Archives for February, 2009

Two emails

Hi everyone.  Matt here.  Hope your winter is going well.  It’s been a rough day here at Pets Alive.  Kingfish died earlier today and there’s a pallor of sadness that has cast itself across the face of Pets Alive.  I can hear the click-clacking of Kerry’s fingers on the keyboard across from me and the almost comedic yet melodious snoring of Scrumpy is floating by from somewhere off-camera.

Have I ever mentioned to all of you that we get hate mail?

Whenever I start a new business there is always someone who thinks they are doing me a favor by pointing out to me where I’m going to fail.  I’ve been tremendously successful, and they have been -well- wrong.  But that doesn’t stop them from trying.  I used to be tremendously offended by these people, but now I basically just laugh.  There is something very close here in the rescue business.

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Filed in Why we do this by Admnistrator on Feb 25, 2009.  There are 14 comments.  

Ten plane loads of dogs destined for death – saved!

Tulip likes the window seat!

On February 21st, at 2pm, privately owned small airplanes flew their own mercy mission, bringing 15 dogs targeted for euthanasia in South Carolina to Orange County airport and ultimately to sanctuary at Pets Alive.

All of these dogs were rescued from kennels where they were among as many as 250 dogs to be put to death this week alone in just ONE shelter in South Carolina. Every one of them was scheduled to die this morning. Many of the shelters there have as high as a 99 percent kill rate. Instead of being put into the gas chamber, they were whisked away and transported by ground from South Carolina to North Carolina where the pilots loaded them aboard and flew them to safety.

A group of local Pets Alive volunteers met the pooches at the airport and brought them to our shelter where we examined them, checked them into runs with good food, a warm Kuranda bed and fresh water and we started to prepare them for adoption.

Another 10 dogs are being driven to Pets Alive on Sunday as part of the continuing rescue effort.

All of these dogs are young, highly adoptable and friendly. It was a great day. Planes coming out of the air, all of them with dogs on board that would have been dead today. (Please consider adopting a homeless animal).

Special thanks to all our volunteers for going out to the airport on almost no notice, waiting around for over an hour and a half because of transport delays and then bringing these wonderful dogs back to our shelter. Thank you to Rhonda Sims and Freedom Train Transport for coordinating, Kerri our adoption coordinator for making it all go smoothly and to AnimalRescueFlights.org and Pilots-N-Paws for helping to save all of these dogs. Every pilot donated his time, fuel expense, their own plane and their love and compassion to make it all happen.

We can’t thank you all enough. Click here to see photos of the arrival. Thank you to Becky Tegze for the photos.

Pilots and Dogs they saved

Thank you so much to our FABULOUS volunteers! Lisamarie, Lorraine, Eileen, Frank, Suzy, Sarah, Michael, Dina, Alyssa, Jo, Paula, Jan, Alina, Richard, John, Betty and Yvonne. We had hours to pull this together and we were so grateful for you all to leaving everything to rush down there and help. THANK YOU!

Filed in Updates by kerry on Feb 22, 2009.  There are 4 comments.  

Kerry’s update: February 21, 2009

Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on January 31 st, the following dogs were adopted; MINDY!!!!!!, Trendy, Van, Gail, Blitz, Pietra (again), Liberty, Mya, Eddie, Tilly, Diesel, Oscar, TC, Pepper, Lil Bit, Tino, and two kittens – Precious and Tammy.

Intakes
In the past few weeks we took in: Leo, a beautiful, handsome guy from another shelter that was closing (Animal Haven in Flushing, Queens). Leo has some serious guarding issues and would bite when trying to protect his toys. He is being worked with by our staff and in the past two weeks has made TREMENDOUS progress!

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Filed in Updates by kerry on Feb 21, 2009.  There are 0 comments.  

Kerry’s update: January 31st, 2009

Sanctuary animal updates:
Since our last update on January 5th the following dogs were adopted: Pringles, Sola, Leo, Lorna, Mooch, Candy, Bentley, Scout, Dixie, Manny, Mongo, Harley, Happy, Hope, Hercules, Cathy, Terrance, Bella, Ebony, Rosie, Josie, Pietra, Nina, Lolita, Casey, Amelia, Purdy, Little Lady and Justin. (Ninah, Pietra and Harley came back though so if you are interested in them please contact us). I guess the most amazing of these adoptions is our Amelia. Remember that just a few short months ago this girl could not even be handled. Today she is in a loving home and her people have already posted updates about her. Thanks again to Pat W. and to Best Friends for helping us to help Amelia. We’re so very happy for her.  Check our forum for updates on her.

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Filed in Updates by kerry on Feb 01, 2009.  There are 4 comments.