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Lost Dog Finds a Home on New Year’s Eve Through Animal Friends

Lost Dog Finds a Home on New Years Eve Through Animal Friends

A team of volunteers from Animal Friends, a pet adoption and rescue center, helped many lost dogs find homes.

SPCA calls for fireworks ban

Fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day are something many New Zealanders look forward to, but they arent as enjoyable for our animal friends.

The SPCA says fireworks cause death, injury and distress to animals, and the organisation is calling for a ban on fireworks for personal use.

SPCAs throughout New Zealand have had to deal with an increased number of pets straying following Guy Fawkes weekend, which it says invariably results in harm to animals and distress to owners.

SPCA National Chief Executive Robyn Kippenburger says celebrations should be restricted to public fireworks displays.

She also says consultation should occur over the placement of public displays to minimise their effect on horses and stock.

A dog died in the Manawatu after jumping through a closed window, which has been attributed to fear of fireworks.

Ms Kippenburger says Guy Fawkes is not part of our history or culture and the suffering of animals is not an acceptable result.

Guy Fawkes fireworks cause millions of dollars of damage to people, property and pets every year damage that is totally avoidable.

3 News

PET OF THE WEEK: Batman

Batman is a 5-month-old black-and-white domestic short-haired
cat. His intake number is 145087. He is good with kids, dogs and
other cats and came in with Chloe. Their former guardian was
allergic to them. They and other pets are available at Animal
Friends of the Valleys in Wildomar. For adoption prices or
directions, visit animalfriendsofthevalleys.com or call
951-674-0618. Courtesy photo

PET OF THE WEEK: Laska

Laska is a 6-year-old black-and-white Husky who has been
neutered. His intake number is 142823. He is free to people older
than 60. He and other pets are available at Animal Friends of the
Valleys in Wildomar. For adoption prices or directions, visit
animalfriendsofthevalleys.com or call 951-674-0618. Courtesy
photo

REGION: Animal Friends pursues national prize

Lake Elsinore residents Liz and Roger Johnson are all smiles
while they wait to take care of paperwork as they adopt 4-year-old
Biscuit at the Animal Friends of the Valleys shelter earlier this
month. The shelter is competing in a national contest to see which
shelter can show the biggest increase in the number of saved
animals through adoptions and returns to owners. DON BOOMER |
dboomer@californian.com

Animal Friends: A multifaceted approach to finding your lost pet

Having a pet disappear is one of the most wrenching things you can go through.

If youre lucky, you find your dog or cat and all is well again.

But too often, the pet remains missing, which means many sleepless nights for you, lots of tears and guilt and a scary life for your pet on the street. There are miracle stories of cats and dogs being returned to their owners years later, but those stories are rare.

Its our responsibility to make sure our pets are safe and secure in our homes and yards — and were the ones who need to jump on a search immediately.

Making sure our pets are microchipped is the perfect place to start.

Then its time to draw upon our knowledge of our pets as we start our search.

It may take weeks to find your pet, says Janice Frazier, a longtime cat rescuer and vice president of Pet Awareness Welfare Society for San Jose Animal Care Services (PAWS for SJACS), which helps raise funds and provides all kinds of support for the San Jose shelter. The average is three weeks.

Frazier has helped bring enough pets home that shes come up with some great tips, including some that hadnt occurred to me.

A woman she helped in June underscored the need for a varied approach.

Eri Igarashi of Hayward had just lost her Seal Point Siamese, a cat she adopted after that cat and 107 others were rescued from a hoarder in San Jose. Shira, who went from deplorable conditions to a nice, safe

Seasonal tips for pets

Seasonal tips for pets

Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys (AFV) would like to remind Canyon Lake pet owners of the following information.

? Winter can be a dangerous time of year for pets. Cold weather can be hard on pets. This is the time of year Animal Control finds dogs chained in a yard with no shelter from the rain, wind and cold. It is now illegal to chain tie animals.

? Dogs must be tethered in compliance with the law that prevents entanglement. Dogs must also be provided adequate shelter from the elements. Outdoor cats curl up against almost anything to stay warm, including car engines. Check underneath or tap on the hood before starting engines.

? Make sure pets wear some form of identification. The shelter is full of stray animals. When an animal has ID, AFV can reunite the owner with the pet immediately. If the animal is injured while running at large, the veterinarian will be able to contact the owner.

? Stray animals with identification are held 10 days if impounded. AFV offers microchipping, a permanent form of ID, for $20 per animal.

? All dogs over the age of 4 months must be vaccinated against rabies and licensed in the city in which they live.

