Lad Enjoys His First Day of Freedom

Lad the collie from the cage is enjoying the company of the other dogs (see photo taken with Cariad , they had all taken shelter on the Office Verandah after being caught in sudden rainstorm) .

I wish there was a compulsory

course on animal welfare that

Farmers had to take AND PASS! Most I come into contact with have no idea about the welfare of their working dogs(never mind the other animals)

I am fortunate that the farmers on both sides of this property look after their dogs well and I have nothing to complain about with their situation, thank goodness - I would hate to be forced to see cruelty daily on my own doorstep.Unfortunately to many farmers it is enough to feed their working dogs and put a roof over their heads(albeit a small one) and they are the GOOD ones.The rest do not deem it necessary to even provide a decent shelter.It is an enormous problem and I am afraid that without proper legislation it will continue.The Welsh Assembly have brought out several publications on animal welfare and the guidelines are not bad at all, however there is no legal requirement to put these practices into being and unless the law starts to take animal welfare seriously there is little hope of improvements in the near future. What I find incomprehensible is the fact that all animal shelters soon have to abide by the same regulations as boarding kennels/catteries which means that most small sanctuaries will find themselves unable financially to make these changes to their facilities.eg: our cattery pens are about 2 inches too short in length!!!!Already I have had the Trading Standards from the Council looking and measuring our pens with the view that we will need to upgrade to their specifications sometime in the not too distant future.The same officer tells me that a mother cat and newborn kitens will need the same size pen as adult cats.This, even though a mum and newborns prefers a small contained cosy area whilst she is nursing. Our mums and babies have a small pen until the babies grow and then they are moved to a larger one but soon this will not be acceptable! Our ferals who love to curl up in large groups will be forced to live 2 to a shed. Whereas we currently have 20 ferals in two sheds with indoor runs and access to a good sized outdoor enclosure ,this number will have to be reduced to just 4!

Tell me how is it that there is so much concern shown about this and yet it appears to be acceptable for farm dogs(and other animals) to live in cramped kennels and /or on short chains? Why were Lads living conditions deemed acceptable? Imagine if my animals had water bowls like his, I would probably be in court by now! Similarly in the past I have seen much cruelty shown by the huntsmen towards their foxhounds ,some incidents shocked me to the core but when I complained, nothing was done .As with Farmers, these vile people are allowed to get away with it time and time again.Where is the justice? Well thats my Rant for the Day,its one which really bothers and upsets me and each time I find a dog living in these conditions my anger starts up again.

The cats arrived with Veronica, and they are even older than I had been told.Roo the Siamese is 10 years old and his companion Eric is 13 years. My heart breaks for the oldies as I have mentioned so many times before,I just hope that someone kind will take on these two in spite of their ages.They are inseparable and used to rural life so I needs to find a similar home for them though I will be insisting that they live indoors in the next home , they are too old to live outside -in this weather especially and I want them to have some comfort in their old age. Perhaps a Siamese cat lover will take pity on Roo and his pal? I'm sure they will appeal to someone nice.

I have been listening to the reports on the dreadful earthquake in Japan, what terrible news there is nowadays in the media, sometimes I feel as though I no longer want to read a newspaper or watch the news on television, I do hope the animal welfare organisations get there quickly to help the poor animals affected.I don't mean to sound as if I have no concerns for the people, I do, but for what it is worth to them, they will receive help from all over the world and the animals will not be high on anyones agenda.

I want to finish on a high note because we all need to hear of nice things when we are surrounded by so much grief and catastrophe so here is my new list of good things that have happened this week.

1. Lad was rescued and is now a Happy Dog.

2. We received a cheque for £200 in todays post.

3. We had a visitor from France, the man who adopted Gilly collie paid us a visit, Gilly is wonderful, from abused farmdog to a life of luxury on the outskirts of Paris.

4. Legend is doing really well in his new home.

5. We have had some nice donations from local shops for our Easter Fair Raffle

6. There is a home waiting for the two middle aged labradors I admitted earlier in the week.

7. Paddy is putting on a little weight after we changed his food .
8. We have had two separate donations of cat food from supporters.

9. Sister Sandra is doing well after her operation.

10. I am being taken out to lunch today.

Thats the Best I Can Do!

PS: I forgot, there is actually a no 11 - I had a lovely letter and photographs from the lady who took on Starlight a disabled black cat. This kind lady travelled all the way from Liverpool to our shop in Porthmadog in order to adopt this little cat. Receiving letters like this are a great morale boost, heep them coming(especially by email as I can forward to the website to be put under success stories.)