Today was one of those magical days I'll remember for the rest of my life as one of the best days ever in Reunion Rescue's history. Here is the beginning of a work in progress...keep in mind this is only part one of the day...I'll be uploading more photos shortly ... so keep tuned in!!!
From cloudy to sunny to pouring rain, the Reunion Rescue crowd turned out at Best Friends' first ever San Francisco Strut Your Mutt. Reunion Rescue adopters and supporters began to turn out and didn't let a few showers crowd the fun for these wonderful pit bull lovers.
Captain Adena Blount and her son Reed showed up to kick off the show....
Jerzy, Hank, Duane, Lenny, Lily and Norm
Jerzy and Norm showed up with Hank and Lily. They have certainly proved the shelter wrong who said they couldn't handle Hank...today celebrates 13 years of their adopting Hank and they brought neighbor Lily, Hank's purty girlfriend.
Duane and Lenny hopped into the mix for a photo op. Duane adopted Sam (Carl) years ago when he was going to be put down for having a terribly fractured leg.
Thanks to Duane, Carl was saved and we raised the money for his surgery. Duane adopted Lenny a few years later and life was great. Duane recently lost Carl to terminal illness.
Hazel from Baldwin Park showed up with her mom Joan and Joan's daughter, Cindy...gotta love that name!
They brought along new foster dog German Shepherd Hilda.
Hazel, Joan, Hilda and Cindy
Hazel and Joan
Steaven, Buster and Ken
Many long years ago, Steaven and Ken walked their puppy Benny with Reunion in the Pride Parade....Benny was one of the first Reunion Rescue adoptions and lived a long and very happy life. When Steaven and Ken were ready to adopt another dog, they called and we delivered...
Buster came from the Bakersfield nine we pulled from KCAC....he was the last one unadopted because he was too 'shy'...well he's turned that shy act in for a smile and here's hoping he's gonna share that smile on many more future struts.
Gene, Heather and Delta's forever family!!!
When Delta was Pearlie Girl, she'd been pulled by another rescue from Martinez Shelter. She wound up on Craigslist and when the other rescue didn't respond, we negotiated and got her into boarding. Little did we know it would take almost two years, but Delta found her real forever home with Heather and Gene and their precious girls. It was worth the wait. If only there were a million more perfect homes like this one and all the homeless dogs could be happy ever after like Delta.
Darren, Todd, Wylie, Henry, Grace and Betsy
There are no words....but we miss Maddie. Todd and Darren adopted Madeline a long time ago and we all walked in Pride Parade. Maddie passed away last year and broke her daddy's heart. We remembered Maddie and the other ones we have loved and lost in our Hope's Memorial Walk this year.
David and Chino
Chino had to be darted when I saw him running down Dolores. The minute his stray period was over he was scheduled to be put to sleep. He had to wear a harness in doggy daycare and foster because he kept trying to take off again...but the minute he met David, it was a match made in heaven. That was many years ago and Chino has never left David's side. If only we could find a David for every shelter dog like Chino....
Team Brent and Kimberley with baby Bella Boo
Brent and Kimberley (a.k.a. softy cakes) are two of the most hardcore animal advocates we've run across in all our rescue years. Kimberley reached out when she came across Baxter who was abandoned at the Colma Banfield vet. He was very sick but Kimberley and Brent went to work raising the funds to try and help save him. Tragically, Baxter didn't have the strength to survive his compromised liver condition and he died peacefully in the arms of a very trusted Reunion allumni. We remembered Baxter today on Hope's Memorial Walk.
Dear Rudy with Debbie Harry and Boom Boom
Davika was a little rat terrier who'd been horribly abused her entire life and was waiting to die at Martinez Shelter. Reunion saved her and she had to have surgery for tumors and dental. She was an older girl, but Rudy adopted her and gave her the loving life she never knew in the years before we found her. She passed away in Rudy's arms after enjoying an extraordinary home with Rudy and Boom Boom. She cut a swath on their many hikes and travels and had her own blog.
Rudy recently saved little Debbie Harry and Davika was remembered today in our Hope's Memorial Walk.
Nicole, John with Jesse and family
Good friend and longtime Reunion foster Anne with her babies
Jan and Buster Posey
Heather (Pearlie Girl now Delta's mom) Catarina and Scott with Delta's daddy Gene
Me squeezing the dickens out of Delta!
