Harney County Save A Stray Rescue

And with that comes a lot of expense to keep these little ones healthy and fed until they can find new homes.  Save A Stray has several kittens now and needs your help!

If you have room in your heart and home to foster please call Melanie @ 541-589-1104.

Also we need monetary donations for vet expenses, kitten milk replacer, and Purina kitten chow.  Some of the kittens have come to us as orphans and have to be bottle fed.  Even if  you could donate just  $5.00 it would add up to a whole lot of help for us right now.

Also we can put you on a kitten waiting list if you are interested in adopting when these little ones are ready to go.

Jetson the Awesome Mix

Hi, My name is Tiffany and I adopted Jetson, a Harney County Puppy from Furkid911 last March.  Jetson was a beautiful white pup with one blue eye, one brown.  You call this coloring “double merle,” and his coloring also resulted in deafness in both his ears.  With help of a vibrating collar and American Sign Language, Jetson is growing up like a normal pup and already knows 5 commands and learns a new one practically every week.

Last weekend we thought it would be fun to enter him in Pet Pro’s 1st annual Amateur Dog Show, Seattle, WA.  To our surprise, Jetson won 1st for Best In Show!  I think it’s so ironic that a puppy from such a terrible circumstances could come out on top as he has.  It’s really a testament to a changing trend in dog ownership.  Mutts and rescues are HOT right now.  This Aussie mix, I will now call an “Awesome mix.”

You can find Jetson on Dogster.com” which is like a “facebook” or social networking website for dogs:  http://www.dogster.com/dogs/1131655

I’m touched that people like you give up your time, effort, and most of all expose yourself to heartache and emotions to help save these wonderful dogs so that people like me can find the most interesting companions in the world.

I’m super proud of this pup.

Tiffany (Jetson’s skin mom)

Shadow came to us in Burns after being shot by a high powered gun that shattered his foreleg.  He had to have his right front leg amputated as a result.  We’ll post more of his story and photos soon; what is most needed at the moment is money for his vet bills.  The veterinarian gave us a discount on Shadow’s care but the bill is still $586.00, which is more than half our total treasury as an organization.  If you can help us out with Shadow’s medical bills, we’d sure appreciate it!   HCSAS, PO Box 403, Burns, OR 97720.  We’re officially a 501(c)3, so your donations are tax deductible.

Pasado’s Safe Haven is going to take Shadow and let him live in Kitty City, a cage-free environment, until he has recovered enough to be adopted.  He is the nicest boy and seems to be okay despite having just lost a leg.  That animals don’t lose their trust in humankind after things like this is a miracle.

Meanwhile, we’re working to identify the person or people who are shooting and trapping cats.  We know of at least 4 who have gone missing recently in the same mile or so radius.   Warning to the offender(s):  In Oregon, animal cruelty could, if convicted, send you to state prison for five years. That’s according to Oregon’s statute on aggravated animal abuse (ORS 167.322).  Warning to Oregon animal lovers:  your laws are being watered down by sentencing rules.

On April 29th, five more puppies and two more adults were rescued.  That brings our count to 131!!  A big thanks to Safe Haven Humane Society in Albany for taking  5 more puppies for us and Tracy from Vashon Island and Jen and Mike from Mount Vernon for each taking an adult this trip to foster.    That leaves 4 more and we will have rescued them all.  I can’t tell you how happy I am to be so close to seeing an end to this rescue.  I have so many people to thank, all of the rescues, shelters and individuals that have taken these dogs and puppies in are the true  heroes!!

He is now in foster care in Olympia and ready for a new home!  Ajax is approximately 6 months old and is a Lab/ Dalmatian mix. If you think he might be a good fit for you, please call Melanie for more info.  Look how happy he is now, he is smiling!!

I just wanted to let you know what wonderful and important work you are doing to save these dogs. I just moved to Eugene a few months ago and am currently a graduate student in college……I adopted one of the Aussie puppies from the Burns hoarding seizure and he has been with me for about 2-1/2 months now. I named him Zephyr and he and I have grown inseparable. I never knew that I could love something so much. You have truly done both of us an invaluable service and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping bring Zephyr into my life. Attached is a photo I found of him on your web site and a photo of us now!

Annie

We are so CLOSE with about 10 more dogs to rescue!

Can you believe how far we have come since December?  Counting all the dogs and puppies born before or after they were rescued, our new count is <drum roll> 123 rescued from this situation!!  Every dog that was in a pen or living at the end of a chain has now been rescued thanks to SO many wonderful people that have stepped in to help out!

The really good news of the moment is that the court is giving us more time because rescue continues actively moving forward.

I know I have been saying “about a dozen more” for awhile now.  Here’s why:  it becoming harder and harder to find places for the dogs to go.  Many of the people who so generously offered to help back in January and February are no longer in a position to do so.  We’re down to about 10 dogs that need placement.

If you, or someone you know, could help out with fostering, please email me!

My deepest thanks to everyone who called, emailed and sent cards about my dad’s passing.  He loved hearing about this rescue and during our last visit he asked me how it was going with these dogs.  It meant a lot to him too, things will never be the same without him there in Burns every time I go “home”.

I also owe a great big THANK YOU to Keleigh Schwartz of beachdog.com, our HCSAS webmaster!  In the very early stages of this rescue she knew I needed to get the word out if these dogs were going to be saved so she took up the torch and created the website and she continues to do all my postings and updates. I couldn’t have done this without her help and support!!  <webmaster’s note:  ::blush:: >

Also, a big thanks to Maria and her FurKidz911Connection team who have gone above and beyond with the last group of dogs that were rescued on March 13th.  Check out their blog and read all about some of the dogs!  If you live in or around the Seattle area and can help the FurKidz team, they could also use a few more fosters with the rescue dogs in their “camp” right now.

Melanie

Just as she was planning to head to Princeton for what would hopefully be the last load of dogs, Melanie’s dad was hospitalized and passed.  As she so poignantly put it, “He was ready, but I wasn’t”.

Melanie and Angie are the backbone of HCSAS and our hearts go out to their entire family.  Please join us in holding them in prayer as they go through this difficult time.

Here’s the really wonderful news: We’re almost there and we’ve been given a bit of extra time to make the final push.

Saturday, Curtis and I met up in Longview with Byron from the Washington State Animal Rescue Team (WASART).  He and another WASART rescuer had gone after another load of rescue dogs.  Three of the dogs he brought were strays and not part of the hoarding case.  Those went to South Pacific County Humane Society here in Long Beach (thanks, SPCHS!).  Byron also brought us 11 from Princeton: 2 males and 9 females (2 of which are tiny pups).  Furrkidz911 Connection took this latest bunch of dogs again.  I can’t thank Maria enough for all her help in finding foster homes.

Byron said he got lots of new pics so when he catches his breath he will send them and we’ll get them online for your to see.  He thinks there are 10-12 left to capture and about 5 of those are female.  Those that are left are, of course, the wildest teens. They’re hardest to catch and hardest to place in appropriate foster situations because they need someone with experience socializing feral dogs.  The girls are our top priority; we don’t need more pups!

Thank you to everyone who has offered to take these wonderful dogs.  I’m going through your email now and screening to find the best fits for socializing (foster or permanent).  Once the dogs are socialized, I’ll go through your email again to match up any still needing homes.  If you want to offer to  foster or adopt, send me an email.

Thank you.

Melanie