Kerry’s face was all smile as she wheeled the $5 cart (yes she complained when she paid the five bucks) across the terminal canopy. There was a single battered plastic pet carrier on it. It was the usual bland tan color, with stripes of gray duct tape criss-crossing it. Pets Alive NYC was written above the wire “gate” at the front.
I had tucked the rented van in behind a full-sized bus that was picking up crew members from American Airlines. As Kerry and the pups passed by the crew members every single person craned their neck to get a glimpse of them. I didn’t realize that where I had wedged the van to hide from the Port Authority Police “shoo away squad” blocked the driver from getting to the cargo doors for the bus. He looked at me, looked at the crate, and waited patiently, without a sound. When I picked up the crate off the cart and headed for the van he offered to help. Nice guy. It dawned on me later that he had purposely dragged his feet loading the bus so Kerry would have enough time to make the three trips to get the dogs.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by matt on Mar 03, 2010. There are comments.
Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on December 15th, we adopted out the following dogs: Jada, Noble, Hero, Eddie, Charlie, Teddy bear, Snowball, Scooter, Jingles, Frank, Leon, Lovey, Jesse, Verucca, Maggie, Linus, Lucy, Sammie, Billie, Moose, Patrick, Mack, One, Noel, Jenny, Jerry, Bobey, Madison, McBean, Rudolph, Holly, Casey, Ben, Jackpot, Claus, Kringle, Arlette, Jackson, Gabby, Lil Bill, Spunky, Janie, Hunter, Matilda, Madden, Rufus, Rosie, Jonie, Cody, Major, Janie..again, Arlette again, Jackie, Smokey, Mabel and George, Josie.
The following cats were also adopted: Charlie, Eddie, Cleo and Ricky. That is a total of 61 adoptions this month. Great. Good luck furries!
We had a lot of “pairs” adopted this month too – people coming down and taking two dogs home. Hero & Noble, Linus & Lucy, Claus & Kringle, Cody & Major, Matilda & Madden and George and Mabel went home as duo’s. It is so much better for a dog to have a companion. We’re really thrilled by this latest trend.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Updates by kerry on Jan 23, 2010. There are comments.
There are so many interpretations of “no-kill”. What is a no-kill sanctuary anyway?
The clinical definition of the term means that no animal who can be saved is killed.
So if you are no-kill you don’t kill any animals because you’re out of space. You don’t kill them because they are ill (and because it might be expensive, or difficult, to care for them). You don’t kill them because they are elderly or more difficult to adopt. You don’t kill them because they are a certain breed and you don’t like that breed or have “too many” of that breed already in your kennel.
It means that no healthy (treatable) animal is killed. Ever. If you follow those guidelines then you are considered “no kill”.
Now there are different interpretations of the term “adoptable” though and even “healthy”.
Some shelters that are “no-kill” DO kill because the animal is severely aggressive. That is considered “not adoptable”, especially if it is behavioral or medical in nature – and therefore considered that it can not be fixed. Perhaps something such as a tumor or something else that causes the animal to act this way, something that can not be trained out of them.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
No-kill by kerry on Jan 03, 2010. There are comments.
CHALLENGE!!!
An anonymous donor has promised to match the total of ALL sponsorships for ONE YEAR if we can get 100 NEW sponsors between November 1 2009 and December 31, 2009. The amount of money this is for us, is staggering. We have sponsorships for as low as $18 a month for a lifeline sponsorship, $25 for a cat sponsorship, $35 for a dog sponsorship, $35 for a senior animal sponsorship or $85 for a horse sponsorship. Please spread the word and help us get to this goal. We have less than two weeks left! This is very critical to us. We are begging you to sign up for animal sponsorships. We MUST reach this goal and we are very close right now. Remember, they start at just $18 a month.
Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on November 11th, we adopted out about 57 animals! Preston, Tisbury, Snausage, Rosie, Sandy, Brizzie, Buddy, Coal, Dixie, Shayna, Billy, Dory, Ember, Talia, Quigley, Spunky, Kylie, Bingo, Tessa, Inglebert, Kit, Ernie, Akasha, Princess, Droopy, Layla, Gypsy, J.D., Kanga, Friday, Maggie, Daks, Gracie, Redford, Boomer, Barbie, Rosie2, Pork Chop, Tundra, Slugger, Sinclair, Gunner, Panda, Bunny, Max, Nixon, Samson, Redford (again), Huey. We even adopted out eight cats this month! Yay to Sammi, Jesse, Vinny, Pumpkin, Bear, Katie, Vladimir & Virgil.
