A couple of years ago I was blessed with the opportunity to raise and release two baby squirrels and one baby skunk. One night I came home late and let my dog outside, I stayed outside with her and I heard a noise unlike anyother. I followed the sound and to my surprise I found a baby squirrel so small that four could have fit in my palm. His eyes were not opened yet. I took him inside and began to build a home suited for him. Sally (my dog) was still outside I noticed she was still in the vicinity of the rescue. I went over and saw that she had found another baby squirrel. I grabbed her and took her inside with the other. I went back outside to look some more but to no avail. I looked up and saw a squirrel nest in the tree above. That night was very windy and I guessed they fell out because of it. The next day as it warmed outside I took a box with the baby's to the tree were they fell and left them in hopes that the mother would come and get them, but she didn't. So I raised them for two or so months and never had so much joy. I named them Chip and Dale. I would take them outside and build a fort made of tree branches to make them learn to climb, besides many other things. It was truly wonderful. I did release them in my back yard (four acres of woods) and believe that they still reside here. The baby skunk was given to me after someone heard I raised the squirrels. She also had her eyes closed when I got her. She was absolutely beautiful. So small and cuddlely, I wanted to keep her forever. I named her Chanel. As with the squirrels I started feeding through a bottle then progressed to food. With Chanel I took her outside were she would follow my every footstep and show her food on the ground. Her favorite food was baby toads, she loved them. I had so much fun with her, she would actually play with me by running up to me and patting her front paws on the carpet then turn and run. It was hilarious. When she got bigger after a few months she would run up to me pat her paws but then turn her body into a U and point her bum at me while she kept her eyes on me. She never sprayed me, not mom. I later let her go but now I wished I could have kept her, but I realize I did right. I've raised other baby's too, like rabbits, kittens and puppies. I love animals and belong to many clubs.
-Mark B.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Saving The Seals
Flower power and bellbottom pants…the Woodstock music festival and the first moon landing…the civil rights movement and the rise of feminism…the 1960′s were a time marked by events and ideas that changed the world forever.
So it should come as no surprise that the decade that spawned such important social change also marked the beginning of a new movement for animals.
A timeline of IFAW’s work to save seals
From the first time a group of caring individuals stepped out onto the ice in 1969, to the recent legislative proposal in Canada to end the seal hunt, our campaign has been marked by successes and challenges:
1969 IFAW founded with the goal of saving hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals from the cruelty of the Canadian commercial seal hunt.
1972 Thanks to IFAW, the plight of the seal pup gains international attention, leading the United States to implement the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibiting the import/export and marketing of marine mammal products.
1983 After receiving several million signatures from IFAW supporters and other groups, the European Economic Community institutes a ban on the import of whitecoats (harp seal pups less than 2 weeks old).
1987 Commercial whitecoat hunt banned; harp seal catches drop to 46,796.
1996 Government subsidies for the sealing industry prompt an increase in the number of harp seals allowed to be killed to a quarter million seals.
2006 Nearly one million seals killed in past three years, a return to the numbers seen in the 1950′s and ’60s when the seal population is thought to have declined by up to 66%.
2008 IFAW’s constant campaigning pays off when the EU announces a proposal to ban the import of seal products.
2009 For the first time in Canadian history, a piece of legislation is introduced to end the commercial seal hunt: the “Harb Seal Bill”.
2010 With the EU seal trade ban in place and markets around the world drying up, over 200,000 seal pups were spared a cruel death.
2011 With seal markets dwindling and pelt prices plummeting, most of Canada’s 6,000 sealers stay home… Our campaign is working!
A new hope
Canada’s commercial seal hunt costs more money than it makes. The worldwide demand for seal products is shrinking, and the European Union has joined with nations around the world who have decided that they don’t want Canada’s dead seals.
This is truly an historic moment – a moment that marks the beginning of the inevitable end to Canada’s commercial seal hunt. But the Canadian government continues to prop up this dying industry, encouraging the slaughter to continue. Our video footage from this year alone reveals unprecedented cruelty and suffering.
