Sauvetage de Katrina: 14 nouveaux petits Canadiens !!!

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A Cause for Paws: 14 New Canadians!!!!!
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Well, we pulled it off. Thanks to the support of Cambridge Humane, our incredible team, Meg, Shelagh, the Canadian media, our American friends, and SO many others who rushed down here with donations, support, vet supplies, you name it... this network is absolutely incredible, and we managed a safe, speedy and successful trip.... More extensive details later, as we're extremely tired, I'm quite sick, and have to address my own business this week... any calls for animal issues, please call before or after business hours ANYTIME this week.

We arrived at Cambridge Humane Sat'dy night w/14 dogs:

Ringo: a beautiful 80 lb male 5 year old lab with a blind left eye. Gorgeous temperament, sweet disposition, strong, but easy to handle. Just needs to be trained. No trauma issues that we could detect in our short time with him. Just a beautiful boy.


King: is an 80 lb shepherd/hound cross with an aging face - about 8 yrs. He is so much like my Cyril - he's got that "je ne sais quoi" from the shepherd family that makes him look like he's having a private joke all the time. His temperament is excellent. Very healthy, strong dog, beautiful kind temperament. Just a darling. Shepherd features in his face, a torn right ear, houndish tail. When he lays down, he crosses one leg over the other, real dignified, and just smiles and smiles and smiles. I think he particularly liked the Holiday Inn accommodations on our trip home. Seems to be a "5 star" kind of dog...


Charlie Joe: a gorgeous male lab approx. 3 yrs, jet black. Sweet as can be, not full grown yet, very strong puller on the lead - none of these dogs know what a leash is.... He's full of love, energy, interest. He'll love it here.


6 black lab pups 5 months old 4 girls/2 boys: these pups were found on side of road in Magnolia, Miss. A skull was found with them, who rescuers assumed was the mother. Francis, below, saved these pups - was found bringing them food. Very sweet little dogs, just dying for attention and kindness. They'll do beautifully in Canada.


4 terrier cross siblings: These four, two girls, two boys, are the most sensitive of the lot. they are terrier/shepherd/collie crosses and at 8 months, are approx 30 -40 lbs each but very thin at this time. Matilda is more shepherd-like in her features; Callie has more collie in her than the others; Billie, very very nervous boy with again, collie features, and Moses, the most beautiful little face you ever saw, he smiles very funny, holds up his upper lip and shows you his bottom teeth when he's excited and happy. He throws himself into your arms for comfort. No idea of their history, but clearly scared senseless, all four. I'd venture they're traumatized, but we don't know over what.


Francis: is a "rat terrier" like a chihuahua, but not quite. He's brown/tan w/white markings on chest, approx 1.5 yrs, full of energy, life, loves to dig, cuddle, won't come in the bathroom - I think he was one of the pets who might have bee left in a bathroom during storm. As mentioned above, Francis was found caring for his 6 black labs and no one had the heart to leave him behind in the Best Friends compound, and separate him from his pups. Francis is in foster with me at the moment. He's tearing up a toothbrush right now... he had a full breakfast, and thankfully, did his business outside this morning. I was so proud of the little guy!


We are awaiting more background info on several of these dogs' history from various players in Best Friends/St. Francis camp in Tylertown today/tomorrow.

As part of our Cause for Paws network, Cambridge has kindly allowed us two days, Monday and Tuesday, to go see the dogs ad offer _expressions of interest. Bonnie, who runs the shelter, would like each of these dogs "home for Christmas". So adoptions start in earnest this week. Cambridge Humane is on exit 287/Hwy 24 south off 401. Please call for their hours of operation and street address. Very accessible. The shelter is impeccable, the dogs have beautiful beds, great area to run, and kind and caring staff who left their Christmas party on Sat'dy to meet us late in the evening and settle the dogs in.

All dogs are heartworm free (a real feat to find heartworm free dogs down there) and no pit mixes that we can tell. Cambridge is watching the lab pups for another week, to ensure they don't come up with any pit features. If they do, Cambridge has agreed to work with C4P to get them to Province of Quebec for homing.

Obviously, we are extremely invested in these dogs' futures at this point - we would love, as with all our C4P rescues, to keep them in our circle and be able to track their futures, and keep them in the "family". Bearing in mind, our C4P family is now at about 1,200 animal advocates...

Francis, Leanne and I are scheduled to be on Animal Housecalls, Cable Pulse 24 tomorrow night, Tuesday, 5 pm - repeat Tuesday night 11:30, repeat Friday night 11:30. Tell your friends! Also, Toronto Star called yesterday and interviewed for the story, which hopefully publishes sometime this week.

This is an incredible opportunity for us animal-loving Canadians to show how deeply we care, and how possible it is to do something concrete for these poor animals. Best Friends.org (based in Utah) is an incredible organization - as an example, Francis' tag number is BF3016, which means, they've processed over 3,000 dogs at this point in tylertown alone ..... they, as of today, I understand are opening two more camps, one in Biloxi/Gulfport Mississippi and another in New Orleans, LO. they are a no-kill operation, and have my deepest and highest respect.

There are thousands of homeless animals all over the southern states, due to displacement from Katrina, etc. We had to leave two dogs behind, as they were "found stray" and not outright "owner surrenders" meaning, if an owner came forward at a later date, the dogs would have to be returned. At this time, the dates for "found strays" are slipping all over the place, some mention they are adoptable after Jan 15, there is another contrary rumour which says 3 yrs. there is no way of telling which way the states are going to go with the dates for surrenders. so we thought it best to leave the two behind so as not to put them through driving across the states twice.

Next steps: Tiffany Longarini is putting together plans for Team Two, leaving Dec 26th. we're hoping for two vans. Again, transport is most badly needed down there, to move dogs from southern shelters to more northern shelters or homes. Biloxi, Gulfport and New Orleans are still in dire need of transport and evacuation support. Not so much for supplies, they're managing that, but hands-on volunteers to care for animals and definitely transport out of the state(s).

Donations: our trip cost us approximately $2K including van rental and gas. Incid, Enterprise cut us an amazing deal (no kilometeres!!), and Bell Mobility is stepping up to the plate on my cell charges for humanitarian reasons. Very decent! The most expensive aspect was gas: $55 US to fill tank, twice a day on long hauls, once a day on short hauls. We are grateful to the many of you for sending your dollars in, big and small. We need approximately $3K more for two more successful runs. Please send donations to: M.M. Nadon, 3-1061 Bathurst Street, Toronto, M5R 3G8 and we'll take it from there.

Receipts: MediaIntelligence staff are going to get to work this week accounting for our trip, and ensuring charitable donation receipts are issued through Cambridge Humane. I anticipate having this all papered by end of year.

Obviously there is so much more to the trip that I'm not able to convey in this message this morning. I'll be putting together my thoughts on paper and getting it out at a later date. Suffice to say, it was a magnificent effort - animals were front and center on everyone's minds and in everyone's actions. It was a very powerful experience to say the least, to impact in any positive way we could, these poor animals. Thanks to all of you for every single thing you've done to support this effort. Our list of thanks is extensive, and we'll issue that at a later date...


for the animals,

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M. Michelle Nadon
m.m.nadon@sympatico.ca
416.535.8988