The weather today is atrocious,it is blowing a gale and rainy with grey skies but it failed to stop visitors arriving to adopt pets.Very often the worse the weather is the more pets we home.Weird but true. Pictured here is Yvonne who travelled from Nottinghamshire for Lucy and as you can see from the expression on her face,was really thrilled with her though Lucy looks totally unimpressed at having her photo taken again.I will miss her sitting on my knee in the evening or seeing her snuggled up to Paddy. On the right is Cara who came with her mum and adopted Twila who is one of two cats brought in by someone who said she found them abandoned and gave such a good story we all believed her until we later discovered they actually belonged to her ! The other cat Daisy was found a home yesterday and now it is Twilas turn so a happy life lies ahead for these pets. The third animal rehomed today was one of the Jack Russell pups being fostered by Vanessa, that now leaves only one which already has been reserved. Four animals may not seem many for an animal shelter to home at a weekend but we are not a busy shelter in terms of visitors and adoptions and to us four pets going out is not bad at all.
I was chatting to a lady yesterday who is on the RSPCA main comittee and she told me that the number of cruelty cases they deal with has escalated over the past five years and also that a survey done on dog owners showed that most people only keep their pet an average of two years! Whatever happened to "A Dog Is For Life"? The facts are not impressive at all and shows that instead of todays society having more respect for animals through education and media coverage etc, it in fact seems to have less than ever before.What is going wrong? Angela and I both agreed that the level of violence on Television, in computer games etc has a lot to do with attitudes and the way some people perceive what is acceptable behaviour.
One person who is always optimistic and bright and whose phone calls always leave me feeling better no matter how I might have been feeling that day is
Judy one of our loyal supporters from Holyhead. Judy is doing a one woman collection outside Morrisons this coming Tuesday and Wednesday so look out for her if you are shopping there on those days.Since our appeal for help Judy has been an absolute gem and has organised petfood collections for us and is trying to get a little fundraising group going in the Holyhead area. It is amazing what a difference just one persons help can make. All her family have helped Freshfields in one way or another, they are the kindest people imaginable.
I have just heard that the Rheas are still looking for a home, they were too mature to be homed with Lee s two much younger birds and the two pygmy goats at the same location are also still in need of a home. I will keep looking for somewhere suitable.I thought it was all too easy!
We have been struggling with a staff shortage this past week so Mei asked Emily to come in for two days for which she would be paid.Emily who recently finished a work scheme here and had expressed the desire to work here full time because she loved it so much turned up for one day but failed to turn up today leaving us in a real mess. What people fail to realise (or do they simply not care?) is that working in an animal shelter is not like working in an office or factory, there are actually animals relying on us to feed and care for them. To promise to work and just not bother to do so or even ring with an excuse shows the wrong attitude and certainly shows no dedication or commitment. I am glad to have found this out now as she was on standby for a job here later in the spring.
Paddy has a new bed , friend Kerry sent us a single mattress which I have covered and he is loving it, the mattress supports him better than the duvet he has been using .He has not been so good on his legs the last week and I am worried about him but I have been given a phone number for a vet who used to practice acupuncture on pets so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will return my call with a positive reply. Before he came to me he had completed a course of acupuncture and it seemed to help him a great deal but now he clearly needs some more.
No comments:
Post a Comment