The Best Day So Far!!!!

Hello Friends

Today was a really good day. It began with Karla (the gal in charge of adoptions) telling me to get ready to sign some adoption papers. Guess she was tired of my bugging the heck out of her. Yes, we were allowed to take Monkey out of the facility this morning. He immediately made himself at home. He is even used to the motion of the rig. Gabby had to move the rig twice as folks were pouring into the lot for the big LSU game which was rescheduled for tomorrow. Lucky for us, LSU is a kind school and they are allowing us to use a season pass holder’s spot without charge. Another vet who is here had to pay $100 for the privilege. Leave it to my Gabby to finagle a great deal!

There was a foster meet at the Student Union and lots of owners came back offering their animals to foster and a few actually made arrangements with people and handed their pets over. All was joyous because the owners wanted their pets to be in a home and not kept in cages any longer.

This was only a temporary shelter and I’m actually glad that it’s closing down because there is no reason to prolong the amount of time an animal should stay in a cage. I’m sure if it was going to be left open, people would store their animals here for a long time. It’s really not fair to the animals and I’m glad they will only have till October 15 to stay here. I think there will be a huge adoption fair that will begin after the deadline to remove pets which is September 30th, this coming Friday. I believe the owners have 30 days from the time they are actually adopted to take them back. I think it’s a good idea to call it an adoption vs a Foster because people really need to commit to caring for the pet for the rest of its natural life vs a short 3 or 4 months. Hopefully by that time, folks will have had time to get back on their feet and reunite their families.

I met a girl named Shameka today who I had talked on the phone to last week. She just reunited with her young son earlier whom she had not seen since the Katrina hit. She knew he was safe with his father, but she was away from him for nearly a month. The minute they reunited, they were on the way to the shelter to pick up Sweetie Pie. Everyone was elated and it was very uplifting.

Lots of other people picked up their animals today and now the population is about 750. I think it was like 1,100 when we arrived two weeks ago.

Today The International Fund for Animal Welfare showed up. Just like the cavalry, they came to my rescue. For the first time since we arrived, I actually felt like someone wanted to hear what I had to say about front of house operations. Gabby and I gave Iben an earful and she listened intently and said that by Tuesday someone would be here to help with the organization I have began. I have been worried because I was not sure who would take over when I leave. Now I can leave on Saturday and not feel badly. I think that’s when we will head home, Saturday or Sunday.

I have to tell you that actually speaking to a higher up in IFAW means a great deal to me. Those of you who knew me in college may remember that I worked to spread awareness about the shameful Canadian Seal Hunt. I distributed literature and worked to ban Canadian fish products in order to halt the madness. It worked for that one winter. Unfortunately it still goes on today.
But IFAW continues to bring animal welfare to the forefront.

Tomorrow should be a good day because we have the big game and we will be closed to owners after 12:00 noon. This will allow us to get a lot done and get more organized. And we can sure use some of that.

Thanks for reading!
Monkey’s new parents, Carol & Gabby