EFA: Etsy For Animals Etsy For Animals: 2014


Etsy for Animals (EFA) aka Artists Helping Animals,

is a team of independent artists, craftspeople,

vintage sellers and craft suppliers on Etsy.com

who are dedicated to providing charitable relief to animals

by donating a portion of the profits from their shops

to an animal charity of their choosing,

and/or to EFA's featured Charity of the Month.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

December's Charity of the Month is… Senior Dog Haven & Hospice

December's Charity of the Month is…
Nominated by Veronica of Scrappyrat

ABOUT Senior Dog Haven and Hospice

The mission of Senior Dog Haven and Hospice is to rescue and re-home senior dogs and to offer hospice care to senior dogs in need. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that incorporated in June 2012. All funds raised go directly to the care and treatment of our rescue dogs.


Sebastian

Senior Dog Haven and Hospice is located in Delaware. We are a small, dedicated group of fosters and volunteers who have a special place in their hearts for senior dogs. We strive to improve the lives of senior dogs who find themselves without a family to care for them anymore. 


Cookie

We do not have a facility – our dogs live in our homes as members of our families until they find their forever home or in the event of a hospice situation, until they cross the Rainbow Bridge. We provide care, comfort, companionship and, most of all, unconditional love.


William

Hospice program… It is a sad fact that our animal community is plagued by many of the same terminal illnesses that we are. Shelters, unfortunately,often do not have the resources to care for dogs with an untreatable disease. They are deemed un-adoptable and euthanized, surrounded by strangers and often before the disease has even started to affect their quality of life.


Charlie

The objective of our hospice fosters is to provide a loving home where these seniors can live the remainder of their lives in peace and comfort. When the day comes that the disease finally overcomes them, they will cross the bridge surrounded by their foster family and knowing that they are truly loved.


Pug

Adoption program… All applicants for a Senior Dog Haven and Hospice dog are thoroughly screened, all references checked and a home visit is performed.


Walter

Senior Dog Haven and Hospice

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Henry

All dogs show here are 
currently available for adoption !

Thursday, September 04, 2014

September's Charity of the Month is… Clover Cat Rescue

September's 
Charity of the Month is…



nominated by Rebecca of KneeDeepOriginals

MiSSiON: While saving cats from euthanasia or other terrible fates is our mission, as is finding loving, permanent homes for foster cats in our care, our main goal is spay/neuter education and assistance. We are located in a rural area and constantly battle the overpopulation of cats, resulting in countless unwanted litters and stray animals that are left to fend for themselves.



Clover Cat Rescue saves cats from euthanasia at the local pound or takes them out of equally life threatening circumstances. The group places the cats in temporary foster homes or houses them at the CCR shelter until a forever-home is found. In addition to finding permanent homes for cats, Clover Cat Rescue places a strong emphasis on spay/neuter education & community action programs, such as spay/neuter sponsorships and helping catowning low-income members of the community with financial spay/neuter assistance.


The namesake of the group, Clover, is a wonderful cat owned by the rescue’s founder. Clover’s playfulness, good health and sweet disposition are the result of the terrific life she was lucky enough to find but only after an extremely hard start… 



Clover was found as a motherless kitten, wandering near a community campsite’s kitchen facilities, begging for food, yet finding no one kind enough to nourish her. She was constantly chased away by kitchen workers and treated as a nuisance, when all she wanted was food. Emaciated, scared and far from the pretty thing she is today, Clover won the heart of Tanja who rushed her to a veterinarian. Clover's chances were grim but in the coming weeks her health rebounded. She was socialized and was given a permanent loving home that Clover enjoys to this day.



Clover’s story is testament to what a difference rescue can make in the life of an animal, and how much of a difference we humans can make in the lives of our fellow beings. It’s the kind of difference that Clover Cat Rescue makes for countless cats and kittens in the Patrick County area who would have no chance otherwise. 


CLOVER CAT RESCUE IS A 501(C)3 NON-PROFIT RESCUE BASED IN STUART, VA (PATRICK COUNTY). WE MATCH SOCIALIZED CATS WITH THE PERFECT NEW HOME.


