A Reminder to Us All - The Starfish Story

The Starfish Story

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."



I know that we cannot save them all, but I am so proud of the effort that everyone in our rescue family puts in to these furbabies! Some days you may not feel like you make a difference, and you may not remember the power of one, but you make a difference with each and every animal that passes you, and that you pass on.

Love to you all and thank you for everything you have done! Please remember the Starfish Story.

You are the heart of these animals, and their angels, no matter how much or in what capacity, you touch each one!

A Message to Our Beloved Pets (and human visitors)

The following was found posted very low on a refrigerator door... Dear Dogs and Cats: The dishes on the floor with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate does not mean that is is suddenly your food, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the top of the stairs is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It Is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space that you are taking up, is nothing but sarcasm. For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine/feline attendance is not required. The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog or cat's bum. I cannot stress this enough. Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door: TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS: (1) They live here. You don't. (2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture. (3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people. (4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly. Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they: (1) eat less, (2) don't ask for money all the time, (3) are easier to train, (4) normally come when called, (5) never ask to drive the car, (6) don't hang out with drug-using people; (7) don't smoke or drink, (8) don't want to wear your clothes, (9) don't have to buy the latest fashions, (10) don't need money for college and (11) if they they get pregnant, you can sell their children....

Wild Hogs Swamp Buggy Ride

Here is the video to go along with the Wild Hog BBQ blog I posted two days ago! Just a quickie, but I added some backwoods banjo music to make it more enjoyable! Sure does seem redneck, but hey, I had fun and that's what life is all about! So raise a glass, and toast to adventure!

You can't keep your pet? Really?

What a way to spend your last few minutes of life and so many die just this way!
DO NOT BREED OR BUY

I think our society needs a huge "wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will. First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes. That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".

Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.

Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff" or "blue juice". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don’t forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don’t spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a “making money issue” and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia’s so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.

Then it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right!

I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around the U.S. and make an impact.
--Written by a Shelter Director, and posted originally by a rescue organization

*** PLEASE MAKE PET ADOPTION YOUR FIRST OPTION ***

Oscar Night

Last night was the biggest night in tinsel town, and I was excited to see the stars on the red carpet showing off their glitz and glam... but I was not as impressed this year as I have been in previous! All around, the show was just "alright" when it should have been spectacular!
The backdrop of Hollywood was beautiful thanks to Mother Nature and her dazzling display of snow tipped peaks of the local mountains outside the Los Angeles county line. As always, Hollywood Blvd. and Highland draped in red carpets, and the statues of giant Oscar's lined the walkway into the Kodak Theater. All seems worth the anticipation of the award show with the two youngest hosts in academy history! Let's begin...
First let's start with the arrival of the stars and play fashion police, without the dreaded Joan Rivers. The men always looks fairly decent, I mean how much can you really dress up a tuxedo, but what it comes down to is the face! Shaven, clean cut, and smooth makes my heart melt, and makes the men look like they actually cared to look good for one evening. Matthew McConaughey, Justin Timberlake, Robert Downey Jr., and Colin Firth, are some mentionables that looked dapper in suit. I was not too impressed with the bald-headed Geoffry Rush, but for his age and the legacy behind him in film, he pulled it off well enough. If you must pull off the five 'o clock shadow and sport the scruff, then whom better to wear it with a smile than Hugh Jackman! Dashing fellow, with a voice to sooth your soul, he did well with the look, but I know you'll agree when I say he still could have taken the extra five minutes to shave. And for the worst, I will nominate none other than Christian Bale! I didn't realize they allowed lumberjacks on the red carpet! Lastly, it was a nice surprise to see Billy Crystal jump up on stage later in the show, but honestly, I think he should stay away from anymore botox! I was shocked he could smile..
Okay, onto the gowns of the ladies. Personally, I loved Nicole Kidman's dress, but critics already are calling it a folded napkin. I thought she looked beautiful. Natalie Portman and her baby bump looked great, Halle Berry adorable as always, Annette Benning looked fabulous for her age, and Anne Hathaway with her seven wardrobe changes looked stunning! Some of the others worth mentioning in the category of looking amazing were Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Hudson with her sexy new figure, and Hillary Swank. However, with every good, there is a bad, and frankly there were quite a few! Helena Bonham Carter came dressed for a night with vampires, pulling the gothic look again, Scarlet Johannsen had a flowery frock that wasn't as appealing as I would expect from her and her bed-head hair did no justice to the look either! Cate Blanchett looked like she was wearing a chair, Mandy Moore was washed out by the color choice of her ensemble, and Gwyneth Paltrow looked like an anorexic barbie! Her straight locks, fake tan, and not so flattering dress also gave her a pasty look, and let's not forget to mention her vocals.. as she sang on stage later in the show, the performance was everything but good! She should not quit her day job! And was I really over anticipating too much? Correct me if I am wrong, but I half expected some of the "bigger names" to be at the ceremony, even if only as seat fillers! Where was Pitt, Jolie, Clooney, Depp, Nicholson, White, Streep? What about the Queen (Latifah) that is... Or Cruise? Very few of the older generation showed.
As for the show itself, overall, it was boring. With the execption of Celine Dion and her voice tributing the lost stars this past year, the iconic Bob Hope that was edited onstage to make you laugh, and the Staten Island 5th grade choir that ended the show with a promising message singing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". During the show, most of the credit goes to Anne Hathaway for making the attempt to have fun, and acting excited when presenting the next guess presenter, but James Franco completely brought her down. His non-expressive attitude that so many say is apart of his charm, was anything but! With a few lousy jokes, this year's presenters were not worthy of Oscar showmanship. Well, there's always next year!

