WeSNIP NEWS

Friday, April 9, 2010

Mt. Vernon

Pasado’s Safe Haven and WeSNIP aid Fur Kidz911 help rescued dogs from Harney County, Oregon

Warning – the following excerpts from KOMO NEWS.com graphically chronicles animal hoarding of over 100 helpless dogs kept in a desperate situation of abuse and neglect.

“Eastern Oregon dog hoarding situation with over 100 dogs in minus 15 degree weather with no shelter”

Over 70 rescued with another 50 still looking to be saved. A suspected case of dog hoarding has turned into one of the largest cases of animal neglect in state history, the Oregon Humane Society said last Tuesday. The case involves about 100 dogs on a sprawling, desolate piece of property about 20 miles south of Burns, Oregon. The dogs are living without shelter in icy conditions, surrounded by cattle bones gnawed clean. The dog owners, who live in trailers on the property, fed them carcasses from a local meat processing plant. “The whole property was scattered with the carcasses,” An observer said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Also visible were the unburied remains of at least one deceased dog and several metal drums filled with dogs that did not survive. A rescue worker who preferred to remain anonymous noted, "I thought I had seen it all in previous cases but this one is by far the worst. So many living in small pens it is heartbreaking. There is not nearly enough shelter for all of them. We took some straw out yesterday so that they could have something to lay on besides the cold, wet ground”. Some of the dogs are in pens, walking on carcasses and living in their own waste. Some are living on chains with a 50-gallon drum for shelter. Temperatures have dipped to 15 below with many of the dogs having no shelter at all. Oregon Humane Society took as many dogs as they could manage, leaving approximately 70 puppies and dogs still on site, animals that will not survive if they are not captured and taken to safety.

NEWS & UPDATES

March 24, 2010: We currently have rescued 29 of the Harney County dogs from Oregon and another litter of pups on the way. This is a unique rescue for FurKidz, taking in dogs that have not been socialized and training them.

March 28, 2010: We owe our success to our fosters and all the people who have made donations of all types. This recent rescue project has been much larger than we would have ever imagined, but it has opened up so many wonderful opportunities for our rescue. We’re slowly starting to grow up and couldn’t do it without everyone’s help! Thank you!

Pasado’s Safe Haven and WeSNIP were happy to help Fur Kidz911 and be a part of this important rescue.

Patricia arrived early to get ready for the Fur Kidz911 dogs that were being brought from the Seattle area. She chatted with Jeremy who is a new WeSNIP volunteer and has also done volunteer work with the Humane Society of Skagit County. He became interested in volunteering through a college project for a class at the local junior college. Kat checked in Annie, the only kitty that had surgery that day.

Kat and Laura prepared for the surgeries while Zara arrived. She met Jeremy for the first time.

Amber, Media Manager for Posado Safe Haven, arrived to take pictures. Then Maria, Fur Kidz911 Founder and Director of Operations, arrived with her daughter, Alexa, and a truck bed filled with dog carriers

Jeremy helped uncover the carriers while Maria got the first dog ready to unload.

Tory, from Fur Kidz911, Amber, Kat, and Patricia watched as the first dog, Lyra, was taken off the truck. Jeremy carried her onto the Station.

Alexa completed the registration forms as Taiya waited in the back of her carrier.

Kat, Zara, Tory, and Maria weighed the dogs and got them ready for their examinations and surgeries.

Alexa and Maria took Shier out of her carrier, and then she walked to the Station.

Next Riverwas unloaded. She wasn’t sure about what was happening to her. Maria and Tory coaxed her to the Station with 2 leashes.

Abde, Fur Kidz911 Deputy Director, arrived with a rental van filled with more dogs. The love and trust between Abde and Georgia has developed in just the few weeks since she was rescued from the horror in Harney County. Amber took pictures while Tory and Abde got the dogs ready to board the Station.

Abde and Jeremy loaded Georgia.

Georgia plotted her escape on the Station while Abde cuddled Pumpkin before he carried her onboard.

Jeremy and Tory gave the waiting dogs lots of attention.

Abde and Patricia discussed the morning. Abde showed off Maria’s design for the Fur Kidz911 T-shirts.

Jeremy and Abde carried on a dog in a huge carrier.

Jeremy carried on the last dog, Widget, as Dr. Karen arrived.

The surgeries started.

WeSNIP Canine Mascots, Thoreau and Sunny made themselves comfortable in the sun, waiting for discharge in the afternoon.

Zara’s mother surprised her after seeing the Station parked in the Safeway parking lot. Kat discussed discharge with Abde.

Kat discussed medication dosages with Abde before he loaded Widget on the van.

Annie waited in her carrier before her Dad came to get her. Her Dad brought her and took her home on the bus from Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.

Maria and Abde carried Pumpkin to the van and loaded her in the back with Widget.

Abde and Kat unloaded Georgia and put her in the van along with Widget and Pumpkin.

