December 26, 2013
Back in September a dog rescue place took on 18 dogs out of a home. The dogs had been badly abused and were in seriously ill. The total bill to treat these dogs was over $30K.
The local press in the area covered the story but fundraising was slow. Two weeks ago, this A list married female country singer who has an a-hole for a husband quietly wrote a check for $20,000 which covered all the agency still owed.
Miranda Lambert
That's good people, right there (her, not him).
ReplyDeleteGlad those pups got a second chance.
Very generous and thoughtful ... I hope Blake wakes up and realizes what he has at home there, before it's too late.
ReplyDeleteLove Miranda! I knew she was an animal lover. Not surprised by this.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. I hope all the dogs found good homes, too.
ReplyDeleteNot to go all OT and shit but Leeky I just want to tell you I love you. Just saw your last post from yesterdays debacle and you seem like an amazing lady.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also reserve my love for people who go out of their way to help animals. First with the people who rescued them, next the vet who did the medical care without knowing whether they would be paid or not and for Miranda for paying them for their kindness.
Bless her for this kindness.
ReplyDeleteAnimal rescue is my passion.
ReplyDelete20 years ago I was on my way to work one day when I looked up the block and there was a cardboard cat carrier and a scratching post with a "FREE" sign on it. I went over to check inside the box and there was a live cat in it. I called in late and took the cat to a no-kill shelter..
That someone thought that was an acceptable way to get rid of a living being so disgusted me ... I decided on the spot that for the rest of my life, if any animal crossed my path who needed help, I would help it.
Because if not me, who? If not now, when?
I have kept that promise ever since! Dogs, cats, pigeons, they find me, and I help them!
Just last week I found two baby pigeons wedged in some netting. I cut them out and took them to WildCare, a facility in Marin County (California) that rehabs wildlife and then releases it.
My two little pidgies are being hand fed until they're old enough to eat on their own, then they'll be put in an aviary with other babies until they learn how to fly, then the whole flock will be released in one location to live out their lives as wild pigeons.
Pigeons are my guilty pleasure, they're amazing birds. They mate for life, can recognize a human face from blocks away, and both the male and female tend the babies. Did you know that a pigeon egg has to be kept at a constant temperature round the clock, and they take turns sitting on the nest 24/7? If you've ever touched a pigeon egg - they're actually hot to the touch!
And when the babies are born, it's amazing that a bird that size can fit into such a tiny egg - it's like bird origami!!
And yay for Miranda Lambert. Even though she's a hunter...at least they eat what they hunt.
Principessa, people like you are heroes to me. I am passionate about them as well although I have never done any rescue.
ReplyDeleteAt Blanc Debris (our house in Calaveras County) we love bird watching and have a pair of Banded Pigeons. They are much larger and absolutely gorgeous. I'll be the first to say, however, that the city pigeons can be a nuisance at times. Pretty messy.
Sadly we've killed all the Passenger Pigeons but there are efforts to bring them back a la Jurrasic Park.
Blanc Debris...
ReplyDeleteI just got that.
I'm slow.
LOL!
@Sherry, Have you ever considered fostering an animal? neonate kittens, or an animal that needs to recover from an illlness or surgery before being offered for adoption... most shelters these days, especially in California, have foster programs. And certainly, any rescue group in your area would jump at the offer of a foster home.
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about fostering is you can do it when it's convenient, you're giving an individual animal a safety net (which sometimes is the difference between life and death - rescue groups can only pull as many animals as they have foster homes for) ... and you can stop doing it temporarily when you want to travel or you're busy...
ReplyDeletelove this!
ReplyDeleteif i could i would fund my own no kill animal sanctuary.
big love to anyone who cares for animals like this.
love this!
ReplyDeleteif i could i would fund my own no kill animal sanctuary.
big love to anyone who cares for animals like this.
Principessa..No I have not and the reason being is I have two cats that are 20. As you know, it's not a good idea to introduce a kitten to older cats and it's not like fostering a puppy when you have another dog. (I don't need to point out the reasons why to you as an animal lover and one familiar with cats.)
