A deer little handful

This tiny muntjac fawn was born three weeks early after his mother was hit by a car.

The little orphan, delivered by Caesarean section, was just six inches tall and, at 500 grams, weighed little more than a bag of sugar.

It looked like he, too, would face a tough fight for survival.

But staff at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire believe Rupert, as he has been named, will make a full recovery after his dramatic arrival.

At five days old, he is being kept in an incubator and has just opened his eyes.

Source: Mail Online

Rare blond hedgehog

Dr Andrew Kelly, manager of RSPCA in Cheshire, said: "We receive around 600 hedgehogs a year at Stapeley Grange, often orphaned juveniles, but we've never had a blonde hedgehog before."

This baby hedgehog, believed to be just a few months old, it was found weak and struggling by a member of the public in Gobowen, Shropshire.

Source: Mail online

Video: Cat House on the Kings

The Cat House on the Kings, is no-cage, no-kill, lifetime cat sanctuary and adoption center run by Lynea Lattanzia in Parlier, California. There are currently over 700 cats living on the 12 acre sanctuary and all of them are up for adoption.



Watch video

(via Nag on the Lake)

Baby Squirrels Saved From Floodwaters

Floodwaters from Fay not only force people from their homes, it put animals on the move as well.

One Altamonte Springs, FL, woman turned her home into a shelter for the animals. She had 150 squirrels in her kitchen. The animals were found in puddles of water after Fay's strong wind forced them from treetops.

"Its fun, it's rewarding just to know that you did your little to help nature out," said animal rescuer Mary Jane Eisner.

Wildlife officials said, as the water went down all sorts of critters, like mice, snakes and alligators, were left behind looking for shelter and the animals were showing up in people's front yards.

Source: wftv.com

An 'Angel' to the rescue

Six orange tabby kittens were rescued because of the keen senses of Angel, a boxer/pit bull mix, who was recently surrendered to the Nevada Humane Society.

Frank Gomez and his 9-year-old stepson, Joel Fontes, have been regular volunteers at Nevada Humane Society this summer. The pair were volunteering on Monday, walking their favorite dog. Angel, a 2-year-old dog that came to the Humane Society's shelter after her owners moved without taking her along.

The walk was brisk, but was interrupted when Angel became obsessed with something in the bushes.

Gomez assumed it was Angel's inquisitive personality at play and didn't take it seriously.

But Angel refused to give up and Gomez discovered six 3-week-old orange tabby kittens in a box where they were abandoned.

Humane society staff were summoned, but not before one of the kittens escaped from the box. After returning to the scene, Angel led Gomez to the lost kitten, who picked her up and handed her over to safety.


(via L.A.Unleashed)

Free kibble for shelters

Mimi Ausland, a 12 year old girl from Bend, Oregon, wanted to help feed the hungry dogs at her local animal shelter.

Mimi created Freekibble.com whose primary mission is to provide good, healthy food to dogs and cats in shelters working so hard to see that none of them go hungry.

To help provide food for shelters, play Bow Wow Trivia. All you have to do is click on an answer, and every day you do, 20 pieces of kibble is donated to Animal Shelters to help feed their hungry dogs.

Play Bow Wow Trivia every day - the more you play, the more kibble for the dogs!

(Zootoo.com has very generously committed to partner with Mimi by donating all the kibble generated from freekibble.com.)

Teens can help eliminate puppy mills

According to Deborah Howard, President of the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS), “more than 90 percent of pet shops obtain their puppies from puppy mills” that completely disregard the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of the animals they mass produce each year.

“Puppy mills exist solely for profit, with the dogs treated like puppy-producing machines that turn feed into puppies,” said a CAPS undercover investigator.

“The animals are often treated with a minimal standard of care with little or no concern for their well-being.” It’s not uncommon for pet shop puppies to be treated for upper respiratory infections, ear and eye infections, and parasites once they arrive at the store or their new home.

Now teens can learn more about the conditions found in common puppy mills and spread the word about the horrors of puppy mills by registering to become a teen activist at www.caps2point0.org.

By being young activists fighting the puppy mill industry teens can educate consumers to help end the horrific plight of the pet store puppy.

How do you lose a 44-pound cat?

Meet Princess Chunk, a 44-pound hunk of feline flesh, a cat so big that she needs a bathtub for a litter box.

Volunteers at the Camden County Animal Shelter in New Jersey are trying to find a new home for the corpulent kitty - a really big home.

