3 years ago
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
new donation...
Gracie will truly be missed.$50 donation in honor of Gracie and her smile by anonymous
Thursday, October 1, 2009
nike/vick
what are your thought on nike picking up vick for a spokesperson/athlete? me i am trying to sort it out... initial reaction is YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME>>> but my jury is still out
Friday, September 11, 2009
good news story...
Dogged determination paid off yesterday when the Cavalier King Charles spaniel trapped in a Sweetmans Creek cave since Sunday was saved.
Rescuers cut down trees, shifted boulders and used search and rescue equipment to free Scooby just before 6pm.
Workers from NSW Mines rescue, SES, NSW Fire Brigades rescue and the RSPCA had desperately tried to free the deaf eight-year-old spaniel since Tuesday afternoon.
After going missing on a walk with his owners, Scooby was silent until Tuesday when he was heard crying inside the cave.
Despite many setbacks, the rescue crew dug in for the long haul yesterday and Scooby's owners camped out overnight, hoping the trapped mutt would leave the cave himself.
"No one's going anywhere until he does," RSPCA inspector, Amanda Lantry said.
Owner Melissa Newton was brought to tears as her son, Jack, carried Scooby down the hill after the rescue.
"It was just so emotional and completely surreal," Mrs Newton said. "We're just forever grateful to the rescue people."
From yesterday morning rescuers tried every entrance to the small clearing where Scooby was stuck but were unable to reach him due to solid rock.
Scooby was physically able to leave the hole but he was disorientated due to lack of food and water and had to be manually retrieved.
Work eventually began moving tons of rock from the roof of the cave with airbags.
Professional driller Steve Henness provided specialist drilling equipment which allowed rescuers to make a new hole and reach the dog.
RSPCA Northern Region Team leader Kylie Prowse said she was relieved Scooby was freed.
"This family has been pining for their pet, just look how happy everyone is," Mrs Prowse said.
"People said we're wasting resources but that's a live animal out there."
The Newtons said the family would revisit the site of Scooby's adventure. "We probably will return to the spot but he will be on a leash," Mrs Newton said.
Scooby was taken to Broadmeadow Veterinary Hospital last night. He has an ulcer on one eyelid, will be on a drip overnight for dehydration and will have blood tests to check if he has inhaled dust.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
vick played in his first game...
i am not really sure how i feel about this- vick playing the other night.
i am disgusted about this truly and think i wanted someone to hit him with a career ending blow. but then i feel mad at myself wishing this kind of injury on someone- that makes me no better than this asshole.
and then i get in this moral turmoil about that internally "...hurt him, no don't, yes hurt him, no that makes you no better, i don't care kick him in the teeth..."
BUT thinking on the article AJ sent me here got me really thinking... maybe there can be some good to come out of this. we all know he is a monster, evil, my thoughts on that will never change. he brings up in me the closest thing to hate i have ever possibly felt.
BUT if he stays in the spotlight the issue stays in the spotlight, right? if he fades away then the issue might lessen. Pit Bulls need to be protected and they are the ONLY victim in the stupidity/cruelty of their owners. vick is no exception, he is an 'a' number one ASSHOLE.
Time will tell if he really feels sorrow for what he has done to innocents.
and i will be watching you michael vick, watching you really hard. and in the end KARMA will get you if you are not doing the right thing... count on it.
and that KARMA will probably be in the form of a certain Laura that just died, she will get you -because i am sure she is also watching you...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
bums me out...
this makes my stomach turn. people going through Laura's stuff, commenting on it, picking it over. the only thing that gives me any piece of mind is that she will not see it. and that when her estate is final it will be split between the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri and Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary. rest Laura. love you.
Monday, August 17, 2009
is vick rehabbed?...
KURT STREETER
Humane Society could help Michael Vick find redemption
There was Michael Vick, dressed in a brown prison jumpsuit, sitting at a metal table in a crammed courtyard at a federal penitentiary in Kansas.
It was May. Weeks before he would be released after 18 months of confinement for his role in a dogfighting ring that killed and maimed.
Months before this Thursday, when the Philadelphia Eagles surprisingly signed him to a two-year contract.
That day, far from public view, he was seeking something. A measure of forgiveness. A path by which he could make amends. He sought this from a most unlikely source.
"My organization was the architect of one of the key laws that he was charged under," says that source, Wayne Pacelle. "We had provided a key confidential informant and had been active in his prosecution. . . . We had a very harsh view of Michael Vick."
The organization Pacelle directs as chief executive and president? The Humane Society of the United States.
You might hold a similarly negative view of Vick, even now, after he has served his time.
