Sparky
Prior to Sparky’s escape he had been neutered and a HomeAgain microchip containing a unique ID number was placed just under his skin. After he ran off, his owners posted flyers and combed the neighborhood hoping to find their lost pet. However, following two months of searching, they hoped that someone had found Sparky and would care for him.
“It was difficult to accept, and it crushed my daughter’s heart, but we hoped Sparky was safe and comfortable in someone’s home,” said Sparky’s owner. “We then decided that we would help another homeless animal. We adopted a second cat and had him neutered and microchipped as well. We never expected to see Sparky again.”
During the winter months of 2010, Sparky’s owners began receiving email reminders to update his microchip ID since it would soon expire. It was during this time that Sparky’s owner saw a familiar face in the Boston neighborhood where the cat had gone missing. However, this cat was missing a significant portion of his tail, so the owner pushed aside any final hope of seeing the missing Sparky.
Several weeks later on February 28, a cat was discovered in a foreclosed Boston property and brought to the MSPCA Animal Care and Adoption Center in Jamaica Plain. Following protocol, an MSPCA adoption center counselor scanned the incoming, abandoned cat for a microchip ID and discovered that the feline was once owned. Since the microchip ID remained up-to-date, it was then only a matter of making a quick phone call to HomeAgain that started the ball rolling on reuniting Sparky with his owners.
Nearly one year later, Sparky is now back at home playing with a new feline friend and the dog that had kept him company when he was a kitten.
“It is wonderful to have Sparky back in our lives,” said his owner. “The only difference is that he is missing a portion of his tail.”
“Microchip IDs are crucial when helping us reunite a pet with their owner,” said Meagan Rock, Director of the MSPCA Animal Care and Adoption Center in Boston. “However, it is vital that the identification information is updated regularly.”
In a 2001 study performed by the MPSCA and Dorr Research Corp. it was discovered that approximately 3 percent of stray cats that end up in shelters and adoption centers in Massachusetts are reclaimed by their owners. To learn more about posting information about a lost or found pet, visit www.mspca.org/lostandfound.
Photo by SeaWorld
They were the first two manatees to return to the wild after SeaWorld performed seven cold-weather related rescues during a two-week span in January. Dewey (9 feet long, 895 lbs) and her calf Barros (4 feet long, 205 lbs) were rescued from a canal in Vero Beach, Fla. on Friday, January 22. They spent the last five weeks recovering at SeaWorld’s Manatee Rehabilitation Center where they were warmed up and treated by park veterinarians and animal care specialists.
(NECN/SKY/MoD) – A British Labrador, whose bomb-sniffing exploits helped save lives in Afghanistan, was awarded a medal for canine courage in a ceremony at London’s Imperial War Museum on Wednesday. Eight-year-old Treo joins a menagerie of heroic animals honored over the years with a special award known as the Dicken medal.
The others include 32 pigeons, three horses and a cat. The military nominated Treo for the prize in recognition of his help uncovering a series of Taliban bombs during his time serving in Helmand Province, an insurgency hot spot, in 2008.
The Labrador is the medal’s 63rd recipient since its inception in 1943, according to the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, the charity that awards the prize.
PDSA Chairman Michael Bolton said the medal “recognizes extraordinary animals for their lifesaving courage in extreme situations.” He described Treo as a “dog and hero.” “I owe Treo my life,” said Sergeant Dave Heyhoe, the black Lab’s handler, adding that “it’s his nose that’s thwarting the Taliban’s weapons of destruction.”
Man’s best friend has won a large share of the medals over the years. One recipient, a collie named Rob, joined British commandos in repeated parachute operations behind enemy lines during World War II. More recently, Sadie, another bomb-sniffing dog, was awarded the Dickin medal for helping to alert coalition forces to an explosive hidden under sandbags in Kabul in 2005.
Other animals, notably carrier pigeons used in World War II, have been honored as well.