CLOVER CAT RESCUE

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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

An Update from The Whiskers' Syndicate

Anything Goes and
The Whiskers' Syndicate
Written by Josie of Whiscraft
Photos courtesy of TWS


Our Mission

The Whiskers' Syndicate is the first and only animal/cat rescue in Bandung, Indonesia. 

Since animal welfare does not yet exist here… our current mission is to introduce animal welfare and humane stray management by becoming a living example. We actively promote Trap - Neuter - Return in our community, and negotiate with community authority to allow us to practice TNR albeit without financial support. We understand that the majority of people just want the stray 'gone', regardless of the method, as long as their hand stays clean; and it has been one of the biggest challenges for us every single time. 

However, with continuous TNR as well as proper care of feral cats, we hope to show that properly managed ferals can coexist peacefully with humans. With good faith, we hope the mustard seed we sow will eventually lead to betterment of every animals' life.


An Update

It's still fresh in our mind, how we spent the whole of last December drowning under serial rainstorms. The place we called home for the past six months then, became a trap that could drown us underwater. 



A chance came, the day Team EFA named The Whiskers Syndicate: Charity Of The Month for December 2013 became a blessing we only dare dream about.

Together, Team EFA raised over USD 650 during that time period, and more since, supplementing other fundraising efforts for repairs. Some of the funds were used to buy large cages to contain our residents “mobsters” during construction work. 


The hammocks that came with the cages were and are well loved by the kittens !


When the rain finally stopped we started work immediately. We removed all the growth on the backyard and repaired the damaged roof of the cattery:



Then we started building on a hallway that connected the main house to the cattery at the other end, so that we didn't need to run under the rain. 



At first, we intended to leave the area on the left side as an outdoor garden, but rainstorm started again during renovation and we ended up with a lot of mud, so we decided we'd floor the entire backyard. The end result:




We apologize for the mess. It was the first sunny day after the restoration was done so it was kind of crazy :) 

If you think that the new sanctuary has a lot of concrete, we agree with you. As you can see in the picture, the cats are still sleeping on the floor, crumpled together, sharing whatever blankets and fabrics we had left after the storms.

We are planning to add shelves like these in the hallway. They are made of sturdy coated metal which will last longer than wood... 


The cost of one shelving unit, like this, is approximately USD $150. We could really use two but dont dare to hope that in August we might dream of such a possibility. 

We invite YOU to help and take part in the completion of our sanctuary. Team EFA members can choose to donate to any of the last 11 Charity Of the Months this last year. We sure would appreciate your assistance in making this dream come true.

These EFA members are already regular TWS sponsors: BrizelSupplies, TashinkaBeadingHeart, and ThimbleSparrow.

Every Dollars donated to our sanctuary during this event either directly through the Donate button below or through purchase from our Team EFA sponsors… which will be set aside for this shelving budget and every excess, if any, will be used to spay or neuter the cute hammock kitties who are now ready for spay or neutering.

Each and every one of our resident mobsters came from abusive situation and/or sheer neglect. We are reaching out to you on their behalf to give them a better life. Thank you for supporting our cause !


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Thursday, August 07, 2014

ANiMAL PETiTiONS CORNER by Alicia of WoodsEdge

by Alicia of WoodsEdge


1. Support Prosecution for Men Who Killed Foxes in Front of Kids

A recent incident involving fox hunters killing foxes with dogs in front of children has brought the controversy of this alleged sport back into the public eye. The hunters argue they were acting within the law using terriers, but the use of hounds is banned and exposing children to this type of violence against animals is inexcusable. 

Please sign the petition asking the RSPCA to pursue the case and prosecute the hunters under the Hunting Act. 



2. Help Stop the Execution of 16,000 Cormorants

First we blamed the sea lions, now officials are targeting cormorants for doing nothing more than eating fish to survive. The Army Corp of Engineers has proposed killing 16,000 of them in the Columbia River Estuary even though they only eat a small percentage and doing so could have unintended consequences for their population. 