ReplyDeleteNow after Lucy and Ethel go over the rainbow that sounds like an excellent idea. We have a neighbor at the house who does that very thing. She's amazing.
LowKey, glad I could make you laugh over the name of our house, Blanc Debris Manor.
That is awesome♥ Rescue a rescue
ReplyDelete@sherry - Lucy & Ethel - love it!
ReplyDeleteYeah, at 20 years of age they have earned the right not to be pestered by kittens!
I have no idea who this woman is but I love this reveal...I just watched Louis Theroux's doco on LA's dog problem, it was harrowing watching them walk through the pound with all the dogs howling. My sausage dog Gomez went into our bedroom and hid under the covers, he couldn't cope either, poor love :(
ReplyDeleteNot much of a C & W fan but good on her. I have 4 rescue dogs and 3 rescue cats. I am at maximum capacity or I would adopt more. I have 3 that are turning 17 this year and the baby, moose dog will be two.
ReplyDeleteAnd THIS is why we love Lambert!
ReplyDeleteI love Miranda! Her songs are amazing! Principessa that's noble that you do so much for animals. Our cat is a rescue and she is the sweetest kitty I've ever been around. She never shrinks back when any of us pick her up or love on her and she even grooms the dog like he's a cat. Animals are so funny!
ReplyDelete@Becky Mae
ReplyDeleteShe's married to Blake Shelton, who's a modern country singer (as is she). He has been a judge on the Voice.
Thanks Leeky!
ReplyDeleteBirds - some species - make their nests big enough for the eggoes but not the hatched (and growing) fledglings. Genius.
ReplyDeleteYadda yadda yadda - we rescued some baby Kookaburras at Christmas. One came out of the nest per week, Riker (number one, named posthumously) died before we found it. Data (number two) and Troi (third) made it though. Birds are usually fairly terminal if they come out of a nest but these guys thrived. They were super cute (and as natives there were resources to help).
"... female country singer who has an a-hole for a husband..."
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that's not a qualifier, meaning every female country singer with an a-hole husband is giving money to these shelters. They're ALL married to a-holes! If they all gave 20k, shelters would be swimming in cash! It'd be just like Scrooge McDuck, but with actual ducks!
@alita love the bird names!
ReplyDeleteA few months ago I heard a baby pigeon squeaking - like ALL DAY. I know from a nesting pair that used to have babies outside my house that they don't usually squeak except while their parents are feeding them, a few times a day. The rest of the time they're super-quiet (=survival, don't attract predators).
ReplyDeleteSo I set out to find the source, finally narrowed it down to a fire escape behind an apartment building. Couldn't really see too well, it was far off.
So I went over and rang the manager's bell, said I needed to get in, he hung up on me, I thought he was going to come down and let me in but newp. So I called him back on the intercom, said (naively) are you going to let me in? And he said "No I don't want you wandering around the building."
ASSHOLE.
So I started ringing bells for apartments on the first floor where thought I had seen movement, and this guy answers and I say "I'm here about the pigeons" and he says "Oh are you from Animal Control?" and I say "No..." but he buzzes me in.
I go upstairs and it turns out that he had just called Animal Control about the baby pigeons - two of them - that were outside his studio window on his fire escape.
He was a drag queen named Aristotle. No I am not making this up!
He let me come in and go out onto the fire escape. There was one little pigeon squeaking and flapping his little wings and pecking at my hand and all "I'm ready for my closeup and would you freaking FEED ME already" and the other one was much smaller and skeletal and ... dying.
At that moment Animal Control rang the bell and I begged him to send them away, I said I would take them to WildCare and they'd have a chance there, but Animal Control would probably put them down. So he sent them away, gave me a box, and off I went with Felix (as I named him) and the little one. I had to separate them because Felix was walking all over the other one, so I transferred him to a second box. The little one died on the way up there but Felix lived, thrived, was raised with a flock of other babies that he bonded with, and is now living the high life in Marin County somewhere.