(NECN/ABC) – After months of international bureaucracy, dealing with smugglers and the challenge of transporting a dog from a war zone to Seattle, Lena Bourillion and friends welcomed home Oso the dog.
Despite a 50-hour trip, the grateful pup, who is only five-months-old, has tons of energy.
But, what a journey — one that began in Afghanistan, where Lena’s husband serves with a U.S. Army stryker team. One day Phil Bourillion spotted a puppy scavenging for food in a trash pile. He picked her up and took her in.
Soon, Oso, as she was called, was adopted by the entire unit, which found diversion and comfort in the little Afghanistan mountain dog.
So, when soldiers got marching orders and couldn’t take the puppy, they paid a local driver to sneak Oso across enemy lines. Then, from Seattle, Phil’s wife, Lena, worked the phones making arrangements to have Oso smuggled into Pakistan and flown to the U.S.
ABC’s Mark Mullen reports.
(NECN/TVN/IMGW) – A frightened, shivering dog was rescued after floating 75 miles (120 kilometres) on an ice floe down Poland’s Vistula River and into the Baltic Sea, officials said on Thursday. The thick-furred male dog was found adrift Monday 15 miles (24 kilometres) out in the Baltic Sea by the crew of the Baltica, a Polish ship carrying ocean research scientists.
Researchers said on Thursday that the rescue was difficult and at one point it seemed the dog had drowned. But the crew lowered a pontoon down to the water and a crew member managed to grab the dog by the scruff of his neck and pull him to safety. Too weak to shake off the frigid water, Baltic was dried and wrapped in blankets.
After he warmed up, he was massaged, fed and soon got on his feet to seek company, according to crew members.
The Baltica crew, now moored in the port city of Gdynia, have been searching for the dog’s owners, ship captain Jerzy Wosachlo said.
According to the crew, so far four people have claimed him, but Baltic has not claimed any of them back.
The dog didn’t welcome the first two people to come for him, keeping his distance and showing no recognition toward a couple on Wednesday and a woman on Thursday who both said he was theirs.
Two other would-be owners were still en route to Gdynia for a possible reunion.
In the meantime, the dog, nicknamed “Baltic” will be looked after by the crew.
A spokeswoman for the Sea Fishery Institute, Ewa Baradziej-Krzyzanowska said : “We are accepting this dog as a member of the crew.”
Once in port, the brown-and-black mongrel was taken to a veterinarian, who found him in surprisingly good condition and estimated his age at around five or six years old.
Veterinarian Aleksandra Lawniczak said the 44-pound (20-kilogram) dog was clearly frightened but in strikingly good shape and had suffered no frostbite. A dog with thick fur and a layer of fat can survive such cold conditions for as long as eight days if it has water to drink, Lawniczak said. Wosachlo said the research team was prepared to adopt Baltic if his original owner is never found.
The dog’s frozen odyssey came as Poland suffers through a winter cold snap, with temperatures dipping to below minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 Celsius).
We’ve all been in “puppy love” at some point in our lives, so why not show some love to our furry friends? The MSPCA will be holding a special fundraiser for homeless pets this Valentine’s Day weekend.
You can shop for your valentine and help homeless animals at the same time. The MSPCA will have professionally-designed custom floral arrangements created on site along with gourmet sweets from Laughing Moon Chocolates.
100% of all sales benefit the MSPCA Boston Animal Care and Adoption Center and Spike’s Fund, which helps the MSPCA provide emergency medical treatment for homeless animals in need.
The event will take place on February 12, 13 and 14th. To learn more about the event visit www.mspca.org/boston.
Tinsel
“The MSPCA will never turn away an animal that is being surrendered,” said MSPCA Director of Animal Protection, Jean Weber. “In addition to the valuable behavioral and medical information that pet owners share with us, the surrender process ensures a safe handover of each animal. Several of the cats that were abandoned on our property were left trapped in boxes and exposed to harsh weather conditions.”