Please sign the petition asking the Corp to scrap this cruel and pointless plan. 



3. Tell New York to Protect Wildlife from Deadly Poisons

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is being urged to ban the use of super-toxic rat poisons over the threat they pose to wildlife, pets and people. At least 31 different wildlife species have been harmed, while thousands of companion animals and children have also been affected. 

Please sign the petition urging the DEC to ban the use of these cruel and indiscriminate killers. 



PLEASE 
TAKE 1-2-3 ACTiONS 
ON BEHALF OF
THE ANiMALS TODAY

THANK YOU !

Thursday, July 31, 2014

ANiMAL PETiTiONS CORNER by Alicia of WoodsEdge

by Alicia of WoodsEdge

1. Don't Let Texas Prop Up Greyhound Racing

There's only one live greyhound racing track left in Texas, but it's doing so badly that it's looking to get subsidized with slot machines. If the proposal to do this gets approved, greyhounds will continue to to be exploited by this industry. 

Please sign the petition asking Governor Rick Perry not to subsidize greyhound racing by refusing to legalize slot machines in the state. 

http://grey2kusa.good.do/say-no-to-instant-racing/sign-the-petition-and-email-governor-rick-perry/


2. Tell the BLM Not to Send Our Wild Burros to Guatemala

In another disastrous plan from the Bureau of Land Management, it plans to ship 100 of our wild burros to Guatemala where they'll be used as working animals. Not only does this move fly in the face of federal laws that are intended to protect our wild horses and burros, but it will do nothing to help alleviate the problem the agency has already caused by rounding up and warehousing too many animals. 

Please send a letter to the BLM asking it withdraw this ridiculous plan. 

http://act.wildhorsepreservation.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=18123


3. Don't Let a Florida Developer Destroy Endangered Forest

A developer in Florida wants to demolish rare forest in the state to put up a Walmart and a strip mall. Wildlife officials and environmentalists have raised concerns that doing so could harm countless rare and endangered species who have less and less space to live. 

Please sign the petition asking Florida's wildlife officials to step in and shut this plan down. 


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/100/328/464/dont-build-walmart-on-endangered-forest-lands/?z00m=21323499&redirectID=1424079554

PLEASE 
TAKE 1-2-3 ACTiONS 
ON BEHALF OF
THE ANiMALS TODAY

THANK YOU !

Thursday, July 24, 2014

ANiMAL PETiTiONS CORNER by Alicia of WoodsEdge

by Alicia of WoodsEdge

1- Tell Iowa Mall Wild Animals Don't Belong There

Animal advocates are speaking out on behalf of a variety of wild animals who were bought from breeders and have been living in wildly inappropriate conditions at the Merle Hay Mall for three years. 

Please sign the petition asking local officials and the mall's owner to step up and move these animals to appropriate facilities. 



2- Help End Elephant & Camel Rides at Renaissance Festival

Animal advocates have exposed many of the problems that come with using large, exotic animals in entertainment and at events. Now they're urging the Maryland Renaissance Fair to join others that have banned the use of these animals over concerns about their welfare and public safety. 

Please send a letter to festival officials telling them elephants and camels don't belong there. 



3- Tell the USDA and NY Officials to Stop Killing Geese

Every summer an estimated 25,000 geese are killed by Wildlife Services across the country in the name of air safety. In New York City, an estimated 5,000 Canada geese and their babies were killed between 2009-2012, but the number of bird strikes hasn't dropped by much. 

Please send a letter to New York lawmakers and wildlife officials asking them to stop using lethal control to reduce bird strikes. 



PLEASE 
TAKE 1-2-3 ACTiONS 
ON BEHALF OF
THE ANiMALS TODAY

THANK YOU !