Stand out adoptions this month would HAVE to be Rosie, Tisbury, Snausage and Gracie. Rosie was a little dog scheduled for euthanasia because she could be so ornery. She arrived in a metal cage where she could not even turn around or stand up! We were shocked. We were told not to handle her but to DUMP HER out of the cage because she was so nasty. Oh my. In a cage like that, totally exposed, who could blame her??? We opened it up and let her make her own way out. Within 20 minutes she was kissing us and friendly. It is true that it took about 20 minutes every time she met someone to warm up and understand they would not harm her, but she was not a nasty dog at all. In fact, Rosie was one of the sweetest and most affectionate dogs (always wanting to cuddle in your lap) that we have encountered. She was adopted and now lives in New York City. Imagine. Truly. Yes imagine. From death row, to Central Park. Imagine.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Updates by kerry on Dec 15, 2009. There are comments.
We got the greatest letter in the mail this week with about $17 in cash and change. It was from a group of young girls that decided to have a Lemonade Stand to benefit Pets Alive. Here is the letter that went with it. You’ll die it is just so cute:
Matt,
I received your letter last week and read about your current project – Pets Alive. A few weeks ago my daughter and a neighbor had a lemonade stand. They had decided that they wanted to donate their funds to help animals. After I received your letter I told the girls about your animal sanctuary . They decided that this is where they wanted their funds donated. So please accept the enclosed donation. Although it is a small sum of mone, they hope it can help.
Melissa H.
Funds raised by Casey H., Haley H., and Callie K.
————————————-
Since then the girls have been collecting empty bottles and cans and returning them, collecting all the money for Pets Alive as well. While we don’t have a picture of the lemonade stand, we DO have a picture of the can collection in progress! Thank you so much Casey, Haley and Callie! It definitely HELPS!
Filed in
Featured Letters by kerry on Dec 04, 2009. There are comments.
$100,000 Gift is Part of Ongoing Commitment to Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary
[Middletown, N.Y. CA/USA – Nov. 30, 2009] Pets Alive, one of the nation’s oldest no-kill animal sanctuaries, will keep on saving unwanted pets with a $100,000 gift from Sidewalk Angels Foundation.
Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas and his wife Marisol started the foundation to raise money for worthy causes. Sidewalk Angels has so far donated almost half a million dollars to Pets Alive (http://www.petsalive.com) to help the organization save abandoned and unwanted animals.
“We can attribute a good part of our success to the support of Sidewalk Angels and Rob and Marisol Thomas,” says Matt DeAngelis, Executive Co-Director of Pets Alive. “We are fortunate that they have been involved with Pets Alive all these years and are grateful for their support on projects like GiveaDog.org, our socially responsible pet gift for the holidays.”
GiveADog.org (http://www.giveadog.org) allows people to give their loved ones the gift of a dog without the responsibility of feeding, walking, and cleaning up after a dog. Pets Alive gives recipients regular updates on their dogs through email, custom Web pages and even video.
Rob and Marisol Thomas started volunteering at Pets Alive about six years ago and adopted their beloved dog Tyler from the sanctuary. Tyler recently passed away but the couple’s love for Pets Alive continues, says Kerry Clair, who serves as Executive Co-Director with DeAngelis.
“Rob and Marisol have not only given us their money, but they have given us their hearts, and we appreciate that very much,” Clair says.
Their fans have donated over $6,000 to Pets Alive in Tyler’s memory, Clair says. The sanctuary plans to renovate its outdoor dog area and rename it “Camp Tyler” with that money. Marisol also serves on the Pets Alive board and her parents volunteer at the shelter.
The most recent $100,000 donation from Sidewalk Angels Foundation will go towards Pets Alive’s annual operating budget of about $400,000, Clair says. The sanctuary saved a record 1,000 unwanted animals last year, and is on track to save a similar number this year.
“Each year we raise about half of what we need. Sidewalk Angels gets us through the rest of the year,” Clair says. “Without them we would have been forced to shut our doors twice already.”
Founded 30 years ago by animal lover Sara Whalen, Pets Alive rescues animals from New York and across the United States. The sanctuary also takes animals from other shelters that might otherwise be killed, with a focus on animals that have been abused, neglected or have special needs.
Filed in
Updates by kerry on Dec 01, 2009. There are comments.
Tomorrow we gather for our Thanksgiving meal, stuff ourselves and then spend a tryptophan-induced restful afternoon with the people we love.
Back in 1620, a group of about 100 religious dissidents from England found themselves in Plymouth, Massachusetts after a short stop in the Netherlands. They were the first settlers in this new world, and things were rough.
During the first winter here 50 out of a hundred settlers died of starvation and sickness. Tradition has it that in the spring they planted their first harvest and the abundance of some of the crops was amazing. They were able to pay off their financiers in England quicker than they expected, and there was still plenty left over.
