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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 02, 2005 - 5:11 pm
Dear Members & Friends, HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORT: OUT TO FOSTER: Another 155 animals rescued from New Orleans left the Best Friends rescue center at Tylertown last week with foster groups from around the country. There were 93 dogs, 50 cats, 6 geckos, 4 turtles, one iguana, and one snake. We began running short of foster groups early in the week, and had to stop taking in more animals from the rescuers in New Orleans for a few days. Instead, we placed the new rescues in boarding kennels temporarily. More foster groups have now opened up - many thanks to all of them, and to the foster team here at Best Friends, who are working round the clock to clear new foster groups, including some in Canada. Many of the animals have special needs . high levels of heartworm, behavior issues arising from the conditions they've been in, etc. And we have a special pit bull project to place these loving dogs who need to be in single-dog situations. If your group has a successful foster program or pit bull foster program, please register by visiting the hurricane relief page of the website at www.bestfriends.org and completing our online form. VOLUNTEERS: Lots of people responded to our plea to work with Jane Garrison's rescue teams in New Orleans. Much appreciated. Meanwhile, there are still openings for people who would like to volunteer at the Best Friends rescue center at Tylertown. We expect to be keeping this open through the end of this year. So if you can volunteer any time in the next two months, please e-mail sherry.command@bestfriends.org. So far, 617 people have volunteered or are scheduled to volunteer at the rescue center. We're expecting 19 to arrive this week, including two veterinarians. We've just had a donation of some yurt tents - great accommodation for volunteers! These are being donated by the Milliman Company, and 14 of their staff members were at the rescue center helping put up the yurts. Pics are in the hurricane news at www.bestfriends.org. SHOPPING SPREE! The Best Friends warehouse near Jackson, MS, is open to rescue groups from the region who need supplies. Leigh Breland, who manages the warehouse, said it was lots of fun the other day watching Christy and one of her rescued dogs going "shopping". (Yes, it's all free, and all donated by delightful people and companies all across the country.) Supplies include everything from food to medicines to toys to blankets and all manner of wacky stuff. We're also organizing to truck some of the supplies to a strategic location in New Orleans for groups that have any difficulty driving up to Jackson. REUNIONS: At least 145 reunions have taken place from the animals rescued and brought through the Best Friends rescue center. ("At least" means that we have not necessarily got complete reports from the many organizations fostering animals around the country.) BEST RESCUES. There are some amazing and very touching rescue stories from Jane Garrison's rescue team in the News Reports area of the Hurricane section of the website. For example: "The owners of the house had returned today and said they heard meowing but did not think it was their cat and they could not find the cat. Our amazing rescuer pulled up the floor in the attic and found Tiger wedged between the insulation and the wood. Tiger is on the way to the animal hospital as I write this update." (His condition is critical but improving.) AND REUNIONS: We'd kept Mystery the Chihuahua mix and Mikey the cat together at the rescue center. They made it clear they really wanted to be with each other. And when Nakeisha Jilyard arrived at Tylertown with her two daughters, there was Mystery, out for a walk, right in front of her! "I feel complete again," she said. COMING SOON: The new Best Friends Network website. It's interactive, top to bottom. (Animal lovers of the world, unite!) You can create your own community (special interest or particular region), and set up forums, blogs, message boards within it. Use it to set up a local rescue, spay/neuter, or adoption program. Launch your own blog . start a discussion group for people of common interest . or create a private gathering place for friends and family. Start your own, or join someone else's. It's all about energizing the grassroots - around the country, and maybe all around the world. (Why not?) We'll be launching new Best Friends campaigns from it, too. The plan *WAS* to set up lots of communities, campaigns, etc., and then have a proper "hard" launch at the No More Homeless Pets conference in Boston . But then came the hurricane and the huge rescue effort and the cancellation of the conference, and everything else got set back. So then we planned a proper launch at the end of November. But then we thought, what the heck! Let's just launch it in beta form and let everyone play with it. So watch for an e-mail in the next few days. And then go ahead and use the new network site: start a community, build it up, tear it down, do your thing. The one rule is: Kindness is the word! Be good to the animals and be good to each other. And let the Kindness Revolution roll! Michael Mountain Best Friends Animal Society
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Thursday, November 03, 2005 - 12:46 pm
Our class is sending supplies to Immokalee, FL. It's a very poor farming community east of Naples. The Salvation Army and Red Cross are sending food. (They are poor farm workers) Many of these people lived in run-down old trailers and tiny shacks. Many homes and trailers were destroyed by Wilma. We saw a news report showing people sleeping outside, because there wasn't enough room in the shelters. http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051026/NEWS/510260393/1006/SPORTS http://www.nbc-2.com/Articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=4741&z=3&p=
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 1:42 pm
Anyone heard from Buttercup lately? I haven't seen her around since Wilma hit.
