always use.

Other things that we use that we don't necessarily need as often are cages, carriers, beds, scratching posts, cat trees, brushes, cat window perches, anything that the cats can scratch on, not necessarily just scratching posts, night lights, rotating floor fans, bird feeders, bird seed and anything else you can think of.

Whether you buy treats for $1.99 or a cat tree for $199.00, it will be appreciated! The more you donate, the more money shelters have to save more animals!

Click here to find your local shelter

Things you can do for a shelter:
Volunteer to clean or socialize animals.
Volunteer to help at adoptions.
Volunteer to return calls or make calls to recent adopters.
Volunteer to do laundry.
Foster an animal! Fostering an animal means that the animal lives with you and you help socialize that animal and learning more about their likes and dislikes and personality which makes for a very informed adoption when someone comes asking about that particular animal. Check with the shelter to see if the food, litter and vet costs are covered. Some shelters only offer paying for vet care, others, like the one I volunteer for pay for everything.

A little bit can go a long way when you help out a local animal shelter! Most of the people there are volunteers and are not paid anything. Some are a more commercialized and have very few volunteers with mostly paid workers. Those shelters have generally been around longer and have more supporters and get more donations.

And lastly, support the no-kill shelters! Why would you want your money to go to kill an animal?

What do you do for your local shelter?

Wayside Waifs sends volunteers to Houston on VOLUNTEER's expense

Yesterday, I was at a meeting and a friend was telling me how Wayside Waifs asked her to go to Houston to help rescue animals. She was told to bring a tent to sleep in and pay her own way. Although the volunteers are expected to pay their own way, I can predict the headlines:

Wayside Waifs sends volunteers to help animals affected by Ike.This implies they paid for it. There will be no disclaimer saying that the volunteers had to pay their own way. For those of you who don't live here or don't know, Wayside Waifs has tons of money. They are the most well known shelter in Kansas City and many people donate money to them.

On a side note, they are not no-kill and I am not even sure they could be considered low kill.

Here is some financial information from Wayside Waifs for 2006 (I assume the most recent year available)

For a comparison, here is the information for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City is about 25 miles away from Wayside Waifs.

A tornado near the animal shelter

I clean on Friday evenings at the animal shelter. Today we had quite a few tornadoes touch down near us. I was at the shelter with one other volunteer and I felt very nervous that I could not protect the cats if a tornado hit us.

We have about 60 cats at the shelter right now and not nearly enough room in the basement to get them to safety. We did take shelter in an inner storage closet and I was very sad that I could not save the cats if the tornado did come near the shelter.

We have carriers for the cats but I am not sure if there are 60 of them. I wish we had a better way to ensure the cat's safety.

Thankfully, the tornado did not come near us and the thunderstorm did not damage the building. All the kitties are safe. :)

Chained dog dies shortly after being rescued from yard in Kansas City

I was not doing outreach this day because I was attending a volunteer meeting for the Chain of Reality event going on in Kansas City.

During the meeting at Spay Neuter Kansas City there was some commotion and I saw Kate, the outreach coordinator, running around.

After the meeting, I went to the area for outreach volunteers to gather supplies for the dogs. Once I walked to that area, I saw a dog lying on towels and blankets on the floor. His whole body was covered except for his face. They had rice filled socks that were microwaved to keep him warm.

This dog was found by Kate and Lindsay, another volunteer. The dog was chained in someone's yard. A concerned neighbor called about the dog. Kate and Lindsay could not find the dog at first. The neighbor helped them find him.

He was very emaciated. He was chained in the yard, laying in the mud and leaves. He was partially buried in the leaves and because he was so emaciated, he was difficult to see.

He died, surrounded by loving volunteers, about 30 minutes after he was saved.

If you really care about animals, and live in Kansas City, this is for you!

We need more people!! If you are truly dedicated to helping animals, this is for you. You are actually out in the community, directly helping animals.

You can see that dog look at you with grateful eyes when you put hay in his dog house to provide him warmth. You can see how excited he is when you throw him a ball and give him some food.

You can educate an owner and get a dog off a chain, where he can run around outside without being held back and go inside at night with his family, all because of your dedication!

Even if you do one Sunday a month, you can make a difference! I have had quite a few moments where I was almost overcome with tears of happiness.

Read below for a description and contact information to get involved.

Pet Outreach: Our Outreach Program Volunteers canvasses various of the city every weekend helping needy pets. Volunteers promote responsible pet ownership through education and by providing needy pets new dog houses, hay, food and transportation of pets to and from spay/neuter clinics. This group will be hosting a meeting in March and are looking for more interested volunteers who want to get involved. If you would like to learn more about getting involved with our Pet Outreach Program please email Kate Quigley at fite4dogs@yahoo.com

Cats at the shelter I volunteer at