But you know, baby pigeons do not normally make noise when their parents aren't around, and if Felix had done what he was supposed to, he probably would have died. As it was, he made such a racket, both Aristotle and I took it on ourselves to help him. So Felix saved his own life, in a way.
There was something about him - he was so spunky and full of life, I really took a shine to the little guy.
I do not know how the two babies ended up out there but I do know that if you move baby pigeons the parents will not feed them. There was a terry cloth towel out there so I think maybe somebody in the building had found them on the ground, maybe they fell out of the nest, and had put them there thinking the parents would feed them, but they didn't.
Another time I saw a pigeon caught in some netting above a light well on the roof of a building, waaaayyy out - I snuck into the building and out onto the roof and I simply could not reach it, even by climbing down onto the edge of the fire escape and reaching up!
Failure was not an option, however. I knew I wasn't leaving without that bird. Somehow I managed to clip bits of the netting and stretch it and pull it to the point where I could reach out and unclip the netting around the pigeon (it was completely entwined) and then pull it toward me and get it to Wildcare. It probably cost the owner of that building about a thousand dollars to repair the damage I did to that netting but I did not care ... it was inhumane, and there was no way I was going to leave a bird to die up there, exhausted, starving and dehydrated. I couldn't have slept that night knowing that bird was up there.
Principessa, YOU ARE AWESOME.
DeleteThat is all.
Don't like Miranda, but good on her for this.
ReplyDeleteYay Princepssa. Great story and as I live in the Bay Area I can totally see the drag queen thing. Too sad that you lost one but at least the other survived.
ReplyDeleteI love her for this!
ReplyDeleteFrom one dog lover to another - thank you.
@Sherry, seriously, huh? Only in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteI forgot that you live in the area. Hello neighbor!
I love hearing about all the good people who rescue and foster animals in need. We have four cats, all rescues; and two Labradors, both rescued from incredibly abusive situations. It's wonderful being able to offer them a loving home where they'll never want for anything, but it's also difficult in some respects.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of two of our animals, all are happy, well-adjusted and very content.
But one of our tabby cats, who is 25 human years old, has been with us for 10 years and we still can't get close enough to pat her - she'll tear our hands off. She's done well in the time she's with us - graduating from living on top of the shed roof to coming inside, and resting on her favourite chair, but we don't think she'll ever trust us.
And our chocolate Lab, who only came to us about a year ago, and is nine human years old, thinks we're going to hit her every single time we go to pat her. It's so heart breaking. I don't think she'll ever fully trust us either, and she has a permanent upset look on her face. She wags her tail and loves to play, but those underlying insecurities will never leave her :-(
@Stepforded, bless you for taking in six animals in need of a home!
ReplyDeleteYou seriously have a 25 year old cat? That's the oldest cat I've ever heard of!
Three of my own cats used to be feral, so I know what it's like to bring an unsocialized cat into the home. Mine are all tame now, I can handle them easily, but they still do have that skittishness that I think all formerly feral cats have. Heaven forbid I should walk into a room rustling a plastic bag - they all dive under the bed!
WRT taming ferals ... each case is different but the woman I turn to for advice with All Things Feral is a strong advocate for taming cages. They're like kitty condos, you keep the cat confined, interact with it frequently, until it makes progress. It's easier to do that when the cat is confined because you have access to it, and you can reach in and not traumatize it, as opposed to chasing it around a room!
Otherwise, if you give a feral cat the run of the house from Day One, it's like living with an indoor feral - they just avoid you and don't tame down.
But with her being so old when she came to you, and ancient now, I'd say your cat can bloody well do what she wants at this point :-)
I'm so sorry about your chocolate Lab. Labs are my heart dogs, they are such a wonderful breed. I had one for 16 years. She died 8 years ago and I still dream about her.
I wish I had some words of advice on how to desensitize her but I don't. My own dog that I've had 7.5 years now, came from a very bad situation. She was found stray with a broken leg, in heat. She looks like an Aussie/Husky mix, red and white, absolutely gorgeous ... but she's terrified of people. Interestingly, she's not hand shy and she doesn't have a "type" of person that she's afraid of. I think that she was not beaten, just isolated and not socialized, and basically ignored for a few years. Which is a form of abuse, especially for a highly intelligent loyal breed.
