Jade's Blog: Animal Activist

Hi Gentle Readers! I can’t believe I’ve lost track of time and have been buried with projects lately. However, I have still kept up on news and found myself thinking there’s been enough going on for several blogs! The one I had planned will come after this, as there’s a trend out there that concerns me.

It seems with people out of work and losing their homes, the animal shelters are becoming overloaded with unwanted pets. The shelter in the nearby town to me opened last year and immediately had the rule of charging people who wanted to surrender their pets to the shelter (good plan!). However, there seem to be two issues for me at this time.

The first one is a friend of mine who is close to 60 years of age and on disability (some $800 a month total) who wanted to help by adopting a small chihuahua mix from her local shelter. When she called to ask about one she saw in the paper, she was told the adoption fee was $350!! When she was on a very limited income, but would voluteer a number of hours at the shelter to offset part of the price, she was told (somewhat rudely) that wasn’t how they did business. She was in disbelief when she called me – she had seen purebreds in the paper for $200! Needless to say, she didn’t get a dog.

Second, I haven’t seen much on discounted prices for spaying and neutering, or mobile clinics, etc. So the animal population continues unchecked in most areas. I ended up agreeing to foster week old kittens after the wild mother was killed (another reason for me not writing…LOL) and will be shopping for an affordable “package price” on getting them fixed before anyone adopts them.

So what I’d like to know is if any of you have a shelter that adopts out for a more affordable fee in your area, or has spay/neuter clinics that give discounts or lower fees to help people afford the cost in these challenging economic times. I’d also be open for any thoughts or suggestions anyone has for turning this situation around for both animals and humans. I keep reading that the shelters are overcrowded and having to put down record numbers of animals. Common sense for me would be to lower the adoption fees (or sliding scale based on family’s ability to pay?) if you want to place more animals than you kill.

Everyone was thrilled when they got the slaughter houses closed for horses last year – without any backup plan for what was going to happen to the crippled, old, or unwanted horses people had. Now we have horses across the country starving to death in back pastures, or in my area – being turned loose in the desert to fend for themselves! Rescue groups have formed everywhere, but they’re operating on tight budgets as well. All but two of the 8 animals I have were rescued (horses, mules, dogs, cats) and now I sit here with 4 2-month old kittens. LOL

Is it just me, or are people not thinking things through to possible conclusions about what might work or not, what the ramifications down the road could be?! Anyone have any ideas about getting some sort of “movement” going to find an affordable way of increasing the spay/neuter options, or making it a bit more affordable to adopt from shelters? Please let me know and I’ll post any ideas you might have to make this more of a win-win situation for all the animals that are sitting in cages or kennels waiting to see whether they will get to go through DOOR #1 or#2…a loving home or heaven. If we put our heads together, we should be able to come up with some sort of workable plan – or if you have one in your area that’s working – please share!

Okay Gentle Readers – It’s been quite while since you’ve heard from me – and all I can say is I wonder how many more atrocities are we going to witness in this country toward animals before we stand up and say ENOUGH!

Besides working with several groups who are doing everything possible to stop the insanity of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the massive destruction of wildlife from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, there are days when it feels shameful to be part of the human race that creates such devastation on creatures who can’t fight back.

So my post today, and future ones as well, will be to bring the information that has been gathered to your attention and open up the discussion for any ideas you may have that all of us have missed. Starting with the BLM: 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act.
Wild Horse Annie Act – Public Law 86-234
Use of aircraft or motor vehicles to hunt certain wild horses or burros; pollution of watering holes
(a) Whoever uses an aircraft or a motor vehicle to hunt, for the purpose of capturing or killing, any wild unbranded horse, mare, colt, or burro running at large on any of the public land or ranges shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(b) Whoever pollutes or causes the pollution of any watering hole on any of the public land or ranges for the purpose of trapping, killing, wounding, or maiming any of the animals referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(c) As used in subsection (a) of this section—
(1) The term “aircraft” means any contrivance used for flight in the air; and
(2) The term “motor vehicle” includes an automobile, automobile truck, automobile wagon, motorcycle, or any other self-propelled vehicle designed for running on land.

Public Law 94-579, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act dated Oct. 21, 1976, amended the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 to allow the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to use or contract for the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles to manage wild horses and burros on public lands, thus bypassing the Wild Horse Annie Act.

Now we have an Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, who has chosen to ignore the laws of our land and the vocal outrage by the people themselves by moving ahead with insane ideas of moving them all to the midwest – purchasing land for a “wild horse preserve” and sticking them into a part of the country that’s totally different than what they’ve always known – very reminiscent of how the Native American tribes were removed from their land and sent to places like Florida where many died from diseases they never heard of. We also now know that a pipeline is being planned to run through that “public land” (note: we the public supposedly OWN that land!) and that’s part of the reason the horses need to be removed, plus the Ruby Pipeline plan is something BP (Gulf of Mexico) is ALSO involved in!!! Where do WE draw the line and say ENOUGH!?

If you are not up to date on this information, join Wild Horses and Burros Group or American Indian People For Wild Horses on Facebook to find out what’s going on in defiance of what WE THE PEOPLE are saying (remember, WE pay the salaries of the government officials!).

There’s an injuction in place that’s being ignored, they were to leave herds alone that had new foals, but the plan is in motion to round them up tomorrow (Sat 7/10/10) with foals that are only days old. Get involved – may noise – write your representatives (for whatever good they do anymore) and stop this insanity on land … since we can’t seem to stop the insanity that happening in the gulf. The time has come that we need to step up and be heard. They don’t have a voice to protest – we can do that for them. Thanks – and feel free to post anything that might help in any way. I’m back and I’m angry about what’s taking place. Hope you are too. Blessed Be!