JUST ONE DAY

I would like to be God for just one day,
I’d give all my creatures a chance to play.
I would bring to the suffering quick release,
I’d give to the frightened comfort and peace.
And those that were suffering would hunger no more,
I would heal all the wounded, bleeding and sore.
I’d close all the doors where sadists reign,
With their tests and their knives so ready for pain.

I would open the doors of the cages wide,
And offer their freedom to those inside.
I would throw out the traps that lie in wait,
For a small furry creature, a cruel fate.
I would close all the bullrings and break every spear,
And the rabbit no longer the greyhound would fear.
I would clean all the oil from out of the sea,
I would let all the fish in the nets go free.

I would throw out the arrows that pierce so deep,
I would give to the tired the blessing of sleep.
I’d close all the tracks where the races are won,
By horses abused to make them run.
I would teach little children that birds are frail,
And puppies and kittens…….don’t hold by the tail.
And the bunnies and chicks and ducklings so small,
I would not let stores have for sale at all.

I would free all the animals raised for fur,
I would tear down the ranches where they were.
I would open the pens that are stacked so high,
So legs could run free and wings could fly.
I would silence the sound of the hunters guns,
I’d give speed to the legs of the fox that runs.
I would break every rope by the rodeo used,
I would comfort the cattle the cowboy abused.

I would make all the streams run pure and sweet,
I’d show mercy to animals used for meat.
I would offer green grass to the worn out nag,
I would throw out the snares in the hunters bag.
I would break all the clubs that batter their prey,
I would take all the poison and throw it away.
I would close the arenas and bloody pits,
Where roosters and dogs are torn to bits.

I’d find homes for the homeless in cities and farms,
I would gather the strays in my loving arms.
I know it’s not given to mind of man
The workings of God to understand,
But oh how I long for the day to come
Bringing help for the helpless, tortured and dumb.
And I mean no irreverence because I say
I would like to be God for just one day.

By Guila Manchester

Horrific allegations of animal abuse are mounting against the SPCA in Cecil County.  The details are stomach turning; accusations of shooting animals, botched operations and even taking a hammer to a dog’s head.

Cecil County SPCA

http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/SPCA-Workers-Accused-of-Clubbing-Dogs-to-Death/J11hhNdLBECTrfW0wy5Rkw.cspx

http://smigiel.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/caution-this-is-sworn-statement-contains-unconscionable-revelations-of-animal-abuse-and-neglect/#comment-751

Until you have held a tiny puppy in your arms as it kissed your face with slobbery puppy breath and felt the love,
Until you have held an injured or severely ill dog in your arms and felt their pain
Until you have looked into the eyes of a tired aging senior dog and felt their wisdom,
And until you have seen and understood the look in your dogs eyes that tell you their time on earth with you is over …. and you humanely let them go,

You will never understand the life of a rescuer.

We find beauty in the most incomprehensible places and the otherwise homely faces.
It is our gift to see beyond the dirt, terror, sadness and defeat and find the true soul that lies within.
We are Rescue.

by Kathie Sullivan-Parkes

VINELAND, N.J. – Police say a New Jersey man posed as a female animal doctor, ran an illegal veterinary practice and set up a phony rescue agency that may have duped pet lovers out of thousands of dollars. Vineland police arrested 26-year-old Daniel C. Tyce on Friday and charged him with practicing medicine without a license. He is being held on $10,000 bail.

Police say he ran a business called South Jersey Small Animal Rescue, falsely identifying himself as Dr. Danielle Smith, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school.

Police say he inoculated pets and offered small animals for adoption for a fee. He also solicited donations, claiming the agency was a nonprofit. Authorities say it was not.

Police do not know if Tyce has retained a lawyer.

Daniel C. Tyce

Carrie Lynn Bay, 35, was arraigned before a district justice in Warrington and held after she was unable to pay a fine of $1,800.

Bay pleaded guilty to five counts of violating the law for selling dogs in a public place and operating without an out-of-state license, said Craig Claycomb, the animal-control officer for Warminster. Several of the puppies had respiratory infections and were taken to a veterinarian, he said.

Claycomb and a state dog warden posed as customers seeking to buy two puppies and met the woman at a mall’s parking lot, he said. They identified themselves after they paid $300 for the dogs, he said.

Claycomb said he had sought state assistance after getting complaints about two fatally ill dogs sold by Bay before Christmas.

“The common element was that the dogs were dying from parvo” virus, he said. Claycomb said Bay had been transporting dogs from West Virginia to sell in the area for at least a year.

