Happy ending for dogs rescued from puppy mill

It was May of this year that 87 dogs were rescued from a Mass. puppy mill. According to The Animal Rescue League of Boston, all of the dogs have now recovered and are ready to be adopted.

The puppies and dogs, including a pug, a chow, and many cocker spaniel mixes, according to the Boston Herald, were found in a house on May 28. They were matted and covered in feces, and many were malnourished. Some were also pregnant, and with the birth of their puppies, raised the total number of dogs to 109.

The owner of the now-closed Missy’s Puppyland, pleaded guilty in October to seven counts of animal cruelty and one count of destruction of property for ruining the house. She was sentenced to four years probation.

Real life “Santa” provides animals the chance to walk

Ronnie Graves has been providing animals with the gift of walking for years. Giving up his spare time, he builds prothetic limbs for animals in need, giving them to owners and animal sanctuaries who care for the animals, at little or no cost.

Graves is a contractor and volunteer for The Humane Society of the United States. Graves lost his own leg at the age of 20, in which afterwards he started making articicial limbs for people. His first try at providing an artificial limb for animals came when a stranger asked him to build a leg for her lame horse, to which he agreed to try.

He was able to make one, and instead of getting payment from the woman, asked that she donate the money to her local humane society instead. Now, the 53-year-old makes artificial limbs for animals year-round.

His most recent artificial limb was made for a lame horse named Sitka at the Shiloh Horse Rescue in Nevada. Jill Curtis, president of the horse rescue sanctuary, heard of Graves and decided to call him to see if he could help. The price for amputating Sitka’s leg and rehabilitating the horse was priced at $12,000, and amount they couldn’t afford.

Graves agreed to help out for just the cost of his materials, $3,700, and travel expenses.  If Sitka had received a prosthetic leg from anywhere else, it would have cost around $20,000.

Graves helps a variety of animals, having one time even made something for a goose named Hoppy who had been born with one leg. He fashioned a flexible bucket for her to sit in, then attached a plastic roller blade so she can push herself and swim.

Aside from providing prosthetics to animals, Graves is also a volunteer disaster responder and president of the Sumter County Disaster Animal Response team in Florida.

It seems Graves takes his nickname of “Santa” seriously, keeping the spirit of Christmas and giving all year-long.

Ronnie Graves in Beaumont, Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Photo by HSUS.

A chihuahua with a new leg provided by Graves. Photo by HSUS.

Graves work can be see on his website. 

Careful consideration for Christmas pets

While animal rescue groups would love to see all of their animals adopted and sent to live with loving families, they warn that anyone hoping to adopt a pet for Christmas should be prepared to take care of them long after the decorations have been taken down.

It is often the case that animals are adopted as presents for Christmas, but something doesn’t work out where either the recipient does not want the responsibility of the pet, or the initial excitement  decreases and the pet is stuck with a less than loving home.

According to the Humane Society, adopting a pet is a two to three day process, so people should not expect to walk in on Dec. 4 looking to adopt. Potential homes for the animals have to first go through an application process, have their home inspected on some occasions, and provide references.

If the idea of a puppy under the Christmas tree sounds like something you might want this year, just remember that that puppy will be apart of the family for years to come, long after Christmas day.

For help looking for your next addition to the family, please visit petfinder.com

Dog rescued after being frozen to sidewalk

A Wisconsin dog spent a night frozen to the sidewalk in single digit temperatures this past Wednesday night until he was rescued in the morning.

The 120-pound border collie named Jiffy is morbidly obese and weighs around 70-pounds heavier than he should. According to the Sheboygan County Humane Society, it is his extras layers of fat that most likely was the reason he survived, as few dogs would last overnight in such cold temperatures.

Jiffy’s 59-year-old owner was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of animal neglect. According to Sheboygan police, the owner said she had tried to get Jiffy inside but couldn’t, so instead checked on him every few hours. The dog is 11-years-old.

When shelter workers arrived to help Jiffy, they had to pour warm water over his back end to unstick him from the sidewalk. According to the shelter Jiffy is currently staying at, it is too soon to tell if he has suffered any long-term effects. For more information on Jiffy and his story, please visit msnbc.com.

 

Hundreds of animals rescued from California home

Sitting in the garage were hundreds of birds, reptiles, and various other small animals that animal-control officers said were being held to be sold at flea markets.

According to visaliatimesdelta.com, citations for animal cruelty and operating without a business license were issued to a resident of the rented home. All of the animals were taken to the Valley Oak Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where they are likely to be held until notice is given whether they can be returned to their owner, or set up for adoption.

The initial animal cruelty charges came after witnesses recalled seeing incidents of as many as 35 parakeets crowded into cages that were 2-foot cubes, as many as eight rabbits crowded into the same space, and water turtles with no way to get out of water, among other things.

The animal control officers hope that if the animals are not returned to their owner soon, they can be put up for adoption and off to safe homes.  

Doves being held together before being taken by Animal Rescue Officers. Photo from the Visalia Times-Delta.

