Presents, Potlucks, and Pachyderms

My e-mail box runneth over this week with invitations and information to share with you, so I’ll forgo the usual pleasantries and get right to it.

Presents for Pets. This holiday season, the National Association of Professional Pet sitters (NAPPS) and Petcentric, a Santa Barbara-based pet sitting company, is kicking off National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week (November 4-10) with the second annual “Presents for Pets” fundraiser.

Petcentric is proud to announce its 2007 award recipients:  Dog Adoption and Welfare Group (DAWG) and Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP). Petcentric will be accepting donations (cash, toys, or other items) through November 11. Please contact Wendy Fisher by phone at (925) 685-7700 or by e-mail at wendy@petcentric.net to arrange for a pickup of your donation.

Protect Pets.  After my column last week about disaster planning for pets, I received this information from KEYT’s senior reporter, John Palminteri:  Fire victims need donations for their pets. Food, leashes, cages and other essential supplies can be dropped off at one of these three locations: 1) 5512 Berkeley Road , Goleta ; 2) 1930 Jelinda Drive , Montecito; 3) 2861 Stadium Drive , Solvang. Cash and check donations can be made at Business First Bank, 1035 State St . For more information, call Animal Rescue Team (ART) at (805) 896-1859. ART is a new, non-profit organization based in Santa Ynez that is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife and domestic animals.

Vegan Vittles. Ramona Shapiro, Communications and Legislative Coordinator for Vegan Interest, Vegan Outreach (VIVO), a UCSB-based animal rights group, tells me that VIVO has “amazing vegan potlucks every Friday and animal advocacy meetings every Wednesday.” The group is also actively involved with Californians for Humane Farms (www.humanecalifornia.org), which is working to ban cruel farming practices. Anyone who is interested in getting involved with animal rights or just eating great food is invited to attend one of VIVO’s meetings or potlucks. For more information, visit http://myspace.com/vivosb or subscribe to VIVO’s mailing list by sending an e-mail message to vivo.at.ucsb-subscribe@lists.riseup.net.

Maggie’s Move:  After 25 years in captivity at the Anchorage Zoo in Alaska , Maggie, a 27-year-old African elephant, has finally made the move from a tiny enclosure at the zoo to her sprawling new home at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) elephant sanctuary in Northern California .

When Maggie was a calf, poachers tracked and killed her family in Africa . She was sold to the Alaska Zoo and brought to the United States in 1983 as a companion for Annabelle, the only other elephant at the zoo at that time. They lived together until 1997, when Annabelle died prematurely from a captivity-related bacterial foot infection that spread into her bones and bloodstream. She was just 32-years-old, and lived less than half of an elephants’ natural lifespan. Since Annabelle’s death, Maggie—a very social animal—has been forced to live a solitary existence.

Several animal advocacy organizations such as In Defense of Animals (IDA), have worked tirelessly to secure Maggie’s release from pachyderm prison. “Maggie’s journey is a hopeful symbol of the journey all captive elephants should be on from inadequate zoo conditions to sanctuary-like facilities with the space and conditions they need to thrive,” said Elliot M. Katz, DVM, president of IDA. “We are so happy that the Alaska Zoo finally agreed to do what is best for Maggie.”

Maggie’s historic trip included a five-hour flight in a temperature-controlled crate aboard a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane from Alaska to Travis Air Force Base, followed by an 85-mile drive in a flatbed truck to PAWS. Maggie arrived safely on schedule at the sanctuary on Friday, November 2 at 6:30 am.

Maggie is the third elephant to move to a sanctuary this year (you may remember my column awhile back that discussed Ruby’s move from the Los Angeles Zoo to PAWS). With Maggie’s departure, the Alaska Zoo becomes the 13th U.S. zoo that has closed or plan to close their elephant exhibits.

I have no doubt that elephants like Maggie and Ruby will never forget those who helped them on their road to freedom.

Karen loves it when her email box is full, so send her a message at karenleestevens@cox.net

 

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By Karen Lee Stevens,
Founder & President, ALL FOR ANIMALS, Inc.
Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

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