Delta with her sweet dad, Gene
Delta with her proud and loving parents
Darren, Scott, Catarina, me, Todd and the 'pack'
Sweet Delta's familty with Catarina and Scott
Joan, Todd and Scott
Steaven, Ken and Buster
Jerzy and his Hank trying to keep dry
Daddy's boy
Lily is pretty in pink
Lily girl
Lenny knows how to stay warm and dry
Hazel is an original 'kissabull' staying warm and dry
Team Anne...with her own babies
Anne's the reason more than a few Reunion dogs are in their happy homes today
....and Hank is walking this Saturday for Reunion Rescue Strut Your Mutt. This Saturday, Best Friends is hosting the walk-a-thon for homeless pets from 8 to 1.....
Hank was on death row about to be killed way back in 2002. His dads Jerzy and Norm saved Hank through Reunion Rescue and he's been living the life ever since.
Hank, Jerzy and Norm will be strutting for homeless pets in San Francsico and everywhere this Saturday.
Please consider a small donation or better yet create your own virtual strut page by joining the Reunion Rescue pack and showing the world how wonderful our rescue dogs are!
Please help Reunion Rescue continue our lifesaving work and stay tuned! We will be posting photos and updates until and throughout the event so you can see other seniors and former San Francisco shelter dogs strutting their stuff!
Take a look at some of the strutters on our Facebook Strut Your Mutt San Francisco page:
Tom's Farms bills itself as a "California destination since 1971" has reportedly turned away a young girl with autism and her service dog, a pit bull.
The company's Facebook page which advertises a restaurant, professional services and an outdoor retreat hosts events to entice traveling families to attend. Currently, tourist attractions include a Civil War reenactment with 'Lincoln' reading the Gettysburg Address.
He won't be reading it to pit bulls, though, because pit bulls, even though certified service animals protected under the same laws as guide dogs for the blind, are not welcome at Tom's Farm.
Although dogs are welcome in certain areas at Tom's Farm, Pup-cake was asked to 'leave the premises.'
This is a trained service dog and not a danger to anyone, in fact, necessary and legal assistance for his young charge. Pup-cake with painted toenails and his little charge were banned from Tom's Farms.
Pit bull owners are irate and posting on the site's Facebook page. "As the owner of 2 wonderful dogs which happen to be pit bulls I am once again faced with the ignorance of people regarding this breed The poor child's dog was banned simply because of the breed.A service dog is a service dog regardless of the type. Besides breaking the law you are perpetuating the idea that these dogs are inherently dangerous which is simply not true.I would hope you would rethink your decision before this goes further and you are left with a lot of bad publicity." Tom's Farms might not have heard about the backlash suffered by other businesses over breed specific statements and bans. McDonald's and Farmer's Insurance suffered huge consequences for anti-pit bull remarks. Their endorsements of convicted felon and animal abuser Michael Vick brought Subway and Nike considerable bad press. Kelly Rippa is only one of a few celebrities who've learned that a slip of the tongue can wind up leaving an incredibly bad taste. Tom's Farms deserves an education about pit bull breeds as do many who issue these unfair bans. Tom's Farms is located in Southern California near over-stressed and very high kill shelters in which pit bulls are being killed by the truckloads daily. BSL such as employed by Tom's Farms kills dogs. Tom's Farms 23900 Temescal Canyon Road Corona, CA 92883 Phone: (951) 277-4422 https://www.facebook.com/tomsfarms
Austin, Texas has turned into a megaplex and has the overwhelming animal problems to show for it. Until now, the communities of Cedar Park, Bee Caves, Westlake, Lakeway, Lago Vista and Sunset Valley have been able to rely on the city of Austin for assistance with stray animal issues and wildlife.
Recently, the director of Austin Animal Services, Abigail Smith has issued a statement that the city of Austin will no longer come to the aid of these smaller less-endowed communities and in fact, will charge a large fee to help with animal related issues.
According to Forbes Magazine, Austin is ranked "among the top cities in the world in 2011 along with two other U.S. metros based on their business-friendliness, affordability and attractiveness to 'millenials' starting and growing their families later this decade."
