Announcing the Launch of PetFriendlyTybee.com

Have you ever wondered where you can take your pet and have some fun? Two weeks ago, I got together with Southern Images Photography to launch an online directory of pet-friendly establishments around the Savannah area. The first site launched features Tybee information, particularly reviews of the dog parks, two restaurants, and the RV park. The site is in its infancy and suggestions are welcome. Each establishment has been evaluated by a CPR rescued pet. Take a look around to see how you and your pup can enjoy a day on the island.

http://www.petfriendlytybee.com

Hanna: A Warning to Us All

I don't know about everyone else, but for the last week I feel like I've been on a roller coaster with Hanna. Will she affect us or won't she? It still seems to not be a clear answer. We've been working hard to ensure the safety of our pets and the continuation of our program. Which brings me to the subject of this post: are YOUR pets ready?

Downloads Now Available
Yesterday, we updated our "Hurricane Planning for Pets" page on CoastalPetRescue.org. We now have a packing checklist and animal identification form available for download. Additionally, we've added some links you may want to keep handy as we watch next week to see what Ike will do.

Purchase a Pet First Aid Kit
Thanks to our partnership with the Savannah Chapter of the Red Cross, we have a limited supply of pet first aid kits available for sale. This can be a valuable asset if anything happens with your pets during a storm or evacuation.

Pet Identification and Microchips
Do you have proper identification for your pets? Check now to make sure your pets have a properly-fitted collar with identification tag. Instead of your pet's name, put two phone numbers on the tag. If your pet is microchipped, take the time now to make sure the microchip registry has the most current contact information for you. 24PetWatch offers free registration of all chips through their online registry. If you have had your pet chipped through one of our low-cost clinics, you can refer to your yellow registration copy to get your ID number and register your pet online or update your information.

Where Can You Go?
If an evacuation is ordered, pet shelter openings will be announced by emergency management officials. However, you should consider asking friends or family where you will be staying first if your pet can come with you. If so, plan to take a crate for them to stay in so as to not impose upon your hosts. If not, start looking now for boarding kennels or veterinary offices where you will be going to have you pet boarded nearby. Additionally, make sure you have the name, address and phone number of the nearest veterinarian in the event your pet needs care during the evacuation.

When traveling with your pet, it is important that all vaccinations are current. Make sure to have copies of all medical records from your current veterinarian. Georgia State Law regulates that all pets, dogs and cats, have a yearly rabies vaccination. If you are taking your pet to an emergency shelter, your pet will not be admitted without proof of current vaccinations. Additionally, boarding facilities usually require the bordetella vaccine to protect against kennel cough. If your pet does not travel well, talk to your veterinarian about your options to make their trip less stressful.

Please, don't even think of leaving without your pets. Our animals are too domesticated and may not survive through a storm. Many pets found in the days after Hurricane Katrina were loaded with parasites, worms and heartworm disease from drinking bad water and living in filth. Do not leave your pets chained outside either as they could drown in flooding or suffocate trying to seek shelter.



While we may be breathing a little easier today than earlier this week, we are not out of hurricane season yet. Please take the time now to reduce your stress level. Hanna gave us a good warning that anything can happen, so plan now.

Get the latest in tropical developments online at Coastalstorms.com

Menu Foods Pet Food Recall

By now, everyone has heard about the Menu Foods Pet Food Recall. I'm slammed with messages everyday through our rescue newslists. I saw one today that their testing showed 1 in 6 deaths. My question is how does 1 in 6 get FDA approval? That seems to be way too small odds for me. I also noticed the number of high dollar brand names that are involved in the recall. I was thankful that the Purina products I buy were not listed, but not everyone else was so lucky. MSNBC.com is reporting that 16 pet deaths so far have been linked to the tainted products, but I would guess that number will rise in the coming days as vets may re-examine recent cases that they may have deemed the cause to be undetermined. Other articles are mentioning pets being extensively tested after having eaten the products. I can only assume that the number of lawsuits (which I've read to be three currently) against Menu Foods to increase, maybe even a class action.

Microchips: Use as Directed

A few weeks ago, Savannah Toyota hosted a microchip clinic for us, whereby we chipped 73 pets. I've been an avid supporter of chipping for recovery, but also to eliminate needless deaths in animal shelters.