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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 9:09 am
PLEASE Sign the petition! Dear Members & Friends, Best Friends is asking all the national humane organizations who were involved in hurricane relief efforts to join with us in completing the rescue work that still needs to be done. And we're asking you, our members and friends, to sign a petition about this on our website at http://www.bestfriends.org. As you know, Best Friends is still bringing dozens of displaced pets out of New Orleans every day. Although the official center at Gonzales has been closed since early October, people are still rescuing dogs and cats all the time, and we continue to bring as many as possible to the Best Friends relief center - and from there to foster groups around the country. Last week, a team of Best Friends staff members, led by our director of ops, Paul Berry, toured the key counties and parishes in the region to do a formal assessment of the situation. You can read Paul's report on the website. There is clearly a lot of work yet to be done: thousands of animals yet to be rescued and placed in foster/adoption homes, and much help needed in rebuilding devastated shelters and local programs. YOU GAVE THE ANIMALS YOUR MONEY. NOW GIVE THEM YOUR VOICE We've launched a petition drive on the Best Friends website for the thousands of pets who are still displaced. Tens of millions of dollars were donated toward the rescue effort, much of which is still available to complete the work that still needs to be done. Your voice will help bring the funds and the people back to New Orleans and the Mississippi coast so that we can get pets out to foster homes and then launch a national adoption campaign. Between all of the national humane organizations, we can get this job done. But time is running out. Starving, sick dogs and cats are still roaming the streets. On her blog on the Best Friends website, journalist Cathy Scott notes that cats are sitting on the sidewalks, and dogs are hiding under houses. "Hundreds and thousands throughout New Orleans are still out there and need to be rescued," she writes. "I spoke with two National Guard officers yesterday and they said the same thing: The animals need help, otherwise they will starve to death on the streets or get hit by cars as they migrate where the food and water sources are." You can reach the petition from the Best Friends home page at http://www.bestfriends.org. Please add your name to it, and encourage friends and family to do the same. You can also read our full report and the press release we sent out early this morning. We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. And we can all give thanks that so much help, support, and love has gone into the work of rescuing homeless pets this year. Let's join together to complete the work on the Gulf Coast region. Thank you, as always, for caring. Michael Mountain Best Friends
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 9:18 am
Done
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Grannyg
Member
05-28-2002
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 10:31 am
Done
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Weinermr
Member
08-18-2001
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 10:35 am
Done.
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Kady
Member
07-30-2000
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 1:35 pm
done 
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Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Sunday, November 27, 2005 - 4:04 pm
Done. 15,864 signatures.
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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Monday, November 28, 2005 - 6:14 am
You guys are the best!
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Fruitbat
Member
08-07-2000
| Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 2:49 am
Done.
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Sherbabe
Member
07-28-2002
| Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 1:19 pm
HURRICANE EPSILON now forming in Atlantic.
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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 6:40 am
Done. Thank You Moondance!
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Citruscitygal
Member
08-07-2003
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 1:57 pm
I now (thanks to you) receive the Best Friends Newletter so I've already signed the petition. I want to thank you for bringing this to our attention and for all the work you do for animals.
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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 2:09 pm
Dear Members & Friends, The cause of saving the animals of Katrina is in your hands. What the animals who are still struggling on the streets of the Gulf Coast need right now is your voice. Over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, more than 20,000 people signed the Best Friends petition promoting a real plan to save as many animals as possible in the critical days ahead. If you have not yet had a chance, please add your voice now by signing the petition: http://network.bestfriends.org/Petitions/Detail.aspx?pn=2 National humane organizations have received millions of dollars from people like you who are committed to saving the animals caught in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Best Friends plan calls for those resources to be put to work right now to get more volunteers to the area, provide more staging areas to get the animals to safety, and promote a nationwide adoption campaign to place animals in loving homes if their families can't be found. An amazing thing is happening, and we're proposing a new plan that will need to include all the major humane organizations. Between us all, we can get this job done. So please add your voice to the cause by signing the petition now: http://network.bestfriends.org/Petitions/Detail.aspx?pn=2 People who contributed money did so to save the animals lives. That's why signing the petition is so important. The animals need your voice -- and the voices of your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. So please forward this e-mail to everyone in your address book who cares about animals, with a quick note urging them to sign the petition. The cause of saving the animals of Hurricane Katrina is in your hands. http://network.bestfriends.org/Petitions/Detail.aspx?pn=2 Thank you for everything you do to return the love of our best friends. Michael Mountain www.bestfriends.org P.S. Best Friends will continue to send volunteers and resources to the Gulf Region to save every animal possible - you can help by becoming a member of Best Friends or by making a contribution at: https://www.bestfriends.org/donate/MembershipPrograms.cfm
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Babyruth
Member
07-19-2001
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 2:11 pm
I signed last week I hope more folks will sign, too.
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Moondance
Member
07-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 2:13 pm
I want to thank everyone again for reading and joining Best Friends They are the real deal. And so big now! I love it. I remember YEARS and YEARS ago standing outside MsGoches (A grocery store here in CA) trying to raise money for them with a small glass jar. They have helped on many a rescue I have gotten into through the years.
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Ddr
Member
08-19-2001
| Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 2:14 pm
Signed last week too.
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