Friday, July 18, 2014

ANiMAL PETiTiONS CORNER by Alicia of WoodsEdge

by Alicia of WoodsEdge

1. Tell Pennsylvania to Ban Barbaric Pigeon Shoots

Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering legislation that would bring live pigeon shoots to an end once and for all. Even though the majority of voters are opposed to it and alternatives are widely available, these events continue to draw so called hunters who enjoy maiming and killing birds for entertainment. 

Please sign the petition urging Pennsylvania lawmakers not to cave to pressure from a special interest group that wants to see these sickening events continue. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/769/961/467/pennsylvania-ban-barbaric-pigeon-shoots/


2. Tell Cable Companies Not to Air Show Featuring Teen Hunter

A 19-year-old cheerleader from Texas sparked widespread outrage after posting pictures of herself over the slain bodies of the endangered animals she killed. Facebook has since removed the photos, but she still wants her own show. 

Please sign the petition asking cable networks not to air shows that glorify the senseless slaughter of wildlife, including rare and endangered species. 

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/658/363/249/directv-dont-air-show-about-teen-who-hunts-endangered-animals/?z00m=21303988


3. Help Keep Florida Manatees Protected

The Fish and Wildlife Service is being sued to downgrade manatees from endangered to threatened, but their advocates believe the future is too uncertain to weaken protection for them. They've already seen record losses over recent years and face potential threats that range from climate change, habitat loss and pollution to diseases, harassment, collisions with boaters and a host of environmental problems, including red tide, algal blooms and cold weather. 

Please sign the petition asking the FWS to keep manatees protected as endangered species. 


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/112/036/575/fws-dont-strip-manatees-of-their-endangered-status/

PLEASE 
TAKE 1-2-3 ACTiONS 
ON BEHALF OF
THE ANiMALS TODAY

THANK YOU !

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

A Horse of a Different Color: Carriage Horses Are Neither War Horses Nor Work Horses

A Horse of a Different Color: 
Carriage Horses Are Neither 
War Horses Nor Work Horses
written by Elizabeth Forel
Photographs courtesy of EF and Mary Culpepper
article excerpt from 2012 article of same name

Horses were domesticated by humans who needed their strength to perform a variety of duties that they were unable to do. And horses, being the docile animals that they are, complied. They became known as “beasts of burden” as if this and nothing else described what they were.

In the age before the automobile, horses were notoriously overworked, and many died in the streets. In NYC, they pulled wagons loaded with people and goods, and they served as the power for the City’s street trolley system.   Between 100,000 and 200,000 horses lived in the city at the turn of the century. Many were literally worked to death — their carcasses left on the street waiting for the street cleaners. From an article by Joel A. Tarr in American Heritage Magazine – Urban Pollution – many long years ago  “The average streetcar nag had a life expectancy of barely two years, and it was a common sight to see drivers and teamsters savagely lashing their overburdened animals.  The mistreatment of city horses was a key factor in moving Henry Bergh to found the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866.”  

During World War I, horses were transported via rail to New York City to be shipped to Europe for use in the war. They pulled cannons, trucks and ambulances and were literally worked till they dropped in the ravages of war and hand-to-hand combat. Hundreds of thousands of horses did not make it out alive, dying from artillery fire, starvation and disease. With the end of the war, and with increased mechanization in the 20th century, the need for draft horses declined. Many of these horses were sold to slaughter. Humans had contributed to the overpopulation of draft horses by over breeding, cross breeding and selective breeding. A 2008 article from Horseman Magazine says “Most draft horses however were really the result of selective breeding. Programs for breeding were primarily set up to produce these large, muscular and powerful horses.”


The present day urban carriage horses are not work horses although the drivers like to pretend they are. That term needs to be reserved for horses who helped their owners survive before the industrial revolution. Instead, they are entertainment horses – they are horses of a different color.

They are often decorated with feathered head dresses, some with glittered body paint and painted hoofs. Undignified –  a tawdry decoration to attract tourists. A work horse would pull a plough to till the earth so the farmer could plant seeds and feed his family. A carriage horse pulls unsuspecting tourists around a city to see the sights. These tourists don’t know about cruelty and safety issues, and the carriage drivers certainly aren’t informing them.