The Shelter is located at 33751Mission Trail in Wildomar. Shelter hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, and Wednesday until 7 pm Call 506-5069.

PET OF THE WEEK: Oscar

Oscar is a 3-month-old gray domestic short-haired tabby. His
intake number is 143677. He and other pets are available at Animal
Friends of the Valleys in Wildomar. For adoption prices or
directions, visit animalfriendsofthevalleys.com or call
951-674-0618. Courtesy photo

Animal Friends hosts Black Tie & Tails benefit

Fans of the Real Housewives TV series revel in the catfights and dog-eat-dog mentality of reality-show spouses. There was none of that at Real Housepets of Pittsburgh, Animal Friends annual Black Tie amp; Tails benefit on Saturday.

Nearly 500 guests — humans, canines, felines and a half-dozen rabbits — packed the Circuit Center and Ballroom on the South Side for live and silent auctions and delicacies by the Fluted Mushroom (wish I had a doggy bag for the eggplant parmesan).

Honorary chair Jeff Watters kept his remarks on a short leash on the advice of his wife, Suzanne, leaving plenty of time for thanks from Animal Friends president David Swisher (with Patty) and bid-raising patter by auctioneer Tripp Kline.

As usual, the real animals were the best-behaved partygoers. All available for adoption at the Ohio Township shelter, they were the best-dressed as they greeted arriving guests, wagging, purring, nuzzling and in one case, barking joyfully (Cooper the coonhound, you know whom Im talking about).

A few even got up on stage, posing and preening as emcees Jim Krenn and Gail Buckner told the sometimes sad stories of how they ended up at the shelter. In response, animal lovers ponied up $409,000, including $93,000 for spay/neuter programs and $16,000 for a wine dinner with Andy Russell and other former Steelers. Artworks by honorary artist Dave Klug (with Patricia) headlined the auctions.

Gala chairs Sarah McKean (with PJ Maloney), Tracey Eakin (with Larry) and Cindy Russell (with Andy) kept the gala going until Cityscape took the stage. As the party animals hit the floor, the Real Housepets went to bed.

Animal Friends Donates £20000 at Safe Haven Annual Ball

Animal Friends Donates £20,000 at Safe Haven Annual Ball
Tuesday, 18 October 2011 11:59

We here at Animal Friends have an ethos whereby we try to help as much as we can with the fight for animal welfare across the globe. Whilst we are a pet insurance provider we are also staunch advocates for animal welfare charities around the world, regularly donating vast amounts to charities worldwide.

Safe Haven is an excellent animal welfare charity that was founded 11 years ago in Israel and Palestine by English woman Lucy Fensom. Lucy decided to start the charity after she witnessed the suffering being endured by donkeys in the Middle East. Her aim was to provide a home for sick, abandoned and rescued donkeys. Thankfully Lucy has been able to continue to help these poor animals and we think the level of care and commitment that Safe Haven maintains is absolutely wonderful.

Animal Friends has supported Safe Haven for a long time now and so when we were invited to their annual fundraising ball we were delighted. Lucy gave a presentation detailing all of the great work that Safe Haven had done throughout the last year and some videos were shown that further conveyed the admirable care that the donkeys had received. After this everyone sat down to dinner and all of the Animal Friends staff who attended have commented on what a splendid dinner and great atmosphere it was.

A raffle and an auction were then held, with all the money raised going towards helping Safe Haven. It was at this point that Elaine Fairfax (Director and Founder of Animal Friends) and Chris Fairfax (Marketing and Legal Director of Animal Friends) presented Lucy with a cheque worth pound;10,000 to be donated to Safe Haven. Lucy looked shocked and surprised at such a generous donation. However, Elaine then rubbed out the number 10 and replaced it with 20 making the total donation pound;20,000. This act of generosity was met with a rapturous applause and Lucy and Elaine embraced with a hug from one animal lover to another.

Lucy was over-the-moon with Animal Friends donation and had this message of thanks:

We were all so thrilled when Chris and Elaine Fairfax of Animal Friends Insurance presented us with a surprise donation of pound;20,000 during our annual dinner at the Grand in Brighton last Friday. This magnificent sum really will help us reach out to so many donkeys in need in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Twenty thousand thank yous to Animal Friends!

We have always had a great relationship with Safe Haven and to date have donated pound;34,000 in a bid to help them with all the excellent work they do. Animal Friends also supports hundreds of other animal welfare charities around the world and our total donations made to all charities so far is pound;542,000.

We here at Animal Friends are ecstatic that our donation will help Lucy and all of her staff and we look forward to donating and working with them in the future.