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"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter." - M.L.King
12/20/2007
R.I.P. WILLOW + TEDDY
This month passed away two of my dogs. My beloved and steady companion
Now I´ve only got three "of my own" dogs left, PETRUSKA aged 17, AMINA 6 and CHIQUETINA 4 years old.
Of course I´ve got almost always some ex-stray dogs too, which I pick up from the street to find a new home for them.
Forest Fires on Gran Canaria
07/27/07 til .... (under control but still burning)
YES, the newspaper says "extinguished on 8 th August 2007"
Day 1 Friday
What has started on Friday, July 27th 2007 as a forest fire of a 30 hectare area,
has now developed into the biggest Fire Disaster ever on Gran Canaria.
Day 2
Already 2.500 hectare are affected and the fire is still out of control.
The arsonist, a forest watchman has been arrested on the 29th and
has confessed. I hope he gets the punishment he deserves. He has
caused damage to thousands of people, taking from them everything they
owned and he has caused huge damages to the Animals and Nature on the
Island.
Nothing is known about the bird species "Pinzon Azul" of which there were
only 200 specimens left, living here at a birdsanctuary in the
Pineforest. The sanctuary is burnt to the ground.
Day 3
The occupants of the villages in and around Ayacata, El Juncal, Cercados
de Arana, Chira and Las Ninas have been evacuated. Many had (?????) to
leave their pets and domestic animals.
5 helicopters are in service. The fire extinguishing teams have been
doubled up to 200 persons, 100 of them from the military. Today more
planes and helicopters are arriving from Tenerife, La Palma and the
mainland to help.
It is too hot, over 45°, extremely dry, only 7 % humidity and very, very windy.
Day 4
Last night the fire seemed under control, but suddenly today it has
increased and caused even more damage. There are now 9 fire sources and
around 500 profesional firefighters in action with 7-10 helicopters and
one plane. Unfortunatly they can no longer fly since dinnertime due to
the high winds with up to 70 kmh. Everything is concentrating on the
crews on the ground.
Towards evening the Valley of Ayagaures is in danger and during the
night, at 23:18 hrs, the Palmitos Park (zoo) has burnt down. Apparently 65% of the
animals loose their life according to a short news flash on Spanish TV.
A quick decision was made to let the caged birds fly.
What about the Primates? The Crokodiles? Fishes? Butterflies?
Not a word is beeing lost about them. It seems a little suspect to me.
Day 5
The fires are threatning the tourist areas just above Maspalomas, can be
controlled though. The wind is dying down a little. Towards the
evening it gets worse again around El Juncal and El Sequero. At least 50
houses have been destroyed, mostly in Mogan, a few around Fataga.
Terrible that the fires have taken on such a magnitude. 20.000 hectare
have fallen victim to the flames on Gran Canaria alone. A total of
12.000 people had to be evacuated from their homes in Gran Canaria and
Tenerife, where another fire is raging. 1/4 of each Island is affected,
1/3 of the complete stock of trees has burnt and the fire is still out
of control....
Day 6
Fire is under control, but not extinguished. Land roads are still closed to public traffic.
Link to a local newspaper with pics and videos:
http://www.canarias7.es/multimedia/galeria.cfm?id=1702
http://www.canarias7.es/multimedia/video.cfm?id=451
Day 7
Rescued a dog yesterday (08/03/07). I´ve called her MATILDA.
Today Julie and Steve started rescue work.
Day 8
Some places still suffer new outbreaks of fire, therefore helicopters are still watering the area, but country roads are open for traffic. Today I had to stay at home because yesterday´s dog was picked up by the owner in the afternoon. NALA (MATILDA) was her name and thanks to the Microchip the owner could be localized.
Julie and Steve went to the mountains instead and Brigitte and Bernhard, an Austrian couple went to one of the reservoirs after work, as they are living in the South. None of them has seen any animals apart from 2 birds and a lizard as well as a couple of ducks in the reservoir.
There are still outbreaks of fire and helicopters extinguishing flames, but country roads are open to regular traffic.
Day 9 (Saturday, 4th August)
Today we went back to the same places where Julie and Steve left food and water yesterday. As we do not see any stray animals, a common thing to happen before the disaster, we hoped to find out in which area we will find them - but food and water was untouched exept for two places, but not much had been eaten though. Could have been mice or rats too.
Near Santa Lucia, on the track to Manzanilla "La Degollada", in an area that is heavily affected by the fire, we saw smoke at the slope. I tried to call 112 but the mobile phone didn´t work. We felt relieved to see shortly afterwords a police car and a helicopter. They are still watching the mountains. The next day I found out that another arsonist had set trees on fire there.
