Message from the President

Dear Friends,

One Saturday morning early in January, I received a call from a distraught friend. She was acquainted with a vet tech at a nearby veterinary hospital. The tech had called my friend frantically, as well. Four healthy cats and a very robust dog were to be euthanized that morning. Their person was moving and had chosen a place to stay where these animals were not welcome . She said she had tried to place them, but it was obvious that she had not tried very hard.

I made a few quick phone calls to secure temporary foster homes and then called the vet’s office. The distraught tech informed me that they had just put each one of them down. Already upset with the woman who left them, this vet tech was now wild to think that we had not coordinated sooner. I was as well, but felt that my emotion could not nearly match that of some one who had held each creature as their lives had senselessly ebbed away.

In late May I walked into my garage one early morning and found a stray, whom I had been feeding,dead beside my car. A subsequent necropsy showed that she had died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy a disease afflicting young cats who have not received proper nourishment in the early months of their lives in which the perineum continues to grow and ultimately leads to a massive heart attack and death.

In these pages you will find several stories about not turning your back on an animal in need. Even as we continue to spay and neuter and compassionately help those animals of whom we are aware, still there are so very many who needlessly slip through the cracks. Please won’t you join us in in decreasing the numbers of dogs and cats ? It will keep them safe. The animals are counting on you.

Compassionately,
Caryl

More Than Meat
Earlene Wick, Animal Control Officer, North Berwick

It started out as rescue over six years ago when I came upon a little, black Angus heifer who had been very neglected, so I took her home. After a year of TLC, she ended up changing my life forever.

Her name is Jessica and she has made me view my world very differently-particularly in that eating beef is a thing of the past for me. How could I eat her brothers and sisters after looking into her eyes and realizing how much more there is to her.

I really adore her. She is my special friend and the “sunshine of my soul.” We have shared lot of good times and she has helped me through my bad times. She is as much a part of my life as are the feline members of my family.

She could have ended up on someone’s plate, but I thank God that I was able to rescue her and bring this special creature to my home to live out the rest of her life as a special family member. They are all so much more than the place our appetites ascribe them to; they all deserve so much more. If I never knew it before, Jessica’s quiet, gentle ways have helped me to understand now.

* (We are always soliciting stories for this feature)

Medical School Curricula with No Live Animal Labs

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine states that sixty-two medical schools have discontinued the use of live animals. To find out more about the schools involved and the alternatives used check out their website www.pcrm.org or e-mail them at pcrm@pcrm.org.

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