This week at the shelter, I was given the task of contacting the owner of a Rottweiler that had a HomeAgain microchip. I was given seven numbers to call; four were disconnected, two never returned the calls, and the other claimed he didn't own a "damn dog" and slammed the phone down. But at least we got to know his name. Thor is a big sweet baby boy. He loves women; he's a sucker for a belly rub and a good scratch behind his ears. The shelter supervisor and I have been plugging away to find a good home for him. He deserves as much.

It's just amazing that people would pay for permanent identification, but not understand that it only works as long as they keep their information current. Since Thor had ID, the shelter is giving him ten days instead of five, so that's good news for him. And, essentially, good news for me since I have a buddy to play with when the tough stuff hits.

Atlanta Falcons and Animal Cruelty

For my animal cruelty and interpersonal violence class last week, we were assigned to find an on-line news account of a recent case (within the last three months) of cruelty to animals and draft a hypothetical letter to the District Attorney in the jurisdiction where the event occurred, giving detailed information about why you feel that it is important that this case be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, citing specifics from the week's readings.

I can't tell you just how proud I am to live in a state that continues to increase its number of animal cruelty cases.

In researching my case for this assignment, I looked specifically for Georgia cases, knowing of several currently in court that other rescue friends are watching in their areas. Instead, I found at the top of every search one involving an Atlanta Falcons football player. Since this is a case that will have constant media focus, this is the case I chose.

Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux is out of jail on a $2,300 bond after being charged with animal cruelty on a dog. A necropsy completed Tuesday [2/20] determined the dog died of blunt force injuries to the head sustained on Sunday [2/18]. Babineaux maintains he had nothing to do with the incident, but police say his account of what happened is inconsistent with the information about the dog's injuries provided by the animal hospital.

Since the details have not all been released, I cannot say what his motives might, though reports on Pet-Abuse.com state it was in retaliation to a fight with his live-in girlfriend. According to Lockwood's checklist of dangerousness, Babineax's actions are strong indicators of someone who could progress to interpersonal violence: high victim vulnerability, the injury resulted in death, the intimacy of the infliction of injury, and the absence of economic motive.

My hope is that this case will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I am so sick and tired of seeing "celebrities" get off with such minimal penalties. I was so happy that the last two cases in our state resulted in the maximum sentences for the offenders, but worry that a strong enough message still isn't being sent that animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Georgia.

Doing Good is Actually "Hot"

Last year, I was named to the "REAL Hot 100" list, a list that served to show that women who work to make themselves and the world around them better are just as hot, if not more, than those selected on superficial values. I was flattered, but no where near as much as when I discovered, many months later, that a gentleman had posted about me on someone else's blog.

Apparently, one "journalist" believed that the list was skewed, as most of those select to the list were also found as physically "hot" as their actions.

... it seems like either:

a) pretty much only cute, conventionally attractive women become activists, journalists, poetry slam coordinators, etc., and the Real Hot 100 nominators are just working with what exists, or

b) there are plenty of non-cute non-conventionally attractive women out there who meet the criteria, but the leftysphere isn't nominating them.

I was even more astounded at one observation posted in a comment (#10):

As to the Hot 100 list, I must say that I barely made it through the first page so far, but my babe-o-meter only dinged 5 times, even including the blurbs attached to the photos. However, it went absolutely off the scale when I got down to Lisa Scarbrough.

The rest of them seem to be more about the progressive scene and awareness raising. Yet Lisa Scarbrough put her assets where her mouth is. And not for the standard causes, but for abused and neglected animals.

Now that’s REALLY hot! I wonder if she likes guys that can cook… I finally figured out the Insta-Chicken recipe, you know.

It wasn't that he called me hot, but that my work was validated. In the three years I've been divorced, it has been heartbreaking at how many times I would attempt to get to know someone, only to find that my passion was "intimidating" and not of interest to most. I was so happy, I printed it out and saved it for those rainy days that I needed a little lift.