By law, a NYC carriage horse may work a punishing nine hours a day, seven days a week. Throughout their long shifts, they are confined between the shafts of their carriage wearing heavy equipment, blinders and a metal bit in their mouths. During the holiday season, the horses are worked to exhaustion. The current law requires a 15 minute break every two hours, but it is not enforced. At other times customers are scarce, the horse stands on the hack line, often ignored by her driver whose attention is elsewhere. 


She is frequently bored, either mentally shutting down and appearing dispirited, or repeatedly pawing / pounding her hoof on the pavement. It is a form of displacement behavior on which the horse eventually becomes stereotyped. Restricted by the carriage, she has no freedom of movement. She is not even able to scratch an itch.



Although it is against the law in NYC for horses to be left untethered or unattended, it is a common practice. In 2007, a horse named Smoothie was attached to her empty carriage waiting unattended at Central Park South when she was spooked by a loud noise. Frantic, she bolted, got her legs tangled in the carriage and ended up crashing into a tree and dying. Another horse who saw Smoothie bolt also spooked and ran into traffic, crashing into a car. On October 28, 2011, an unattended horse spooked on Central Park South near Columbus Circle, bolting into traffic and ending up in the park where he crashed into the wall. He is reported to no longer be in the business.



Carriage drivers like to characterize themselves as the experts, the “real horsemen”; this is a thinly veiled and polarizing tactic designed to suggest that anyone who wants to see this business come to an end in the large cities lacks knowledge. They take this line of reasoning even further, stating that proponents of a ban “know nothing about horses” and that the carriage horses–all horses, in fact–need a job. This, of course, is a human concept. Having knowledge of horses does not equate with treating them well or knowing what is best for them. 


When people make money off the back of a horse or any other animal, their first priority is invariably profit. One does not have to know a fetlock from the withers to know that enslaving these horses and shackling them to a carriage for hours on end is inhumane and is all about what the driver wants – not the horse.

Among the most abused horses today are those who pull carriages with tourists in major urban areas like New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, Atlanta and Rome. In New York, these horses are forced to haul tourists through the congested streets of midtown. When no longer able to do this pulling, they are removed from the business.


Unconfirmed rumors abound concerning their engraved hoof identification numbers being sanded off so they can’t be identified as a NYC carriage horse when they are in the auction kill pen. Freedom of Information requests from the  Department of Health reveal a very high turnover of carriage horses – between 60 and 70  a year – about 1/3 of the total horses. Auctions are the likely place to sell them and recoup costs. When a horse is sold outside the City, as most are, records are not required to be sent to the Department of Health – only eventual notification that the horse is no longer in the system so the driver does not have to pay the license fee. Although the industry has taken advantage of the NYC landscape to ply their trade, the drivers are not accountable for where the horses go, and the City has never seen fit to change that, despite pleas from advocates who believe they deserve a humane retirement. There is no transparency in this trade although they benefit from it being a cash only business with few meaningful restrictions. 

Every year more than 100,000 equines are transported from the US across the Mexican and Canadian borders where they are slaughtered for human consumption and shipped to Europe and Japan.


Our use of horses over the millenia is nothing to be proud of – the devastation of war; the exploitation of animals – but people felt they had no choice. Today, we don’t need to use horses to work for us.  We have a choice, and can and must choose not to exploit them. 

New York City needs to move into the 21st century and stop pretending that this is a big tourist draw or that it provides lots of revenue to the city.  It is not and it does not. Horse-drawn carriages pose a danger for the horses, their passengers, other vehicles and pedestrians. Our focus is on urban, commercial / tourist carriage businesses in cities like New York – nothing else. 

Horses have highly developed social relationships  and need mental and physical stimulation.  They are exceedingly social animals and should have the opportunity to graze in a pasture in the company of other equines  – something that is denied to them as a carriage horse.


It’s way past time 
to end this cruel and
inhumane anachronism !


COALITION TO BAN 
HORSE-DRAWN CARRiAGES, NYC

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