I understand. I'm an animal lover, a cat guy more than anything. My wife and I treat Pablo, our shelter-rescued tabby, like a son. One of my favorite quotations is from Gandhi: "The more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
But, as regular readers of this column know, I also believe in redemption. In making amends and helping the contrite. Maybe, for those of us who've been holding an unforgiving view of Vick -- I've long thought he shouldn't be granted the privilege of playing NFL football again -- the story of Pacelle and the quarterback can be instructive.
Pacelle went to Kansas only after sifting through deep inner turmoil. He'd spent much of his adult life working for animal rights. When he'd first received a call from a Vick representative, asking for a dialogue, he was wary and angry. The thought of Vick and what he'd done was so sickening he put off replying for months.
Then he reconsidered. Let's remember what we are, he told himself and those within his organization. "We're devoted to ending dogfighting, not endlessly flogging Michael Vick. We are about not just ending cruelty, but also making people better. . . . This can be about turning adversaries into allies."
Some of his colleagues didn't want him to go. But he did, and he listened. In the courtyard, Vick softly spoke about growing up in a rough part of Virginia. About a subset of the culture there that, ironically and sadly, tolerated treating dogs the way slaves had been treated. He admitted that he first started fighting dogs at age 8 and never stopped until he was an NFL superstar and the police were knocking on the door.
"There was a phrase he used in the press conference in Philadelphia," Pacelle said, referring to Vick's address to the media on Friday. "I heard him use it for the first time that day: He wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."
Pacelle drew a hard line. He wasn't interested in Vick doing a few TV spots and then disappearing. This had to be real. The Humane Society has established what it calls the End Dogfighting Campaign, holding regular training sessions that focus on the widespread abuse of dogs in inner cities. (Go to www.hsus.org "> www.hsus.org for more information.) Pacelle estimates that there are 140,000 fighting dogs in the United States, roughly a third of them bred specifically for aggression.
140,000. An epidemic.
In the courtyard, Vick promised to do whatever Pacelle needed. He vowed to stay true to his word: At least twice a month he would go to the inner city to help the Humane Society spread its gospel. Both men knew how powerful a messenger he could be. The animal-rights movement has never had a spokesman with this kind of credibility among a certain hard swath of urban America.
Pacelle decided to take Vick into the fold. He did it cautiously, still watching to see if there will be any slips. But that old harshness? He cast it aside.
Vick and Pacelle have recently held presentations in churches in Atlanta and Chicago, facing crowds of young men who fight dogs or are tempted to for the money and machismo. Both times, Vick laid heart and soul on the line, according to both Pacelle and Tio Hardiman, a Chicago-based anti-dogfighting advocate who was there.
"I saw tears in Vick's eyes," says Hardiman. "You could see him struggling with the emotions when he talked to the kids. He told them what he did was something they shouldn't follow. These kids, some of them had never heard this message put the way he did."
Pacelle says his organization has lost over 1,000 members because of its new connection with Vick. Yet he remains undeterred. He notes that the Humane Society, like so many others of its kind, is largely white and middle class; that it hasn't done enough to include minority communities and the poor. Vick can help change that. Vick can help change a lot of things.
"The worst you can do is write somebody off completely for not exhibiting model behavior," says Pacelle. "If we just stick with people who are already sympathetic, what good are we doing?"
I agree. I've come to a new view. Sometimes it's too easy to condemn. If we refuse to have anything to do with Vick -- keeping him from the NFL and from well-connected organizations such as the Humane Society -- we lose the most powerful platform by which he can make amends. We weaken his chance to save the lives of fighting dogs and shape the lives of kids who've been abusing them.
Now it's up to Vick to stay true.
OK I HAVE READ THE ARTICLE, AND WHAT I TAKE OUT OF IT IS THAT VICK NEEDS TO REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND. WHEN HE CONTINUES THIS LONG-TERM TO REDEEM HIS TERRIBLE ACTS AGAINST THE DOGS HE BRUTALLY MURDERED THEN I MAY SWAY MY ANGER TOWARDS HIM. THERE IS RIGHT AND WRONG AND HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING AND THEN LIED TO TRY AND PROTECT THE MILLIONS HE WAS MAKING... AJ, I HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT.
Humane Society could help Michael Vick find redemption
There was Michael Vick, dressed in a brown prison jumpsuit, sitting at a metal table in a crammed courtyard at a federal penitentiary in Kansas.
It was May. Weeks before he would be released after 18 months of confinement for his role in a dogfighting ring that killed and maimed.
Months before this Thursday, when the Philadelphia Eagles surprisingly signed him to a two-year contract.