Officials at the shelter say they received the cat Saturday from Animal Control after she was found wandering around outdoors with no ID tags.

As hard as it is to fathom, volunteers think her owner might have lost her, which is as difficult a possibility to imagine as, well, as a 44-pound cat.

"I mean, how do you lose a 44-pound cat?" said shelter volunteer Deborah Wright.

Source: New York Post

Jackson the macaw shows off

"Jackson the macaw shows off" by Critter Camp Mom

Critter Camp is the ONLY sanctuary in the U.S. actually which cares for such a large variety of different animals: Over 200 animals of 30 different species!

Care for Apes

What happens to performing primates once they're past their prime? The lucky ones end up in facilities like the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, FL.

Brenda Scott Royce, in the Huffington Post, writes,

" Apes in showbiz have a short shelf life.

The average performing chimp begins his career around age 2. By 7 or 8, when he's no longer the tractable trainee he once was, he's put out to pasture.

Owners tend to not want to keep apes that have outlived their earning potential, and since apes can live into their 50s, that means they'll require decades of care after their careers end. And that care is expensive -- roughly $10,000 a year for a single ape. And while typically everyone involved with a film -- from cast and crew to producers, studios, distributors, investors and exhibitors -- makes money, nothing is put aside for the animals' future. "

The primary purpose of the Center for Great Apes is to provide a permanent sanctuary in a safe and enriching environment for orangutans and chimpanzees in need of long-term life care … specifically those who have been used in entertainment, kept as pets by private owners, or served as research subjects.

Currently, the Center houses forty-three apes, fourteen orangutans and twenty-nine chimpanzees, ranging in age from one to forty-six years. These great apes live in enriching environments and habitats, provided with proper nutrition and companionship and with their own species. They live in large 34-foot tall outdoor habitats with lots of climbing apparatus, swings, and enrichment toys. They sleep in attached heated nighthouses strong enough to withstand Florida hurricanes. The sanctuary is located in South Central Florida on 100 wooded acres surrounded by orange groves.

Pebbles is one of the Center for Great Apes current residents. She arrived at the Center in December 2004 from a California trainer compound where she was worked as an infant in the entertainment business. She still had a few years of working ability ahead of her, but her owner decided to stop working great apes in shows and commercials.

Pebbles loves to swing on vines in her enclosure, play in tubs of water, and wrestle with her orangutan roommates. One of her favorite enrichment activities is painting. Not only will she paint on paper or canvas given to her, Pebbles also enjoys covering herself with nontoxic paint!

via L.A. Unleashed

Got a Buck?

Can you afford one dollar per month?
Just $12 per year can help 12 shelters in desperate need of financial help.

Each month the Animals Help Campaign will feature a different animal shelter in dire need of financial assistance.

Send one dollar to that shelter during that month. Your one dollar combined with other dollars will help to raise thousands of dollars for one needy shelter.

And this month's shelter is:
Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary

Critter Camp cares for the forgotten pets that many shelters do not accept. The animals there were about to be euthanized or had been abused, neglected or abandoned. Critter Camp is a licensed, registered 501c3 non-profit charitable organization, 100% no-kill, operated by volunteers and supported by donations. They care for over 200 exotic and unusual homeless pets of 30 different species!

Critter Camp has hands-on educational fun tours for small groups to learn about and experience animals such as a hedgehog, fennec fox, sugar glider, bearded dragon, chinchilla, and much more.They offer pet owner education and tips on what to consider before you get a pet.

They are planning to build a "green" sanctuary building that will use passive and active solar and wind power and other ecologically sound practices in the near future. They are offering to name the facility after a large initial donor too.

All of the information about the sanctuary, tours, our background and plans are on our site www.crittercamp.biz .

Send Critter Camp $1.00

(more is OK, too)

A show to watch

Oprah Winfrey plans to dedicate a show investigating abuses at puppy mills to her cocker spaniel, Sophie, who died last month from kidney failure.

"Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love. She was a true love in my life," Winfrey says on the broadcast scheduled to air Friday, April 4.

The show features special correspondent Lisa Ling investigating puppy mills, which Ling calls "horrific" and "haunting."

Winfrey says the show is "for anybody anywhere who loves a dog, has ever loved a dog, or just cares about their basic right to humane treatment."

Facts about puppy mills

Adoptable!

This is Princess. She is up for adoption at the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, IL.

Isn't she lovely?

This is Rosemary. She's available for adoption at Save a Bunny.