Une grande amie des animaux est morte

[Caro18 0]

Joyce Smith, 79: Woman dedicated life to rescuing pets

L'organisme Seconde Chance avait été créé par Joyce Smith en 1996
http://www.second-chance.ws/

Our beloved founder and leader passed away
on the afternoon of Monday, August 18th, 2008.

Her funeral was on Friday, August 22.

Her family and everyone connected with the
Sanctuary wishes to thank people for their kind words,
prayers and thoughts at this difficult time.

Joyce's biggest wish was for the Sanctuary to
carry on her work and every effort is being made to ensure that her dreams come true.




There's Raspberry, found near death under a raspberry bush many years ago. There's Hope, whose neurological problems cause her to wobble around. And there's Tower, who needs regular medication to control his epileptic seizures.

The cats owe their lives to Joyce Smith, who took them in when no one else wanted them. Now their best friend and saviour is gone, throwing their fate into uncertainty again.

Smith, 79, died on Monday, leaving more than 300 cats and 200 other furred and feathered residents of her Second Chance Wildlife Sanctuary in north Pickering.

The possibility that she'd go before securing their future was her biggest fear, says close friend Daniel Kelly.

Her whole life was about saving them," he says. "Her dream was to have a piece of land she could leave to the animals so they'd have a permanent home."

Smith, who could never say no to a creature in distress, used up her savings on pet care. She relied on donations, adoption fees and fundraisers to pay an average $8,000 a month for vet bills, food, supplies and salaries for two part-time workers. A handful of volunteers help run the sanctuary she founded a dozen years ago.

Unsure how much longer the 10-hectare farm's owner will let them use the property, Kelly says they're hoping to find homes for all the animals, including hard-to-place cats like Raspberry, Hope and Tower.

"Joyce would never want any of her animals to go to a place where they'd be put down," says Kelly, an east Toronto resident who began helping out three years ago. "When someone's as passionate as she was, you don't just walk away from them."

The animal lover, who shared the old stone farmhouse with 100 feline friends (the other cats, and an assortment of rabbits, rodents and birds live in separate outbuildings), admitted to being a little eccentric during an interview with the Star last December. Some people even called her the "crazy cat lady," she laughed.

"What else do you call someone who's given up their life and works 20 hours a day with no pay?"

With her health failing, everyone urged her to slow down, says Phyllis Healey, who puts in several hours a day at the sanctuary since retiring five years ago.

But Smith always put her own needs last, Healey says, citing the constant demands from irresponsible pet owners. A few days ago, a woman left her 9-year-old cat in a carrier at the end of Smith's driveway with a note saying she was moving and couldn't keep her.

Now the forlorn and frightened kitty hides in her box and has to be fed with a syringe, Healey says.

Smith had harsh words for people who refuse to have their pets sterilized or discard them like disposable objects. "They should see those cats dying of a broken heart, not eating, after they watch the people they love drive away without them."

Her helpers are trying to keep the sanctuary going but need funds, more volunteers, and adoptive homes for the spayed and neutered inhabitants, Healey says. They can be contacted through the website, www.second-chance.ws, or by phone at 905-649-8282.

Smith's funeral is at 1 p.m. tomorrow at McEachnie Funeral Home in Ajax.


http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/newsandevents/stories/2008/08-08j.asp#0808j_cont

[Animal 0]

Quelle femme admirable !