It´s a crazy world we´re living in.
The countryside looks quite surrealistic and there are definately NO ANIMALS around. We saw very few birds, altogether we´ve only seen 11 birds on a trip of 60 km through the burnt area. Under "normal circumstances, whenever I drove around on Gran Canarias´ country roads I used to find an injured dog or an extremely skinny one, a puppy or an abandoned old dog or at least I would see poor dogs tied on to barrels. Therefore I can´t imagine that now, after all that has happened, there are NO (injured) animals to be seen. THEY MUST ALL BE DEAD! WHAT AN AWFUL THOUGHT! We always take along 5 transport kennels, just in case. Those trips to the mountains take up a lot of time and are very exhausting. After all it means to go up to a height of 1600 m within a region of 40 km. We can´t check on more than one area a day.
The only good news so far, is the fact that the animals from "Safari Park" near Fataga, a small zoo with mostly camels seem to be unharmed. Neither the instalations nor the plants and palm trees are damaged.
Day 10 Sunday
Also today it is still smouldering in some places due to extreme dry plants, trees and the heat.
I got to do some work at home today, as lately I ´ve got no time at all.
Day 11 Monday
I´ve called Veterinary Clinics and local news-papers to find out if they know anything about animals affected by the fire in order to search in certain areas. To my surprise I was told that they are in fact wondering themselves.
Day 12 Tuesday
After driving more than 400 km looking out for animals we´ve only found, picked up and returned to his owner (thanks to the microchip) 1 dog (NALA) which did not come from the affected region anyway.
We expected to be able to help lots of animals, but WHERE ARE THEY ?
Yesterday I´ve called almost all Vets in the South of Gran Canaria. They are also amazed that there were not many emergency cases during the last week.
The region which is most affected by the fire, is the area around Mogan, the Southwestern part of the island and sadly the animals of PALMITOS PARK where definately not evacuated (exept the show birds). All the other animals were left there taking chances how they may survive.
It is still burning in the island´s Southwestern region. We decided to do another rescue tour on Thursday. Mogan is the furthest point from Las Palmas, at the opposite side of the island, which means 200 km just to get there and back plus all the way through the mountain area on small and bended country lanes, almost 300 km alltogether.
08/16/07
Last night another forest fire started at the slopes of the mountains between Ingenio and Telde in the Northeast of Gran Canaria. The flames could be seen from afar. Most likely it was the action of another arsonist.
I was very worried that Armando´s dog kennels might be affected. Two of my dogs, DALIA and ILLJA are living there too.
We were lucky and the wind was blowing in the opposite direction uphill. No houses and habited areas were affected by smoke or fire, as during the night helicopters could not help to extinguish the fire, but in the early afternoon the fire was under control. There are few trees in this area, mostly scrubs.
08/19/07
Sorry, again I´ve had no time to do updates.
Last Thursday we went to the region around Mogan as previsted. It was our last rescue attempt so far. This region was the worst affected by the fire.
As in any other region we did not see any creatures alive exept some animals which had been evacuated together with their owners and a chained dog that had been very very lucky as we were told by the Vet. He almost died of smoke intoxication as the house next to his owner´s burned down completely.
Around the house of this rather fortunate Boxer we saw about a dozen dogs, some of them pure breeds. They all looked healthy and unharmed and the Vet knew about them. We suppose they belong to people in the area and are being fed by the Boxer´s owner.
Conclusion: Altogether during our five trips of about 500 km in the disaster area we counted:
2 ducks (Chira), 1 lizard (Fataga), 25 birds of different species, of which 18 we saw between San Bartolomé and Fataga and 7 in Veneguera and 1 rabbit (Mogan). Almost nowhere the voice of any living being could be heard, only the hissing of the hot wind and also car engines near the main road. There are quite a lot of buses with tourists taking pics. It is a completely surrealistic scene, almost static, kind of a theatre without actors.
The local animal protection society ANAHI did not receive any emergency cases either.
I was told by the local Vet that from the region of Mogan at least 2 lorries full of dead animals, more than 500, were collected by the municipality service the day after the blaze and another 500 cadavers in the region San Bartolome.
It can be taken for granted that almost ALL animals in the 16.000 hectares affected by the fire died from smoke, heat and the flames burned it all down to ashes like a huge crematory.
This does sound unbelievable but it is the reality.
Also there are no more press articles about it in order not to frighten off tourists. I remember something similar happened after the hurricane in New Orleans.