But the entire blog post brought me to some serious thinking: is there anything really wrong with having a strong passion? I know that I am often asked why I do this with my life, why don't I work with children instead, why don't I just go start a family, who will ever be satisfied with being second in my life, and so on. I don't have one real good answer. All I know is that running this rescue has given meaning to my life. It makes me a whole person. I spent a couple of years lost, trying to find my place, figure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. In that time, many strays found their way to my house, but it was really them who were showing me the way home.

CoastalPetRescue.org V.4.0

A week ago yesterday, I launched CoastalPetRescue.org V.4.0. For those of you who don't know, I'm a geek by trade, and that's the main reason you see me online all the time. I pride myself at building great websites, which is why our rescue site was so extensive.

After four years on the web, I decided it was time for a new look. I took a lot of feedback from visitors, volunteers, adopters and donors, and tried to make the site more user-friendly, and, hopefully, more fun. You'll see photos on every page now featuring our volunteers and pets, with the goal of personalizing the experience more. I want visitors to see what we are doing, why it is important to the community, and how successful we can be in our mission with enough help.

So, if you haven't visited recently, take a break from your normal online routine, stop over, and bookmark us. The site changes each week, and we need you to help us to continue to change the lives of needy pets.

www.coastalpetrescue.org - Changing Lives, One at a Time

Continued Disrepect for Lives of Pets

Posted originally Feb. 13, 2007

This past week, two Georgia teens were sentenced to five years each for animal cruelty. They were found guilty for "taking the puppy and smearing paint on it, trying to set it on fire, hog tying its feet with duct tape and binding its snout before stuffing it into a searing hot gas oven." The incident took place last August in Roswell. Sadly, this isn't the first case like this in Georgia.

Many in the Savannah community were shocked when a similar incident happened here in August 2005. One-year-old rat terrier Zoe fell victim to the whims of a burglar that decided to throw her in the oven on 400 degrees after robbing a local home. Zoe had been adopted from an area rescue, something that usually results in a lifetime of happiness and better outcomes than life before rescue. Sadly, Zoe did not get to know much of that life.

In both of these cases, the maximum penalties allowed by Georgia law were given for felony animal cruelty: five years in prison. We can see the malice that differed in the most recent case. So why then as such acts increase in their horrors do we have a cap set for punishment? If anything, there should be only a minimum.

We are a society that seems to value life less and less as time passes. Just look at the news. When was the last time you were able to watch TV, read the paper, browse the Internet, or listen to news on the radio without seeing something about a human killing another human? It's rare that I even watch the news anymore. I hate to say it, but I believe I have become desensitized, but primarily, disheartened. When such disrespect exists for human life, how could we ever anticipate respect for those even less defenseless?

One of my instructors testified in the sentencing phase of this case (for those that don't know, I'm in my second year of study for a bachelor of science degree in humane leadership through Duquesne University). He said it was one of the worst cases in which he has ever had to testify. Much of his testimony came from documents written in the late 1800s/early 1900s. It was interesting to me that it seemed a greater emphasis was given for care to animals specifically because cruelty to such was believed to lead to an escalation of such acts against humans.

In "Cruelty (Some Thoughts on Education)," John Locke mentions that violence is rewarded through conquests throughout history. "All the entertainment of talk and history is of nothing almost but fighting and killing; and the honour and renown that is bestowed on conquerors..." This is reverberated through the violent video games that so many children are playing today. I have been shocked to see the crimes that are done in these games. At some point, they have to be taught that these are wrong. But whose responsibility is it? An obvious choice would be the parents, but in the schools I visit, I find that many of those aren't around. In one class I visited a couple weeks ago, three students admitted that their parents or older siblings breed pit bulls, one student admits that they sell the puppies regularly, and another admits that his father and older brother take turns beating the dog to "teach" it. How then do we overcome these situations? If they aren't being taught at home, how can they be taught compassion elsewhere and not be punished when they counter their parents/caretakers?

I'm in the third week of an eight-week term studying the links between animal cruelty and interpersonal violence. What I have been able to gather is that instead of getting better, cases are getting worse. Some areas of the country are trying new approaches such as community service, forcing the violators to face what they have done and the impact it has. But will it be enough? Can new actions make good for the past? At what point will enough be enough?