That day, far from public view, he was seeking something. A measure of forgiveness. A path by which he could make amends. He sought this from a most unlikely source.
"My organization was the architect of one of the key laws that he was charged under," says that source, Wayne Pacelle. "We had provided a key confidential informant and had been active in his prosecution. . . . We had a very harsh view of Michael Vick."
The organization Pacelle directs as chief executive and president? The Humane Society of the United States.
You might hold a similarly negative view of Vick, even now, after he has served his time.
I understand. I'm an animal lover, a cat guy more than anything. My wife and I treat Pablo, our shelter-rescued tabby, like a son. One of my favorite quotations is from Gandhi: "The more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
But, as regular readers of this column know, I also believe in redemption. In making amends and helping the contrite. Maybe, for those of us who've been holding an unforgiving view of Vick -- I've long thought he shouldn't be granted the privilege of playing NFL football again -- the story of Pacelle and the quarterback can be instructive.
Pacelle went to Kansas only after sifting through deep inner turmoil. He'd spent much of his adult life working for animal rights. When he'd first received a call from a Vick representative, asking for a dialogue, he was wary and angry. The thought of Vick and what he'd done was so sickening he put off replying for months.
Then he reconsidered. Let's remember what we are, he told himself and those within his organization. "We're devoted to ending dogfighting, not endlessly flogging Michael Vick. We are about not just ending cruelty, but also making people better. . . . This can be about turning adversaries into allies."
Some of his colleagues didn't want him to go. But he did, and he listened. In the courtyard, Vick softly spoke about growing up in a rough part of Virginia. About a subset of the culture there that, ironically and sadly, tolerated treating dogs the way slaves had been treated. He admitted that he first started fighting dogs at age 8 and never stopped until he was an NFL superstar and the police were knocking on the door.
"There was a phrase he used in the press conference in Philadelphia," Pacelle said, referring to Vick's address to the media on Friday. "I heard him use it for the first time that day: He wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."
Pacelle drew a hard line. He wasn't interested in Vick doing a few TV spots and then disappearing. This had to be real. The Humane Society has established what it calls the End Dogfighting Campaign, holding regular training sessions that focus on the widespread abuse of dogs in inner cities. (Go to www.hsus.org "> www.hsus.org for more information.) Pacelle estimates that there are 140,000 fighting dogs in the United States, roughly a third of them bred specifically for aggression.
140,000. An epidemic.
In the courtyard, Vick promised to do whatever Pacelle needed. He vowed to stay true to his word: At least twice a month he would go to the inner city to help the Humane Society spread its gospel. Both men knew how powerful a messenger he could be. The animal-rights movement has never had a spokesman with this kind of credibility among a certain hard swath of urban America.
Pacelle decided to take Vick into the fold. He did it cautiously, still watching to see if there will be any slips. But that old harshness? He cast it aside.
Vick and Pacelle have recently held presentations in churches in Atlanta and Chicago, facing crowds of young men who fight dogs or are tempted to for the money and machismo. Both times, Vick laid heart and soul on the line, according to both Pacelle and Tio Hardiman, a Chicago-based anti-dogfighting advocate who was there.
"I saw tears in Vick's eyes," says Hardiman. "You could see him struggling with the emotions when he talked to the kids. He told them what he did was something they shouldn't follow. These kids, some of them had never heard this message put the way he did."
Pacelle says his organization has lost over 1,000 members because of its new connection with Vick. Yet he remains undeterred. He notes that the Humane Society, like so many others of its kind, is largely white and middle class; that it hasn't done enough to include minority communities and the poor. Vick can help change that. Vick can help change a lot of things.
"The worst you can do is write somebody off completely for not exhibiting model behavior," says Pacelle. "If we just stick with people who are already sympathetic, what good are we doing?"
I agree. I've come to a new view. Sometimes it's too easy to condemn. If we refuse to have anything to do with Vick -- keeping him from the NFL and from well-connected organizations such as the Humane Society -- we lose the most powerful platform by which he can make amends. We weaken his chance to save the lives of fighting dogs and shape the lives of kids who've been abusing them.
Now it's up to Vick to stay true.
OK I HAVE READ THE ARTICLE, AND WHAT I TAKE OUT OF IT IS THAT VICK NEEDS TO REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND. WHEN HE CONTINUES THIS LONG-TERM TO REDEEM HIS TERRIBLE ACTS AGAINST THE DOGS HE BRUTALLY MURDERED THEN I MAY SWAY MY ANGER TOWARDS HIM. THERE IS RIGHT AND WRONG AND HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING AND THEN LIED TO TRY AND PROTECT THE MILLIONS HE WAS MAKING... AJ, I HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT.
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