PALMITOS PARK is missing 1 eagle and 1 vulture
Anybody who sees an unusual bird is asked to call
629 476986 David Muñoz, Palmitos Park
or
928 762850 Seprona, San Agustin
Please do not aproach birds, don´t frighten them and DO NOT touch them.
07/01/07
10 million cats and dogs are killed in the shelters in the US every year.
Owners who do not avoid for their pets to become pregnant are acting
ignorant and selfish
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19466466
06/10/07
Petition for dog who was skinned!!!
PLEASE SIGN!!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/848530163
05/21/07
http://ga1.org/campaign/breeding_moratorium?source=breedingalert
05/18/07
Tainted Food
list of recalled pet food
http://www.accessd ata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/
STOP SEAL SLAUGHTER
http://war-online.org/Alert_Seals07.htm
WORLD WEEK FOR ANIMALS IN LABORATORIES
April 22 - 28 2007
03/10/07
More than 500 cats in Barcelona need your help
Please watch and sign the petitions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgcNo-TRbmo
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/713227854
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-500-cats-in-barcelona-spain.html
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/975402701
Extremely cruel shelter with extremely high kill rate.
You don't need to read gory details, but your
signature is very important. Please pass on.
This is the info I received - the link is only for the
petition, not the recording (I don't have the stomach
to listen to it):
"I am writing to everyone on my mailing list. Attached
is a recording from this year of a former employer of
Walker County Shelter in Georgia giving an eyewitness
account of how animals are being abused at this
shelter. This shelter has a euthanization rate of 9
out of 10 animals being killed that enter the shelter.
The recording tells how these animals are abused and
how they are euthanized and disposed of. WARNING -
this recording is very graphic and disturbing. I am
also attaching a link to a petition calling for
changes at this shelter. This may be the most
important petition you sign. I am urging everyone to
sign this petition and to CROSSPOST IT WIDELY
EVERYWHERE.
For those of you who are unable to listen to the
recording suffice to say that animals are being
euthanized inhumanely. They are being hit in the head
with hammers. Kittens are having their heads slammed
on trash cans to kill them. Animals are suffering for
up to 15 minutes in pain and panic while they wait to
die. Dogs are often placed in garbage bags and loaded
up to take to the local landfill while they are still
alive. Some remain alive for up to 24 to 72 hours in
this horrific state until the personnel at the
landfill contacts the shelter to inform them that the
animals in the trash bags are still alive. This is
just a small portion of what is stated on the
recording that is attached.
WHATEVER YOU DO - SIGN THIS PETITION AND CROSSPOST
WIDELY!!!!!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/975402701
(link to petition).
Please also send this petition to your local senators,
congressman, etc. - anyone you think will sign and be
of help."
www.actionforanimalsnetwork.org
02/27/07
Stop the annual brutal slaughter of dolphins and whales
http://www.glumbert.com/media/dolphin
Please sign here
http://www.petitiononline.com/golfinho/
SKINTRADE
TAKE ACTION NOW Don´t buy skins
02/01/07
Corean Dog Meat
http://www.oipa.org/appelli/abandonment_korea_images.htm
12/16/06
I just received the following message:
URGENT !!! HELP!!!
ACT NOW!!!
They want to start again th mass killing of stray dogs and cats in Nis, Serbia
They finish the building site for the mass killing of stray dogs and cats on a dump of garbage in Nis.
The mass killing is due to start within the next few days
Nis will be the centre of mass killing of stray dogs and cats for the south of Serbia.
In Belgrade, Novi Sad , Zrenjanin, Pozarevac , Bor , Zajecar, Pancevo, and many other cities and villages of 135 comminity of Serbia will take part in the mass killing of these sensitive beings which cannot speack and ask for help, but can feel pain, tremble before violence, fear death, love life.
Please help to the poor animals.
We have laws which protect animals and command care, but no one implements them. Why ??!!
Why is our Government so merciless??!!
Thank you and
regards
Slavica Mazak Beslic
www.epar.org.yu
epar@yunord.net
____________
Send your protest mail to:
Mayor of Nis
President of Serbia, Mr.Boris Tadić ,
mrakic@predsednik.srbija.yu
Prime Minister of Serbia, Mr. Vojislav Koštunica,
lgvozden@sr.go.yu, press@sr.gov.yu
Deputi of Public Attorney General of Serbia, Mrs.Gordana
Milošević-Stojanović, rjtdz@bitsyu.net
Cc: epar@yunord.net
arka@eunet.yu
GO and SEE it !
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_feature.asp?id=11
An Inconvenient Truth
TAKE ACTION NOW
http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/ocean-defenders/take-action
TAKE ACTION NOW
Please also have a look at index "international" as well as the other information about animal related matters