By Amy Worden

Inquirer Staff Writer

RECEIVED IN OUR EMAIL THIS AM(1/11/09)

My Rocky went missing early on Saturday morning near the East Falls
Church metro station and is still trying to find his way home.
He
has been seen in and around the East Falls Church area several
times, so dog behaviour experts believe he is circling that area
trying to find his way back home to Arlington, VA.
He is not very
familiar with the area he is in so he is very frightened and has
been moving fast.
For those that know me, I probably don’t need to
tell you that I haven’t been able to eat, sleep, or do much of
anything but try and find him since he went missing.
And the thought
of the little guy running all around scared and looking for home
breaks my heart more every second.

If you have seen Rocky please contact savingfurryfriends@yahoo.com for Rockys owner’s contact info Thank you

NEW BEDFORD — Animal control officials seized 28 pit bulls — 19 of them puppies — from an unheated West End apartment littered with animal waste, and charged a man and a woman with cruelty to animals.
Multiple dogs were locked in crates built to hold one dog, and five pit bulls — three in one crate — were found in a room in which the floor was frozen over with urine, police said.
Just after 3 p.m. Sunday, officers from New Bedford Animal Control and the Animal Rescue League of Boston executed a warrant at 197 Weld St.
Police said they were tipped off by an anonymous caller who visited the apartment last month in response to a newspaper classified ad selling puppies. The conditions the dogs were kept in led the caller to notify police, officials said.
“It was like someone took a gallon of ammonia and splashed it everywhere,” New Bedford Animal Control Officer Emmanuel Maciel said, describing the smell.
There was no electricity in the third-floor apartment. Officers found an extension cord running through a window from the first-floor apartment, officials said.
Police said they have charged Jessica Sandstrum, 26, and Michael Smalls, 34, each with 28 counts of cruelty to animals. They both live in the third-floor apartment where the dogs were discovered. They also will be cited for not vaccinating or having licenses for any of the pit bulls.
Police arrested Ms. Sandstrum on an outstanding warrant for missing a court hearing on motor vehicle violations. Police did not arrest Mr. Smalls, who was not at home Sunday, but he also faces charges, officials said.
“They were trying to make a living out of breeding and selling these dogs,” Officer Maciel said.
On Tuesday, both defendants told The Standard-Times that they were not abusing or breeding pit bulls for sale, and that their apartment was not stained with dog urine and feces as police described.
“The animal control guy has something against us,” Mr. Smalls said. “We never abuse these dogs. We treat these dogs better than we treat ourselves. I love those dogs like they’re little kids.”

“All my dogs are healthy,” Ms. Sandstrum said. “It was just that there were two litters of puppies we accidentally had.”
Officials said there were at least three litters of puppies in the Weld Street apartment.
“People don’t realize how fast dogs duplicate when they’re not spayed and neutered,” Officer Maciel said, adding there were indications of inbreeding among the dogs.
The pit bulls have been taken to shelters in Boston and Fall River, where they will be evaluated and possibly be put up for adoption.
“The dogs look to be in decent shape, given (that) the conditions they were living in were very bad,” Officer Maciel said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Smalls said he has received conflicting information from animal control officials. He said he was told he would receive the dogs back if he promised to spay and neuter them. He declined to do so.
“There was no dog breeding. Nothing like that was going on,” he said.
Sunday was not the first encounter between animal control officers and the defendants.
On Dec. 11, 2007, while accompanying building inspectors walking through a condemned property at 352 N. Front St., police found the defendants with 18 pit bulls, nine of them puppies from a single litter.
Officer Maciel said eight adult pit bulls were taken because they had not been vaccinated or licensed. Officers left the defendants with the mother and nine puppies. The puppies were not yet required to be licensed or vaccinated.
Officials believe the nine puppies multiplied to the 28 pit bulls that were seized this week.
Mr. Smalls said he and his girlfriend took a lot of dogs in from the street.
“Some of the dogs we had, we rescued them,” he said. “We don’t like people mistreating or fighting the dogs.”
Animal control officials said they have been aware of the problem of dogfighting for several years. Treadmills and other equipment have been found in places suspected of training pit bulls to fight.
In 2007, three pit bulls turned up dead in city waters. They had scratch marks and facial puncture wounds consistent with dogfights.
After December 2007, animal control officials said they lost contact with Mr. Smalls and Ms. Sandstrum until three months ago, when new complaints came in from a Nye Street residence indicating that the defendants were there breeding pit bulls.
Officer Maciel said animal control officers tried contacting the defendants, but they never returned phone calls or messages.
The defendants left the Nye Street area, and officials again did not know where they were until receiving the anonymous call two weeks ago.
“Without the help from the public, we would probably have never known those animals were living in those conditions,” Officer Maciel said.
New Bedford police spokesman Lt. Jeffrey P. Silva commended animal control officials for their investigation.
“Once again, our dedicated animal law enforcement professionals have distinguished themselves by rescuing innocent animals from their chasm of cruelty and bringing those responsible to justice,” Lt. Silva said.