They were thankful for their very lives – thankful to be part of the surviving Pilgrims. They were thankful for their harvest – thankful that they were reaping in abundance the seeds they had sown.
A little over a week ago we were all shocked at the senseless killing of Oreo, the dog who had survived being thrown from a six story rooftop, landing on air conditioning units which broke her fall.
As we know she died not from her injuries but as a result of the decision to take her life rather than respond to our request to take her to Pets Alive for rehabilitation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by Admnistrator on Nov 25, 2009. There are comments.
So a lot of you had contacted us about the “Hunter situation” here in Orange County. Hunter is a dog at the Orange County Sheriff’s K9-Unit. His handler, Deputy Edward Josefovitz, was leaving the department and wanted to take Hunter with him. I must say that at first I felt like I had to be on the side of the handler. How could you live with a dog for two years and then be forced to give it up? This poor family must be heartbroken, I thought. So I looked for more information and all the web had was stories about how much the family loved him and that he was sick and elderly and was now living in a cement pen, depressed and dejected laying in the back of it, day after day. I confess I was really surprised and felt terrible for these people. So I reached out to the Sheriff’s department and spoke to Orange County Sheriff’ Carl DuBois. I’ve known Carl for a lot of years and was really surprised that he would treat an animal this way. REALLY surprised. That’s because Carl is a HUGE dog lover. In fact when his dog died this past year, he and his wife couldn’t get another one because they were so crushed and heartbroken by the loss. So how could this situation be true?
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Uncategorized by kerry on Nov 24, 2009. There are comments.
Tonight (Wednesday), as animal lovers hold a candlelight vigil outside the ASPCA offices for Oreo, the miracle dog killed by the ASPCA, we are thrilled to let you know that we received word that a bill to allow animal welfare organizations the right to request animals be given to their care when a shelter is planning to euthanize them will be introduced in the State Legislature this week by Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner and State Senator Thomas K. Duane.
The bill is modeled after a similar law in California (the Hayden law), and would have saved Oreo and brought her to us. This is a MAJOR step in the right direction for ensuring the safety of the animals in the care of organizations like the ASPCA. It must pass.
We expect that there will be shouting and foot stomping and doomsday predictions (as there was in California) from the ASPCA and the big money organizations, and it is VITAL that you help us keep their feet to the fire. Support this bill, and support the legislators who introduced it. Write the Assembly members and/or State Senators and let them know what’s going on and that they need to support this bill. Call them if you are so inclined. Spread the word to your friends and neighbors.
Send your expressions of support to:
Assembly Member Kellner at kellnerm@assembly.state.ny.us
State Senator Tom Duane at duane@senate.state.ny.us
Read the press release here:
http://www.micahkellner.net/2009/11/18/oreos-law-would-give-dogs-a-second-chance-at-life/
Please take just a second to email them and thank them.
Then spread the news. Post this to your Facebook and Myspace pages. Twitter it. Digg it, Reddit. WHATEVER social network you use, please use it. Let’s get everyone involved.
Kerry & Matt
Unfamiliar with the Oreo case?
You can read a great summary here in the L.A.Times.You can also read our own page here, and check our press page.
Be the difference. YOU are all the have.
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Nov 19, 2009. There are comments.
We are naive. For organizations like the ASPCA, “animal welfare” is big business. They are money raising machines, using star power to raise millions to further their efforts. Paying their CEO, Ed Sayres, the man who responded to staff emails trying to save Oreo, the dog thrown off the roof, nursed to health and then murdered by the ASPCA by saying “just do your job” more than half a million dollars a year.
Pets Alive is not a money raising machine. We save animals. That’s it. Every day we pour over emails, phone calls and phone messages from other shelters, trying our best to save as many as we can. Understand one fundamental fact that some people seem to be forgetting. They are all equal. Every soul is as precious as the next. Each one is completely innocent and each one deserves life.
I was broken when I left my office last night. I was completely disgusted. I went out to dinner and drank more than I ate. Kerry was heartbroken as well.
The question left in our minds is very simple: how could an organization that has virtually unlimited resources claim to have run out of options and kill an animal? We’re not talking about an animal dying of cancer or ripped to shreds in a dogfight. There are no shades of gray here. No wiggle room. There’s only a binary reality – right and wrong. Black and white. Yes or no. Life or death. They chose death. Period. Why? Because that’s what Sayres and his minions wanted for Oreo. That’s what they thought was best for her. Can you f’ing believe that? They gave us all the finger and told us that death was the best thing for Oreo.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by Admnistrator on Nov 14, 2009. There are comments.