Abde and Kat carried Fred to the van. He is having some difficulty adjusting to his new life, and everyone hopes he’ll find it easier now.

Abde and Zara carried Shier, the last dog to the back of Maria’s truck. She looked ready to go home.

Maria covered the carriers and got ready for her trip back to Snohomish.

Zara looked on as Laura and Kat gave final instructions. Then Abde, Maria, and the dogs started the long trip home.

Some of the precious dogs who had surgery are now available for adoption. http://furkidz911.org/adoption.html

FOSTER TO ADOPT - We are looking for a foster for Shier or a permanent home. We need a loving family who will be able to give Shier more time to be trained and socialized before she goes to her forever home or a forever family who can work with Shier. Shier is one of the Harney County dogs from our first round back in February. She is just over a year old, still a bit timid, but is very loving once she gets to know you. She is learning to be on a leash and does okay on it - needs work. Shier is having some issues with other dogs right now, but did very well with her previous foster's dogs. If you can give her the attention that she needs and you are a good match for Shier, please contact us - email would be best.

FOSTER TO ADOPT - We are looking for a foster for Pumpkin or a permanent home. We need a loving family who will be able to give Pumpkin more time to be trained and socialized before she goes to her forever home or a forever family who can work with Pumpkin. Pumpkin is one of the Harney County dogs who has been with us since early March. She is just over a year old, and is friendly and close to being socialized. She has done well with her foster's dog and another Harney County dog. If you can give her the attention that she needs and you are a good match for Pumpkin, please contact us - email would be best.

Abde talks about FurKidz911, Pasado, and WeSNIP

“So I got involved with FurKidz 911 Connection last year as a foster. I work with Maria for the City of Seattle. Maria had recently founded Furkidz when I volunteered to foster. We found this dog named Peter online that was going to be euthanized in one of the Tri-Cities Animal Shelters. We called and emailed furiously trying to get a hold of the animal shelter to let them know that we were going to rescue him. We couldn't get a hold of anyone for a couple of days, but we did! And we rescued Peter! Maria and I found out that we make a great team and I started involving myself more and more with the organization through fostering, advertising, networking, and attending dog adoption events. I also helped in proof reading and editing a lot of the initial documentation we needed to get Fur Kidz off the ground. Maria and I have continued to work together on many projects, including our People of Haiti Bake/Craft Sale to raise money for earthquake relief. We raised over $3000.00 during that event alone.

The event on Friday at Mount Vernon was a huge success! I would like to thank Pasado's and WeSnip profusely for all of their help and support. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Patricia, Jeremy, Kat, Zara, Dr. Karen and everyone else involved were very informative and I knew that we were leaving the dogs in good hands. Everyone was very professional and knowledgeable. All the dogs appear to be healthy and recovering well. From the moment we showed up we were welcomed with smiles and by the end of the day we left with hugs. I will highly recommend WeSnip to anyone looking for spay and/or neuters."

Maria’s FUR KID’S CONNECTION

04-09-10 Snip-Snip Time!

"The next morning, we were up early to load and head up to Mount Vernon for the snip-snip paw-ty with WeSNIP (coordinated through Pasado’s Safe Haven). Tory arrived to the house first to help load the dogs into two trucks, then Alexa arrived and we were off. I didn’t realize how much further north Mount Vernon was and we unfortunately arrived a bit late. Abde met us in Mount Vernon with his 3 dogs in a U-Haul van (Tory had drill that weekend and would not be able to help transport the dogs back). We met some very nice people that morning: Patricia, Joy, Kat, Jeremy, Laura, Zara, and Amber. We didn’t get to meet Dr. Karen, but wanted to shout out a THANK YOU, for doing all the surgeries that day. There were nine dogs total, and one by one, the dogs were brought into the mobile to get checked in, weighed, and sedated. Tory was such an expert and had no fear in taking the dogs out of the crates and handling the dogs during the check in process (another big THANK YOU!). Many of the dogs did well through this process, with just a few challenging situations. Fred, I believe, was the toughest. I wasn’t in the mobile at the time, but heard he gave the folks some excitement in there. Another issue, was Abde thought Pumpkin might be pregnant. He asked to have her examined and if she was pregnant, that she would be spayed at a later date. After all the dogs were loaded, we stayed around the area in case they needed us to help or if they had questions. It wasn’t hard for us to stay around since there was a Denny’s across the street Alexa, Tory, Abde, and I had breakfast while we waited to hear from the WeSNIP staff. Once they confirmed that Pumpkin wasn’t pregnant, and they were all set with the dogs – we drove back home. Abde and I drove back up early afternoon to pick up the altered dogs. We checked on the dogs in the mobile’s kennels and they were all very sleepy or groggy. We went through the check out process and we (with the help of the staff) loaded the dogs into the U-Haul and my truck. We said our thank you’s to the wonderful WeSNIP staff and headed back south to drop off the dogs and take care of the ones we are responsible for."

http://furkidz911.wordpress.com/