Week of 4/29/07 Humane Happenings

This year, Desert Haven Animal Refuge - Sierra County’s No-Kill domestic animal sanctuary - will host an Open House to be held in conjunction with Fiesta Activities Saturday May 5th and Sunday the 6th. This weekend, hundreds of animal rescue organizations join nationally known sponsors such as Purina and K9 Advantix among others - as part of the International Pet Adopt-a-thon. The common goal is to help find the forever home for each and every animal in their care. We hope that local animal loving folks will consider a visit to Desert Haven as an integral part of their Fiesta celebration, either to spend quality time with its furry and feathered residents, or to adopt a new family member. Desert Haven is located on HWY 187, two miles South of Williamsburg, and the Open House will take place from 1 PM to 5 PM on both days. For more information, contact Linda, Desert Haven’s Special Event Coordinator, at 894-1694, 740-2775, or 971-533-3020.

Robin Brodsky of Hillsboro and local volunteers Marian Parks and Mona have recently joined the Paws & Claws thrift shop crew. Their timing could not have been better, as Dianna Rivera, who has an invaluable asset for Paws & Claws thrift shop over the past four years, is taking a much needed, but hopefully short, leave of absence. Paws & Claws thrift shop always needs volunteers – it’s a very small shop with a lot of activities, and we have to make-up for the lack of space with enough volunteer help to keep donations moving. If some of our readers wish to donate a couple of hours to a good cause each week, we can utilize their help every Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, or Saturdays. Call Freddie at 894-2778 for more information.

A sincere pat on the back to Dan Mason of Turtleback Pest Control for his latest – and generous - donation of dog food. Now that the pet recall is behind us, we certainly hope that our animal loving friends will consider dropping-off, once again, pet food to Paws & Claws or Desert Haven when they are able to.

The crew is getting ready to install approximately 200 ft of wire fencing to completely enclose the western section of Desert Haven, to be used as a playground for our canine residents. Anyone interested in giving us a hand? Join our team on Tuesday morning. To check-out our animals available for adoption, visit us at http://www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com, visit us every Tuesday, or call 894-2778 for an appointment.

Featured Pet - Indy

Indy - Blue Heeler, also known as Austalian Cattle Dog

Indy is an amazing mix of energy and eagerness to please. He thoroughly enjoys the company of people and/or other dogs. He would love to have a special home with lots of room to run and someone to tag along with. He will make a great companion animal for someone who can spend time with him. True to his breed's temperament, Indy does not like being left alone with nothing to do. He is very smart and full of life.



Along with five siblings, Indy was born at Desert Haven in the Fall of 2005, from a young pure-bred blue heeler mother who had been taken in at the facility a few days earlier, starving and pregnant. In this photo, Indy is the one in the back.



Indy is a medium size young adult, good looking and slender. His spotted coat makes him quite distinctive. He is also quite an athlete and needs a secure place to exercise vigorously. He would be perfect for agility training or as a working dog as long as he has a warm lap to come home to!

Indy is up to date with routine shots, is already house trained, and has been altered.

You can visit Indy at Desert Haven any Tuesday, at our Adopt-a-Thon Open House on Saturday, May 5, or by appointment. Call Freddie at 575-894-2778 for more information.

Week of 4/22/07 Humane Happenings

What if the Sierra County Humane Society earned a penny for Desert Haven every time you searched the Internet? Well, now we can! GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. You use it just as you would any search engine, and it's powered by Yahoo!, so you get great results. Just go to www.goodsearch.com. Be sure that Sierra County Humane Society is listed as the charity you want to support. Just 500 of us searching four times a day will raise about $7300 in a year without anyone spending a dime! And, be sure to spread the word!

DiAnna and George Schnetzer of Los Lunas stopped at Desert Haven last Tuesday, to check out the results of their very generous donation: the professional cement job on the indoor-outdoor kennels at dog town, as well as in the Cat Patio and the Cat Howdy Room, The volunteer team was ready for them with a plaque – a tribute to an exceptional couple. Gene Trelewicz is already putting it up in a permanent location at the entrance to Central Bark and the DH main building. The upgrade has made a major difference, surely with the residents of Dog Town and The Cool Cat Neighborhood, but especially with the folks who handle animal care every day. Photos were taken to commemorate the moment , and will soon be posted on our web site:

http://www.deserthavenanimalrefuge.com.

Who said the kitchen is a woman’s place? Here at DH, it’s any good cook’s place. And Ron Gjurovich, our work camper from New York, passed the test with flying colors! Ron proved to us last Tuesday that some men can be just as comfortable in the kitchen and just as effective as any woman! The delicious pasta and clams he prepared - no shortage of clams in that dish - received the acclamations of the 20 hungry volunteers and guests who stayed for lunch that day. Great job, Ron!