Wild Hog in the Everglades

Yesterday could not have been any more beautiful in South Florida! A perfect day to trek out to the Big Cypress National Park for a get together at the Monroe Station Conservation Center.

We first met at a friend's house to kick off the celebration with a fresh bloodymary. Then to head out with hiking gear packed up in the trucks and SUV's, and coolers to boot for more refreshments later! Only a half hour in, we made a pit stop at Dade Corner's, which really is just a gas station for the truckers, but the local "hogs" gather there as well before heading whichever direction they decide. Usually, this is the last stop before crossing into the Micosukee Indian Reservation going east deep into the national forest. To my surprise, a few friends from Animal Services were there for a quick potty break, and they too were heading out to the 61st annual Wild Hog BBQ. This ought to be a blast!

Now, there is an easy way to get to this picnic in the sticks, off route 41, but who wants easy when you can have an off-roading of a good time through the scenic backwoods! So off the highway we go, down a narrow pathway that winds into the glades! Begin dirt road, and get get ready for some bumps! Fortunately, the road bed was dry, so no 4x4 was necessary, but still a challenge, and not a road for the faint of heart! As we sped down the trail kicking up dust to high heaven, we catch glimpses of shiny black along the banks of the narrow canals... yes, the infamous alligators of the Everglades! Tons of them, of various sizes all soaking up the much needed sun! Turtles too! It was worth the few extra miles to see nature at its best!

After a few stops along the way for photo opportunities, our entourage continued on, finally to arrive at our destination! We hiked in a few yards with our folding chairs, coolers, and backpacks. Everyone is spread out everywhere in the grass, most under the shade trees, others had pop-up shade tents. Band playing, the smell of BBQ, kids playing, and we passed by the swam buggies revving their engines through the mud! The sound of shots firing off in a distance was where the skeet shooting range was, as well as archery targets set up for practice. All I could think about was how cool this was and then I turned to my group of friends and asked, "does this make me a redneck?" They all laughed loudly and said yes!

We found the clan of animal services, and set up our chairs next to theirs. The smell of barbecue was calling to us, so we jumped in line for lunch! The plate included chicken, ribs, slaw, and baked beans! Extra sauce was on the side! Yum! We sat down to get our grub on, and wondered if the ribs were wild hog? I mean it's not unlikely that it could be, there are wild boars in the Everglades that have become a nuisance since they are a non-native species. Regardless, it was awesome! After a cold beverage to wash it down, we all wanted to swamp buggy it up! So off we went to enjoy a redneck pastime in the sticks (and swamp). We goofed off while waiting in line for our chariot to arrive, and finally boarded this hybrid machine that can conquer all kinds of mud! It was only a short loop around, but we had a blast! Once you disembark the vessel, you felt like a bobble-head, and as if the ground was still moving. A swamp of a good time!

 A few hours later, and a lot of booze, we called it a day and decided to head out before dusk. Everyone said their goodbyes and parted ways.. I for one wanted to see more than meets the eye, so on the way out a few miles down the road, my roommate was cool enough to make a stop for me at the Oasis Observatory. This boardwalk overlook allows you to be just a few feet away (safely) from alligators of all sizes! I was excited to be so close but unfortunately, my camera battery was on it's last few seconds of charge, so I snapped as many pictures as I could before it shut off. I rememer the last shot was taken with a BIG smile!

I could not complain otherwise, it was a great way to end a great day!