Contact Brian Fraga at bfraga@s-t.com

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/… NEWS/901070352

Covered in mange, suffering from severe malnutrition and with claws so long he couldn’t walk Hobo was given just three days to live.

Weighing 40lb, the neglected German Shepherd was in such a bad condition vets could only guess what breed he was.

But Hobo has fought back and the 12-year-old now faces the new year with a spring in his paws happy in his new home with animal-lover owners Peter and Val Butcher

This mange-riddled ball is Hobo after his arrival at the PDSA Pet Aid Hospital in Northampton. Weighing just 40lb, his condition was so bad vets could not tell what breed he was so bad vets could not tell what breed he was.

How Hobo came to be dropped off at the PDSA Pet Aid Hospital in Northampton in such a terrible condition last summer remains unclear.

Vets there wanted to put him down straight away, but gave him three days to see if he improved.

Student vet nurse Ruth Bates, one of the first nurses to look after him, said: ‘None of us thought he was going to make it but we thought we’d give him a few days.

‘It was really bad, I had never seen anything like that before and I have been in the veterinary practice for about six years.’

She said the neglect must have been going on for months and months and months.

Ms Bates said: ‘We started by feeding him up, he was always happy to eat and that’s what gave us hope.

‘We couldn’t treat him for the mange straight away because he was just too weak for the chemicals but he soon got stronger.’

Hobo was treated at the hospital for several weeks, until he came to the attention of the Butchers in July through local media.

Mrs Butcher, a fan of the German Shepherd breed, said: ‘I cried, his condition was so awful. For days I could only think of him.

‘We both wanted him and knew we would have the time, patience and love to help him recover.’

Mr Butcher said: ‘We do a lot of work with the RSPCA and we home dogs as well, so I phoned them up and arranged for us to take Hobo.

‘We got him on August 29 and that’s what we class as his birthday now.’

Hobo’s new home on the couple’s farm in Shillington, Bedfordshire, has seen him move in with an array of other animals including ten dogs, ten alpacas, seven goats, 17 ponies, and 240 parrots.

He has been on courses of antibiotics, skin treatments and painkillers and is now up to his maximum weight of 66lb.

This is Hobo now. His claws clipped, his coat groomed

The average weight of a German Shepherd Hobo’s age is between 57 and 66lb.

Mr Butcher said: ‘At the moment he’s in perfect health and perfect condition.

‘To be honest now we class him as a perfect dog. It’s very rare that he’s in the house, he just wanders about on the farm.

‘He is happy, perfect to train, all he wants to do is to please you.

‘He had never been trained before he came to us and now he does a perfect sit, a stay, he walks on the lead properly. I only ever have to tell him off once.

‘You would never know he’s gone through everything that he has.’

Mrs Butcher said Hobo still took medication for pain caused by arthritis and antibiotics for his skin but has made ‘wonderful’ progress.

She said: ‘Hobo enjoys life. He is so bright, he loves to help us and he loves to play.

‘Hobo is a special dog who has gone through hell but still loves and trusts people.

‘We love him to bits and know without a doubt that we are so lucky to have him.’

The couple have even funded a prosecution of Hobo’s former owner who has pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.

Joy Battison, of Orchard Hill, Little Billing, Northants, is due to be sentenced in January at Northampton Magistrates Court.

This is Val Butcher who nursed Hobo back to health. At this point the German Shepherd was still in the process of recovering and had not yet reached the level of health he enjoys today.

Simpley amazing Hobo found an angel when he found you!!! Kudos from everyone here at SFF!!!!

Source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1104209/Heres-Hobo-Neglected-German-Shepherd-nursed-life-brink-death.html

PLAINSBORO, N.J. – New Jersey authorities say a woman drowned trying to retrieve her grandson’s dog from a frozen pond.

Authorities say 61-year-old Janet Howard was walking a German Shepherd named Apollo on Saturday when it wandered onto the ice covering Plainsboro Pond. Police speculate that Howard went after the dog but the ice broke, plunging her and the animal into the water about 25 feet from shore.

A passer-by on a bicycle heard Howard’s cries and tried to help her, but he also fell through the ice.

He fought his way back to shore and raced home to call 911. Rescue workers later found Howard about 4 1/2 feet beneath the surface. She was taken to Princeton Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The dog somehow reached the shore and ran home.

Source:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28486697/