Iguana found in California garage that were going to be sold in flea markets. Photo from the Vasalia Times-Delta

Dog rescued from drain pipe

A German Shepard mix by the name of Zeke was rescued on Wednesday after being stuck in a 15-inch pipe in St. Paris, Ohio for five days.

According to his owner, Sarah Story , Zeke got trapped in the pipe after chasing after an animal last Friday. After four days of digging holes and cutting up sections of the drainage pipe with the help of friends and neighbors, his owners called off the search when they could not find the dog.   

It wasn’t until business owner Steve Maller contacted them, that the family had any hope of seeing Zeke again. Miller owns a company that contracts with cities throughough Ohio for sewer line inspections, and he had a camera that could go 1300 feet into the pipe to look for Zeke. He heard about the Zeke from the local news and decided to help out.

He arrived on Wednesday and after four hours, the workers spotted Zeke four-hundred-fifty feet in the pipe. He was found alive and calm nearly 1,000 feet from the opening he had crawled into. Despite being stuck without food and water for five days, the dog was in good spirits and good health when he was finally freed.

According to animal rescue groups there is no way that an animal could have survived underground without food and water for more than a week, meaning Zeke’s rescue came just in time.

For more information on this story, please view wane.com

 

Lost dog returned home after five years

Tootsie the Dachshund went missing from his home in Pleasantville, Penns. nearly five years ago and his owner had since given up the search to find him. It wasn’t until Elba Arguello received a letter in the mail from The Animal Rescue League of Pennsylvania, that she ever imagined she would see her dog again.

Tootsie was found wandering the streets of a Pittsburgh suburb, according to pressofAtlanticCity.com, when the rescue organization took him back to their shelter thinking he was a stray. It was there that they discovered an implanted microchip telling where he belonged.

According to Arguello she had purchased Tootsie from a mall pet store where the microchip had been implanted.

The reunion took place on Monday in Harrisburg, Penns. which is about half-way between Pittsburgh and Pleasantville. According to the Arguello family Tootsie didn’t recognize his old family right away but when he was taken to his old home with familiar scents he fit in right away, and settled in hopefully for the remainder of his life.

View the video below to see Tootsie at the Animal Rescue Shelter before he was returned to his family.

Wild Horses of the West rescued by billionaires wife

A group of 2,000 healthy mustangs in a federally maintained herd were all slated for euthanasia because no one wanted to adopt them. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen of the area stated that turning them loose would be a drain on the grazing lands of the West, which are already scarce.

Animal lover and wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, Madeleine Pickens, arrived at a public hearing to discuss the horses and proclaimed she would not only adopt the 2,000 horses in question, but also most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens.

Pickens is currently working with the Bureau of Land Management to find adequate land in the West that would accomodate all of the horses well.

According to the washingtonpost.com, wild horses have had special protection under a 1971 law. The federal statute calls wild horses, “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West” that should be “protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death.” It also states that the government achieves “appropriate management levels.”

A majority being in Nevada, around 33,000 wild horses roam wild in federal lands in 10 Western states. Because the federal agency believes the land can only accomodate around 27,000 horses, each year government-hired cowboys round up 7,000 to 10,000 horses and take them to holding pens in various states.

When no one wants to adopt these animals, they are usually set for euthanasia. This year however, no one seemed interested in adopting the horses, most likely a cause of the economy since the animals can be expensive to maintain.

Now thanks to Pickens, the wild horse of the West will still have the chance to roam to lands without threat of euthanization.

For more information about this story and the horses, please refer to the washingtonpost.com

Wild mustangs up for adoption at the National Wild Horse and Burro Center at Palomino Valley, in Nevada. Image from The Washington Post.Horses being held at Palomino Valley. Image from The Washington Post.

7-year-old boy uses birthday to raise money for area animals

Proving that one can never be too young to make a difference, a Va. boy used his birthday in an effort to help animal overpopulation in New Mexico.

Ryan Robinson, 7, raised $525 at his recent birthday after asking his friends to make donations in his name to the Humane Society. Seventeen seperate checks were made in his name to help fund spay and neuter services in a New Mexico county where many low-income families can’t afford such services.

According to Las Cruces Sun-News local donors have agreed to match Ryan’s donation so funds for spay and neuter services used in his name will exceed $1000.

Circus elephant rescued after being severely malnourished

When a malnourished performance elephant was recently found, the animal rescue organization Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) offered to give the elephant a home and to help in his recovery.

Ned, a 21-year-old Asian elephant who was born in captivity, has been performing for a majority of his life. His current owner, circus trainer Lance Ramos, had the elephant taken away from him by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Tampa, Fla.

According to the Union Democrat, Ned was born in 1987 in Tampa, Fla., and was owned by an animal trainer and circus performer. At age 2 he was sold to a circus elephant trainer, and from there to his current owner Lance Ramos. When confiscated, Ned had been performing in California with the Royal Hannaford traveling circus.

Ned will be staying permanently with the PAWS organization at their Galt bull elephant facility.

Two elephants at the PAWS facility that Ned will be living in.