"People are flocking to Austin to take advantage of companies hiring and the city’s cool reputation. The metro boasts a net migration rate that is the third fastest in the country over the past five years."
That prediction has been proved to be more than true with huge onslaught making Austin, Texas their new home. Austin-based economist Mark Sprague stated 'approximately 158 people were moving to Austin daily! That's 40 some odd families...and their pets.
Many of these incoming families and their dogs will be settling in some of the neighborhoods such as Cedar Park, Westlake, Lago Vista and Sunset Valley which have been duly warned the city of Austin animal control services will only be available at a large cost.
Austin, Texas, known for being one of the most up and coming desirable places to hang your hat, is becoming something other than the city which attracted so many people way too quickly. The huge condominiums alone have altered what was once a unique skyline and now has no resemblance to which was once a true original.
The promise of 'live music every night, movie theaters that sell whiskey, a world-class university' and some of the most mind-boggling terrain in the world with low cost living expenses has placed Austin as '11th largest U.S. city, according to latest Census Bureau estimate.'
What has happened is a spill off of the overwhelming pet problem. Austin Animal Center's new facility is nearly always at capacity. According to Austin Chronicle, "demands of maintaining no-kill status for 17 months have resulted in Animal Services struggling to keep two undersized and overcapacity shelter up and running with the money and manpower needed for one."
This leads to the glaring question, why should the animals in these little communities be punished due to the huge growth enjoyed by the city of Austin? Certainly planners made preparations in transit, energy, utilities, education and other areas of concern. Did they forget about the animals. Kind of looks that way.
Did they assume when Town Lake Shelter was disassembled and the new smaller shelter was constructed way across town on the east side that everyone would forget and the overwhelming animal problem would just go away?
The animal problem is worse than ever with rescue groups struggling to take on more than they can handle to keep animals from being euthanized and allow Austin Animals Services and the group Austin Pets Alive to maintain Austin's no-kill status. And now, these over-stressed rescue groups will take on even more animals to help these little communities without benefit of staff, equipment, funding, transportation and facilities to house the many animals that are showing up not only in Austin, but in Cedar Park, in Sunset Valley, in Westlake Hills, in Lago Vista, in Lakeway and other tiny bedroom communities who didn't ask for this huge growth and who certainly aren't enjoying the benefits.
One sage animal lover says, "Lets talk about the poor rescue groups who now will be more overwhelmed with more calls and more animals because they will be killed after a holding period of three days! My god, I hope your dog does not get out! The rescue groups do everything they can just to survive and Austin now decides to be better then everyone else because of the number game. How many animals can you give away for free game. How many attack the people or their pets Austin gives away because They did not do a behavior assessment, I bet a lot. It's about saving them right?"
Something needs to be done. As the right planning wasn't put into place by the those planners being paid to plan, the job seems to have fallen into the laps of those who aren't pulling down a paycheck or receiving huge grants and funding to care for the overflow of animals when those 158 people and their pets move to Austin each day.
Please share this story and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Yesterday, Reunion Rescue received an urgent call from a young man in the peninsula near San Francisco. He'd found a puppy running loose in Pacifica and took the puppy to Peninsula Humane Society.
After hearing some stories from other locals about the strict assessment tests and euthanasia rates for pit bulls at PHS, he went back to the facility and got the puppy. He was told by PHS if the puppy did not pass their battery of assessment tests, the puppy could be euthanized.
Several articles have been written about Peninsula Humane Society regarding pit bull euthanasia practices. Reunion stepped up for this puppy and we are now trying to raise donations to take care of his vetting and neutering so he can enter our foster program.
The young man agreed to keep him overnight while Reunion Rescue networks for a foster home and makes arrangements for his neuter surgery. Please share this one's story and consider a small donation to help us care for him.
As soon as this one seemed to have a plan in place, we got another late night call. A gentleman in San Francisco telephoned asking for help. He's been left with an abandoned pit bull puppy. He was getting ready to take the puppy thought to be about four months old to San Francisco Animal Care and Control. SFACC has a longstanding career of euthanizing pit bulls.
