Safeguarding the Animals

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. -Albert Einstein

Whenever I become forlorn at the state and plight of animals — be it habitat loss, animal cruelty, or negligence — I’m constantly reminded of the most amazing and bright souls who give so much of themselves to creatures in dire need:

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  Puss, One of Our Feline Rescues, Nabbed from a Field

  Volunteers who, in their precious spare moments away from family and work, run to the most absurd places to catch feral cats — TNRing them (trap-neuter-release) to control feline overpopulation

• Those making regular excursions deep in the Everglades to rescue dogs and cats that have been heartlessly abandoned in the middle of the swamps (more on this wonderful, growing group — 100+ Abandoned Dogs of the Everglades Florida — later)
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  Blythe Spirit (formerly "Zero"), Our Sweet Rescue — Always With Us

  All the crucial, hardworking efforts of groups rescuing horses in the midst of the president’s and Congress’ recent restoration of the horse slaughter industry in this country (more on this later, from a personal horse rescue perspective)

• Just Friday evening…. Nancy Grace highlighting the plight of NYC’s abused and overworked carriage horses (something I’ve long been tracking); profuse thanks for bringing this issue to the national stage
• Late last week, “dungeon” chimpanzees, caged their entire lives in tiny cells for experimentation, freed and transported from the Coulston Foundation research facility in Alamogordo, NM to a sanctuary in Ft. Pierce, FL by the group Save the Chimps — and feeling grass for the first time in their long lives. Read more, and watch the touching CNN video here.
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  Teaching a Shelter Dog to Play: My Brother's 6-Yr-Old Rescue, a Retriever Finally Learning to Run and Retrieve...

  The countless individuals and organizations rescuing, rehabilitating, and finding homes or releasing animals of all varieties

• And the list goes on…. Far too many inspiring people and groups to mention here, even in my region alone (I recently wrote about our trip to the Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary and Aviary of South Florida’s Flamingo Gardens — a site worth visiting)

A recent post by Pat Bean on her blog Pat Bean’s Blog provided yet another most amazing reminder of these profound efforts to help those with no voice. Read about Thomas Young and his small zoo and wildlife sanctuary — Queen Wilhelmina State Park — near Mena, Arkansas. Learn about the rescue and rehabilitation of thousands of bears, hawks, owls, eagles, and countless small mammals into the wild…. And how even the wild animals flock to him. Sadly in my efforts to find out more information about Mr. Young, his sanctuary had suffered at the hands of Mother Nature, and he himself was confined to a wheelchair with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (after a tick bite). Unfortunately I couldn’t find much else — save this site, which I believe is the sanctuary. This was 2009; one can only hope that Mr. Young has returned to his healthy self, and the sanctuary and resident animals have his love and expert help. May his work continue to inspire future wildlife rehabilitators.