APPEAL: VSPCA Needs Help to Rescue Animals in India Floods

Catastrophic flooding has endangered millions of large and small animals in the state of Orissa in Eastern India. The Visakha SPCA (VSPCA) is responding to assist these animals, but they need our help.

Please read the following letter from Pradeep Nath, founder and president of the Visakha SPCA, and visit the VSPCA website for more information, and to see all the work they are doing to help animals in India. You can donate to the VSPCA via PayPal here.

The VSPCA Cow Sanctuary was EFA's charity of the month in March 2008.



Dear Friends,

Unable to bear the current flooding in the Orrisa coastal areas of India (about 300 kms from us), I write this appeal to all those who might be able to help the animals in 14 districts affected – more than half of Orrisa!

After the recent flooding our teams have been working in the West Godavari district (south of us) and the Srikakulam areas (north) – these areas are now improving. Our appeal now is to tackle a greater challenge that has driven half of the state of Orrisa into a crisis. Government funding is coming in to help in this dire situation, and we are lobbying and appealing for aid to help the animals in these regions as well. The animals urgently need fodder and medicine, and abandoned and homeless animals need to be rescued. But we have to lead by example, sending our teams in right now. Ever since the Mahanadi river started to rise, we have been following the situation by coordinating and joining with other NGO's. Since May 2008, many areas were devastated with continuous rains overlowing river embankments and rendering all helpless, breaking down all communications and collapsing of bridges that stopped many railways.

We have just now been able to get the latest Orissa situation reports from the Director of Animal Husbandry (please contact us for these documents). 2554 villages and over a million large and small animals need immediate help in Orissa.

To those of you worldwide, we send this urgent message to appeal for your kind financial donation that will be wisely and carefully used in remedying this crisis, and look forward to letting you know later on that much has been accomplished.

To those of you here in India, if you are willing to support our teams in any manner please to get in touch with us. We need all forms of assistance, including veterinarians, experts and those with strong wills to deal with the situation (all materials and equipment needed will be supplied.)

Thanking you,
Pradeep Nath
Founder and President, Visakha SPCA
http://visakhaspca.org

APPEAL for Animals Stranded by Hurricane Ike

If you can, please help!

- UPDATE 10-25-08: Bay Area Pet Adoptions in San Leon, Texas was devastated by hurricane Ike and is in desperate need of donations to repair their buildings. View photos of the damage, and see their current needs here. Donations may be made on-line - for more information, please click here.

- Please see SRM's Hurricane Ike Animal Rescues blog for more updates, and to find more small organizations needing help.

- Updates on animal organizations may also be found on the Best Friends Network Texas news page.


Many animal organizations in Texas and other states have been impacted by the hurricane, and/or are helping animals affected by the hurricane. Learn more, or donate, by clicking on the links below:

- O'Malley Alley Cats in Lufkin needs contributions to help repair their facility. Please see this news story in the Lufkin Daily News.

- Noah's Ark Sanctuary in Cypress needs contributions for repairs to their facility.

- Whiskerville Sanctuary in Texas City needs contributions to buy a generator and care for many rescued animals.

- Spindletop Pit Bull Rescue in Willis needs contributions to repair their facility - read more here.

- Cinnamon's Companions Animal Sanctuary near Houston is in need of funding to transport cats and kittens to Purrfect Angels Sanctuary in California. More details have been posted on the Best Friends Network here.

- Habitat for Horses is rescuing and caring for horses on Galveston Island, and also needs help to rebuild their own facilities, which were damaged by the hurricane. Learn more, or donate, here.


The Houston SPCA has taken in animals from the Galveston Animal Shelter, and Galveston County, as well as the Brazoria County SPCA. They have also set up a temporary shelter on Galveston Island to care for the animals who are still being rescued there. Also helping rescue animals in the affected areas are the other members of the Texas State Animal Resource Team:
SPCA of Texas

The Humane Society of Missouri Disaster Response Team

The Denver Dumb Friends League

The Louisiana SPCA

Code 3 Associates

SPCAla Disaster Animal Response Team

Humane Society of the Pike's Peak Region


- The Humane Society of Southeast Texas, the Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County, the Waco Humane Society, the SPCA of Texas and other regional shelters are taking in and caring for evacuated animals.