Reunion Rescue has spent years trying to save pit bulls from this facility after having been banned in 2003. We have been able to save many like Allie, Faris, Buddy, Wylie, Maddie, Slappy, Ollie and tons of others scheduled to die at SFACC, but need help. Every dog we've saved before the ban was taken from SFACC death row and about to be euthanized.
Since Reunion Rescue's 2003 ban, we've had to rely on the help of finders and private citizens to save the lives of San Francisco dogs condemned to die at SFACC. Reunion Rescue depends solely on private donations to save lives. We need your support to continue this work.
Please share these two puppies' stories and consider a donation to help us save them and so many others.
Visit http:www.reunionrescue.com and click the donate button. We need funding to vet and neuter these puppies so they can join us in our San Francisco Strut Your Mutt event Saturday the 21st on Treasure Island.
Please join the puppies and Reunion Rescue in our walk for homeless pets everywhere. You can create a virtual walk for only $10 to help these and other dogs should you and your pet not be able to attend.
The Humane Society of Cedar Creek Lake is being forced to consider closing it’s doors, after 30 years of serving the surrounding community, and saving thousands and thousands of lives, due to lack of funding. We had requested increases in our contracts from Henderson and Kaufman Counties and both requests were denied. Over the last two years, we have seen private donations dramatically decrease and our fund raising efforts have not kept up with the demand on our cash flow.
We currently have funds to see us through the next 3 weeks. If we can not find a long term solution in that time, we will be forced to close our doors to the 3500 to 4000 homeless pets that we care for every year thus putting there lives in jeopardy.
We are now immediately reaching out to the rescue 150 animals that are still in our custody, when we are forced to close the doors, will have to be euthanized. We certainly hope that we do not have to close our doors. But it is a very real possibility. And we want to be proactive in getting as many pet as possible into a safe alternative.
community that has helped us for so long to begin pulling these pets to reduce our population as much as possible. The approximately
I know all rescues are full. I reach out to rescues everyday in an effort to save the lives of HSCCL’s homeless pets. But if anyone can help with just one pet, it is one life saved. Please review our PetFinder And Adopt A Pet page.
For those of you that live in Henderson and Kaufman Counties and are wondering where your animals will be going after out gate shuts for the final time, I suggest you call Judge Wood’s office in Kaufman County at 972 932-4331 or Judge Sanders’ office in Henderson County at 903 675-6120. Not only did they decline contract increases, but also declined emergency funding to help keep us open until a long term solution could be found.
Petal, Mississippi: The following story was written about Nina, a chained pit bull in wooded terrain outside Petal, Mississippi on July 23. Only one comment has been published regarding Nina's wellbeing, but the information is suspicious.
The country sheriff's department promised to contact the original owner, J. R. Reynolds July 26, but no word has been received regarding contact. No word has been received about Nina's welfare, although Dogs Deserve Better posted a notice on their Facebook page that Nina was in the care of some third party.
In light of the horrible abuse sweeping the nation, care by some third party is not comforting.
I placed another call today with Purvis County Sheriff's Department at 601-544-7800 only to get the same story, that Nina is in the care of some third party. If this third party is responsible for the chain around Nina's neck, then something certainly must be done.
I asked the sheriff's department to call J. R. Reynolds again and left my phone number so that we can attempt to trace Nina's whereabouts.
Here is a copy of the original article printed July 23, 2013:
Nina is the beloved pet of J.R. Reynolds. She was stolen from his home over a week ago. Mr. Reynolds received a text on his cell phone of his beautiful dog on a tow chain somewhere in the woods.
Facebook groups are posting Nina's picture everywhere in hopes that someone recognizes the terrain and will turn in the evil criminal who stole Nina.
The photograph of a terrified Nina inspires dreadful thoughts. Concerned animal welfare advocates are fearful Nina will live on this chain the rest of her life or is being used in the nasty sport of hog hunting...or even a worse fate.
According to WDAM News, Nina is only 7 months old. She was stolen from her outdoor pen, which is yet another testament to not letting your pet outside without direct supervision.
What kind of monster steals a puppy and sends the photograph to the owner?
According to the article, local police are involved, but a call to both Petal Police Department and the County office provided no information:
Again, it appears that justice will come from Facebook posts and social media outreach.
Please continue to share Nina's story in hopes that she is returned to her family and in hopes that her family will bring their pet indoors with the rest of the family.