Anyhoo, when I first got her she was in panic mode all the time except in the house. Pulling, jerking, trying to run. I had to walk her at night on side streets because she'd freak out if she saw a person a block away.
Fortunately she's not a fear biter, she has no aggression at all.
But even now, after 7.5 years, though I can walk her everywhere, even off-leash sometimes ... she WILL NOT approach people.
Anyhoo ... there are natural remedies that help with anxiety, Rescue Remedy is supposed to be good - a few drops in the drinking water ... and I know some veterinarians will also prescribe doggy Prozac, though I've never gone for that...
Does your lab like to be brushed? I'm thinking there might be a way to touch her that she finds pleasurable, and gradually reduce the negative reaction...does she like other people? other dogs?
One thing I did with my extremely skittish dog was to bring treats and give them to people to feed her. That really helps, she'll go from shying away from someone to walking up and grabbing food out of their hand. Then she'll go right back to shying away. It's like "Time out from panicking ... take treat ... OK back to panicking."
I just fell in love with Miranda after reading this.
ReplyDelete@Principessa Marina:
ReplyDelete& to top it off, you're also an excellent writer. The Never Give Up Rescuer of outcast-birds--& Miss Aristotle--could be protagonists of a short novel set in post-Armistead Maupin San Francisco :).
As for Real Life, I am truly curious: after joining forces to save Felix & his ill-fated sib from the untender care of Animal Control, did you stay in touch w/Aristotle?
Aww, shucks, @K. Madelyn.
ReplyDeleteI did email Aristotle with updates about Felix but I think he is less of a pigeon fan than I am. I give him mad props for calling Animal Control and trying to do the right thing.
Contrast Aristotle with the woman who asked me, when I rescued a baby pigeon off her fire escape, why I didn't just throw it in the garbage rather than driving 30 miles round trip to a sanctuary. My reply: "Because he wasn't DEAD?" was met wit this response: "Well he would have died soon enough, what do you care?"
What a bitch.
I don't think Aristotle was really interested in Felix's life after he got him off his fire escape. Mostly he just wanted Felix to shut up already, I think!
http://www.sharkonline.org/index.php/cruelcelebrities-com/669-miranda-lambert-animal-abuser-and-animal-killer
ReplyDeleteshe doesnt seem that nice to me...
Shark is an extremist group. I'm heavily involved in animal welfare and rescue and even I think they're off the deep end.
ReplyDeleteShark is an extremist group. I'm heavily involved in animal welfare and rescue and even I think they're off the deep end.
ReplyDeletei used to be involved in animal rescue too! @kittenrus
ReplyDeletethe extremists are kinda scary. even some of the nonextremists can be nutjobs and a little much.
@Lena Lopez, I didn't know that about Miranda Lambert. I knew she and Blake Shelton hunted but I thought it was for food, and I don't think any meat eater has the right to criticize people who hunt for food.
ReplyDeleteHowever, killing an alligator on TV for its skin for a purse? Not cool.
Supporting a rodeo? I know rodeos are big in some areas of the country but I don't support using animals for sport like that. Thoroughbred horse racing is tough on the horses too.
Regardless of whether Shark is an extremist group (I had never heard of them), if what they reported is correct, the facts stand alone as an indictment of Miranda Lambert. For the alligator incident, if nothing else.
@Principessa I LOVE you, kindred spirit!! I've been 'saving' dogs, cats, turtles, birds since I can remember. I can't NOT help if I see an animal in distress - it haunts me because they rely on us for love and protection (at least domesticated animals). Miranda Lambert is also awesome for doing this. I'm known in my town as being the Rescue Girl because I'm always posting unattended animals I see on our streets onto my facebook page. Animals are unconditional love
ReplyDeleteRescue Girl, love you right back!
ReplyDeleteKeep doing it. It only takes one person to make a huge difference in an animal's life.