Saturday May 5: Adopt-a-thon and Open House at Desert Haven, in conjunction with the 2007 T or C Fiesta. For more information, contact event coordinator Linda Estavillo at 894-0359

Our Wish List: dry and canned pet food - helpers at Paws & Claws thrift shop. Contact us at 894-2778 for more information.

Week of 4/15/07 Humane Happenings

Donald Gisler passed away recently. He and his wife Denise spent several months at Desert Haven Animal Refuge a few years ago, when the no-kill facility had just rescued its first residents: a large flock of domesticated ring-neck doves, given up by an elderly man who could no longer care for them, along with a mother cat with her newborn kittens, left behind when her owners moved on, and also a dozen miniature baby chicks, an Easter gift from an overzealous son to his elderly mom. The first phase of The Cool Cat Neighborhood was barely completed and Don, a retired veterinarian, with his wife and business partner Denise, made a tremendous impact among the volunteers, helping get the no-kill sanctuary started in the right direction. Denise, who moved to Nevada with Don after leaving Sierra County, requested that memorial donations be made to Desert Haven Animal Refuge in Don’s memory. We are touched by the thought and appreciate the contributions that have already arrived to celebrate and honor the life of a caring and much loved man. Thank-you, Denise, for remembering Desert Haven Animal Refuge in your time of loss. Our thoughts are with you in this very difficult period in your life.

We are welcoming to Desert Haven Ron Gjurovid of New York and Letha, husband Ted & son Tim Kuzdrovski of Alabama. These friendly and very helpful folks have now settled at the campground and they have already become an integral part of the DH team of volunteers. It’s a real pleasure to work with each and everyone of them, and we trust that they will make Desert Haven their home for a long while. Folks like them are special and so appreciated.

Now that everyone is aware of the pet food recall and know what to purchase and what to stay away from, we trust that our readers will consider adding, once again, dog and cat food to their donations of rabbit pellets, bird and sunflower seeds and chicken scratch. Feeding over 200 furry and feathered creatures is an expensive budget line item. Any help in meeting this expense is always very appreciated.

We are still looking for someone with a small bobcat or grader to clean less than 200 ft of fence line through light brush on terrain relatively flat. If no such piece of equipment becomes available, any donation covering the cost of renting one would help tremendously. Once this is completed, our resident dogs will have a new, large all-fenced area to exercise in and add to their comfort and well-being. For more information, and to checkout our list of dogs and cats for adoption, visit us at http:// www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com, contact us at 505-894-2778 or visit Desert Haven on a Tuesday, when the No-Kill sanctuary is open for visitors.

Week of 4/4/07 Humane Happenings

Tigger, Frankie and Snowshoe

These past few weeks have been trying times for pet lovers, with the discovery that their beloved companion animals can be poisoned, suffer, and even be sentenced to death by the very food that they themselves chose for them each day.

The Pet Food Recall is now the major conversation of interest among animal loving folks, and those who use the internet are able to find what they wish to know by visiting the following web sites:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

Without the modern luxury of the internet or even a computer, we need to contact “Recalled Dog & Cat Product Information” at the following number:
1-866-895-2708. More information can also be provided at: 1-866-894-BARK.
Consumers should have already stopped feeding their dogs any type of dog or cat products until they had assured that the brand they used was not on the list of recalled pet food products. Any health concerns with their pet should be shared with a veterinarian.

As the information on the pet food recall continues to mushroom, horror stories are now being brought out in the open on the internet, such as wheat gluten containing melamine, a substance not approved for use in food, or rat poison mixed with the food, pet food smelling like dead carcasses, or even unidentifiable mixtures being found in bags of pet food. Animal loving folks obviously have been much too trusting for much too long that pet food companies have the welfare and health of their companion animals in mind while they keep producing the pet food that is making these same companies wealthy.

Perhaps the on-going tragedy of beloved companion animals dying of pet food poisoning is finally the wake-up call for all of us who love animals. We must become more active in our routine decisions of which brand of pet food we choose to use and why we choose to use it or reject it. We must now carefully ask for information and look closely at labels.

Here at Desert Haven Animal Refuge, to protect the animals in our care, we carefully inspect all incoming donations of pet food. Please donate only the safest and the healthiest pet food for our animal residents – the pet food you would feed your very own beloved companion animal.

For more information about Desert Haven, to sponsor or adopt an animal from the sanctuary, or to find out how you can become an integral part of our labor of love in progress, contact us at 505-894-2778, or visit us at http://deserthavenanimalrefuge.com.