We can not stop until this slaughter is ended once and for all.
Stay tuned for more updates from the ice and from our campaigns around the world. And thanks again for taking the time to act for animals,
Fred O’Regan
IFAW President
So it should come as no surprise that the decade that spawned such important social change also marked the beginning of a new movement for animals.
A timeline of IFAW’s work to save seals
From the first time a group of caring individuals stepped out onto the ice in 1969, to the recent legislative proposal in Canada to end the seal hunt, our campaign has been marked by successes and challenges:
1969 IFAW founded with the goal of saving hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals from the cruelty of the Canadian commercial seal hunt.
1972 Thanks to IFAW, the plight of the seal pup gains international attention, leading the United States to implement the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibiting the import/export and marketing of marine mammal products.
1983 After receiving several million signatures from IFAW supporters and other groups, the European Economic Community institutes a ban on the import of whitecoats (harp seal pups less than 2 weeks old).
1987 Commercial whitecoat hunt banned; harp seal catches drop to 46,796.
1996 Government subsidies for the sealing industry prompt an increase in the number of harp seals allowed to be killed to a quarter million seals.
2006 Nearly one million seals killed in past three years, a return to the numbers seen in the 1950′s and ’60s when the seal population is thought to have declined by up to 66%.
2008 IFAW’s constant campaigning pays off when the EU announces a proposal to ban the import of seal products.
2009 For the first time in Canadian history, a piece of legislation is introduced to end the commercial seal hunt: the “Harb Seal Bill”.
2010 With the EU seal trade ban in place and markets around the world drying up, over 200,000 seal pups were spared a cruel death.
2011 With seal markets dwindling and pelt prices plummeting, most of Canada’s 6,000 sealers stay home… Our campaign is working!
A new hope
Canada’s commercial seal hunt costs more money than it makes. The worldwide demand for seal products is shrinking, and the European Union has joined with nations around the world who have decided that they don’t want Canada’s dead seals.
This is truly an historic moment – a moment that marks the beginning of the inevitable end to Canada’s commercial seal hunt. But the Canadian government continues to prop up this dying industry, encouraging the slaughter to continue. Our video footage from this year alone reveals unprecedented cruelty and suffering.
We can not stop until this slaughter is ended once and for all.
Stay tuned for more updates from the ice and from our campaigns around the world. And thanks again for taking the time to act for animals,
Fred O’Regan
IFAW President
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Tight Squeeze...
My fiancée and I have a wonderful pet ferret with more personality than most dogs. He is the only animal I have ever bonded with, and my fiancée was inconsolable when after two and a half days, she realized that he was lost for good. We live in a New York style apartment with three exterior windows that look out to the brick wall of the building directly next to us. The neighboring building is no more than two feet away. On the front of the street and at the back of the building, the entrance to the narrow alley is completely blocked off. We live on the second floor and there are no windows on the first story; the distance to the ground is about twenty-two feet. We keep our ferret in the laundry room where we vent our dryer through a broken pane in the window. After tearing our whole house apart we realized that there was nowhere he could have gone except out the window. The window is five feet off the floor. Somehow he had climbed up the dryer hose and fell 20+ feet to the bottom of the alley. He had no way to escape. I had no choice but to try and climb down the walls between the two buildings to the bottom and bring him back up. This was no easy task. My fiancée was hysterical and begging me not to risk my life, but we had no other options. I managed to find a tow strap (not even a proper rope) long enough to reach to the bottom, and I tied it to the steel center of the bricked in window. I began to climb. Reaching the bottom of the alley was not exceptionally difficult. I lowered myself gradually to the ground, where I rescued my quivering little friend, and sent him back to his mommy in the safety of a 5-gallon bucket. I still had to get back up the wall to the window 27 feet above my head, and with no room to bend my legs for assistance with the climb. I could only use my arms to pull myself up the wall. Needless to say I survived with only minor bruises and scrapes, my ferret is OK, and my fiancée thinks I'm a hero. It's amazing the things you can do if you love your pet enough!
Robert S.
Ocala, FL
Robert S.
Ocala, FL
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