Second Chance Animal Shelter in East Brookfield

     As you all know, I LOVE rescue animals. If you're looking for a new loyal pet, there is an animal shelter in East Brookfield called '2nd Chance' and it's a no kill shelter who do a thorough search to find the pets a good home. Here is a few of the animals they have now.

This is Jake, he is a friendly Australian Shepard Mix looking for a good home with an active family.

Panda is a lovely mixed breed boy! He is quite shy in his kennel but once he comes out to meet you he's a real love!
 

 

This is Mace, he's a sweet cuddly cat looking for a purrrfect home



This is Spike, he's a shy little guy but will warm up to you once he knows you.

This is Kemal, a four year old German Shepard with lots of energy.
 

Steele is a 3 month old kitten who loves to play and enjoys other cats.

This is Shadow, shes a 5 year old girl who would do well in a quiet home

 

This adorable little baby is Velvet who is looking for a forever home.

 

Rescue Love

     In my first blog entry, I had written about my two dogs briefly. Their names are Frankie and Daisy and they are both the most lovable and sweetest dogs you would ever meet. Frank, aka Francis when he is getting in trouble, is considered the baby of the house. He is a one year old German Shepard/unknown rescue dog. Frankie's story goes back to when he was just eight weeks old. He was locked in a car, with the windows rolled up in the middle of July with his brothers and sisters. Someone in the neighborhood called and reported an adult German Shepard who appeared to be emaciated and abused. Later, animal control found the puppies in the car, throwing up and pooping out pieces of the car. Daisy is almost five years old now and she's a bit over-weight but, very happy. She's a beautiful German Shepard Lab and she loves her people more than anything. Daisy was also a rescue dog. She was taken from a house abandoned with over 250 other dogs in a southern state. Now they both live in a home where they are loved so much.
     I want to take some time to talk about rescue animals. Every single day there is hundreds of animals being neglected and abused. But, everyday hundreds of animals are also being saved and being brought to good homes. A lot of these animals will sit in an animal shelter all their lives because a lot of people want a full-bred puppy. Not my family. I believe that a rescue dog is so much more loyal to their owner because they know, their owner saved them. And for that they will love you forever.
      In New York a woman named Debbie rescued a six week old puppy from a puppy mill that was scheduled to be killed. Debbie stole her away and named her Shelby. For the next fourteen years, Shelby rescued Debbie after Debbie had an accident that left her bed for months. Shelby didn't leave Debbie's side and was constantly refusing to go outside and play. All she wanted to do was lay with Debbie. Debbie says "Pain and depression can sometimes make a person think the unthinkable. If not for Shelby I would not be here today".
     Far away in Colombia came a story about a little black stray kitten that would just sit outside of a grocery store, everyone assumed she must live near there, One day a lady named Andrea was walking home and the little black kitten followed her all the way home. The kitten kept coming back each night and soon Andrea went out and bought cat food for him. She eventually named her Narcissa and the kitten stayed with her for the next six years up until now.
     Those are just a few of the thousands of rescue stories all over the world. Rescue Shelters have new pets coming in and out everyday looking for a home. If you can't adopt an animal, maybe you can at least go volunteer or just stop at one and give some of the animals some love.

These are my babies, Daisy on the left and Frankie on the right

The Cove

     Yesterday I received a text from a dolphin subscription I signed up for last year. The text read "Dolphin Killings in Taiji, Japan have now begun. Click the link below to watch a video of a dolphin trying to escape". So I clicked the link and what I watched nearly broke my heart. A young dolphin was attempting to escape but, later drowned in the nets.
      I have been signing petitions to end the cove killings for two years now. When I first learned about these killings I was absolutely heart broken. Dolphins are my all time favorite animal. They are fascinating creatures with many human-like talents. Dolphins are playful creatures, you can often see them playing with other dolphins. Dolphins are very smart, they can respond to a given-name and they communicate there feelings through different sounds. Dolphins also have been known to help us when we were in need. I remember a story of a dolphin attacking a shark who was going after a surfer, and then even helped bring the surfer closer to shore.
     In Taiji Japan, every year boats round up hundreds of bottled nosed dolphins by banging metal together underneath the water into what is known as "The Cove" and trap them with nets. After what they need is rounded up, many Japanese find the good ones and sell them to aquariums all over the world. Then what is left of the dolphins in the cove are slaughtered. It is tradition in this city for the young boys to become men by spearing these dolphins to death. The once clear waters become a blood red pool of lifeless dolphin bodies.
     Taiji has been able to keep these monstrous acts hidden until a recent documentary led by a group of activists and dolphin trainer, Rick O'Barry. They made it their mission to uncover extreme animal abuse and a threat to human health. You can find this documentary on  Netflix and many online websites. Because of this movie, many things have been done to stop these horrible acts and end this animal abuse. Dolphins are amazing creatures and don't deserve this cruelty.
     If you want to help and you want to do something to stop this and make a change, you can go to http://www.takepart.com/cove and learn how you can take part. At the bottom of the page you can sign the petition to stop these killings, for free, and even your signature can make an impact.  On this link you can watch a preview of 'The Cove'. I highly suggest watching it. Make a difference and do your part! Please, the dolphins need you. 

Look at how innocent and cute .

    

Look at what these people are doing to them.

Happy Pet, Happy Person

Does looking at a dog walking with it's owner, or cat relaxing on dad's lap make you happy? It makes me happy. It makes me happy to see animals having a connection with a person, especially after the animal had a terrible experience with an abuser. It makes me happy when an animal gets a second chance at happiness. Sometimes when I get bored or unhappy I go to http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/ars/stories where I can read stories owners of rescue animals will write happy stories about their animals.

Jonathan the Happy Turtle

You would think at 100, an animal would be either dead or almost there. At 183, Jonathan, a giant tortoise is living like a king. He is living on a small island of St. Helena. Just recently, he was eating twigs, leaves and grass which is an unhealthy diet for him. Now, he is being served a much more nutritious and delicious diet plan including apples, carrots, cucumbers, bananas and guava. Before the diet change, Jonathan's beak was soft and blunt, changing his diet made his beak sharper and easier to graze with.
"His once blunt and crumbly beak has become sharp and lethal, so he was probably suffering from micro deficiencies of vitamins, minerals and trace elements,"  Hollins said in a statement.
Over time Jonathan lost most of his eye sight, his sense of smell and his ability to mate.
In Hollins report it read "Once weekly I hand-feed him to boost his calorie intake," Hollins wrote in the report. "After his meal, I wipe his chin, scratch his throat and wish him well."

Seychelles giant tortoises have a life expectancy of 150 years, but Jonathan has obviously strongly outlived this. Other long-lived animals include the hydra, a marine mammal that is believed to be immortal and an approximately 4,200-year-old deep-sea coral living off the Hawaiian coast

K9 Krijger

After a police k9 was shot and killed in a shootout at a domestic violence call, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper decided to donate ballistic vests for the k9's. They said that K9 Krijger, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, could have survived if he was wearing a vest. The vests cost more than $2,000 each, and Cooper paid for each one. Cooper is set to speak at an event in Norfolk later this month.  After the death of Krijger,  Cooper has donated enough money to get a vest for every K9 at the Norfolk PD.  

Seagull with a View

I'm sure we all have stories to share of seagulls at the beach either sneaking away with a bag of chips, snatching up a sandwich, or just being pests. But, not everyone has a story to share like this one tourist who got his GoPro swiped by a pesky seagull while relaxing on the beach of the Cies Islands in Spanish Galicia.The tourist was able to watch the footage from his phone, and what the seagull captured was absolutely breathtaking.
https://www.youtube.com/feature=player_embedded