- Texas AgriLife Extension is coordinating relief efforts to provide food and water for 20,000 cattle and horses who are now roaming in several Southeast Texas counties following Hurricane Ike. You can donate to the "No Fences Hurricane Ike Horse and Cattle Relief Fund" here. Hay, feed, water troughs and portable panels are also needed.

- The Wildlife Rehab & Education Center in Houston is caring for wild animals who were injured during the storm. You can donate to them here. For more details, please see this post on the Best Friends Network.

- Pets America has been working with the Red Cross to care for animals that
were evacuated to shelters.

- Several national animal groups are doing animal search and rescue, assisting shelters (and helping in other ways) in areas affected by the hurricane:

Best Friends Rapid Reponse Team

Humane Society of the United States Disaster Center

United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Service

North Shore Animal League America Emergency Rescue

International Fund for Animal Welfare Emergency Relief Team

American Humane Associate Animal Emergency Services

ASPCA Disaster Relief


If you know of another organization that is caring for animals stranded after Hurricane Ike, please leave a comment on this post so we can add it to the list.

Many thanks to Jennifer Hayes of the Best Friends Network for her help in compiling these links!

by mishkat

Operation Happy Sock

Do you want to cheer up the cats in your local shelters? Try Operation Happy Sock!
Anyone can make a catnip Happy Sock, it's so easy everyone can have a go!
Make sure you use clean, old socks and quality catnip.

Sources of catnip :
EFA member It's Meow or Never who sells the 'nippy.
Alternatively try a search on Etsy for 'organic catnip'.

Needed: Item Donations for Dog Rescue Auction

From an e-mail sent to EFA co-leader MVegan5:

My name is Christopher Walsh, and I volunteer for two New England dog rescue groups- Life's Little Paws (cocker spaniels) and Chesapeake Safe Harbor (Chesapeake Bay retrievers). For many years several cocker spaniel groups got together and had an online auction to raise funds. Last spring, Life's Little Paws decided to invest in its own software, offer it to limited rescues, and have only two auctions per year, Spring and Fall (Holiday). The auction site is www.lifeslittlepawsauction.com, and the Fall auction runs from October 18 to November 22, 2008.

Chesapeake Safe Harbor is involved, an all-breed rescue out of California is involved, and several cocker spaniel groups from Ohio, New England, California, New York, Florida and (I think) Tennessee will be joining. It's a great way to network, let people do their holiday shopping and of course raise money for the rescues to continue a never-ending project: saving the dogs.

The nice thing is we can list the web addresses on the auction for the non-winners to go ahead and order later. We have over 600 registered and spending users that utilize the auction and spend their money- all pet lovers. Even a few kitty things end up here.

I guarantee that 100% of the proceeds go to the dogs, and, through Chesapeake Safe Harbor, I can issue a tax receipt for a donation to this non-profit organization for any and all donations. If anyone is interested in donating something to the auction, please email me soon, as listing for the auction is fully underway. My email address is dallasisland@netzero.com, and my shipping address is:

Christopher Walsh
31 Gretas Lane
Bar Harbor, ME 04609

Please include a link to your website or your Etsy store, the value of the donation (including time invested) and the mailing address for the receipt to go to. Don't hesitate to email me with any questions.

--Christopher Walsh

APPEAL for Help with Medical Expenses for Cats at Meow or Never!

Help with medical expenses is urgently needed for three cats at It's Meow or Never Animal Rescue and Sanctuary!

The Sanctuary recently had some unexpected emergency vet expenses, and are in need of monetary donations to help these three cats, Sweetie, Max, and Donovan.

Sweetie has a urinary infection. Her medications/treatment will cost around $150.00.

Max (pictured to the left) has a polyp in his ear and needs surgery to remove it. It could be cancer. The vet said it would be $250.00 for his surgery.

Donovan is not eating, he has diarrhea and he needs his eye removed. He can't wait any longer for help.

You can see photos of Donovan, Sweetie, and Max (along with many other wonderful animals) here.

It's Meow or Never says "Please help these precious kitties. Donovan is just the sweetest kitty, he really enjoys life. He was playing yesterday and now today, he is just walking around, and he won't eat or drink either. Sweetie is a good girl and Max is a great long haired male kitty. Please donate whatever you can because we truly do not have it."

To make a donation, please visit http://www.itsmeowornever.org/donations.asp. They thank you in advance for your support.