Frosty
A grey and white cat, now named Frosty, was abandoned near the front door of Angell Animal Medical Center on Saturday, December 5 during a rain and snow storm. Other cats were abandoned throughout the MSPCA-Angell including a kitten, Tinsel, who was left in one of the medical center’s bathrooms.
“If a pet owner needs to surrender an animal we urge them to do so properly,” continued Weber. “By informing us of an animal’s past we are enabled to make a much better match with a new adoptive owner.”
Animal cruelty is a felony in Massachusetts punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. To contact the MSPCA’s Law Enforcement department throughout Massachusetts please call (617) 522-6008 or (800) 628-5808.
Friendships come in all shapes and sizes, between different ages, races, and genders, and – on one farm in Vermont – different species.
A very young, very sick horse, abandoned by her mother was, in essence, saved by a couple of barn-mates who were looking for friends.
When Tilley was born almost four months ago, she was frail, sick, and under-developed.
Jamie Fell\Fell-Vallee Equestrian Ctr. “She was teeny, teeny, teeny.”
Tilley, who weighed less than 50-pounds, was having seizures and was unconscious much of the time.
Her mother didn’t want her. And other adult horses on the farm didn’t seem to, either. And as much as Jamie fell, her daughter, Liz, and her mother, Joan Lavallee tried to care for her at the Fell-Vallee Equestrian Center in Hinesburg, Vermont-
There was only so much they could do.
Jamie “She wouldn’t eat, or do anything… she was just trying not to live.”
Lavallee\Fell-Vallee Equestrian Ctr. “We didn’t have really high hopes for her, but we were going to do our darndest to get her through it.”
Their ‘darndest’ came in the form of two goats, Kyra and Anke, who were young kids at the time themselves- 5 months old.
The family had gotten them as farm pets.
But as soon as they introduced them to Tilley, it was clear they would become much more.
Jamie “Right away- they wanted to be with her, sleep with her, cuddle with her- it was almost like they knew she was sick.”
The bond, Fell says, formed instantaneously. All of a sudden- Tilley, it seemed, had a reason – and a will – to live.
Jamie “As soon as the goats got involved, things got better really fast.”
This is Hannah, Tilley’s mother, and a 10 year-old mare. Tilley was her first fowl – and a very unhealthy one… so, it seems, her instinct was to reject her.
Joan “I really do think it was nature’s bid- telling the mare to get rid of the foal- this liability.”
Hannah and Tilley are now kept apart. Tilley lives instead with her new best friends.
Jamie “No matter what time of day you come, they’re always together.”
The three play together, though sometimes identities get intertwined. Tilley has picked up a habit of head-butting.
And Kyra and Anke are learning to jump. They exhibit canine tendencies as well. Breaking down whatever species barriers they can.
Clearly- it matters less to these three *what* they are than what they mean to each other.
Liz “If Tilley gets cold, the goats pile on top of her and keep each other warm.”
The friendship formed under dire circumstances, and grew out of loyalty and trust.
Jamie “I’m quite certain the only reason Tilley is alive is because of these two goats.”
Now- this trio’s bond, though unusual, is unmistakable, and quite enviable at that.
NECN’s Anya Huneke reports.
A Massachusetts radio show host and a hunters’ club have offered rewards for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever used a bow to kill two llamas in Berkshire County.
WBRK radio host Sherman Baldwin put up $200 of his own money then solicited contributions from listeners that boosted the reward to about $1,200.
Baldwin tells The Berkshire Eagle that the killing of the animals was “despicable.”
The Berkshire County League of Sportsmen has posted a $500 reward. President Mark Jester said the killings go against everything hunters stand for.
The animals were found dead Sunday morning at River Valley Farm in Lenox. State Environmental Police found arrows lodged behind their rib cages.
Four retired racehorses from Suffolk Downs have a new home, thanks to some inmates.
Some inmates from Plymouth County helped build stalls in a barn on the sheriff’s department farm. They will take care of up to 40 horses ad the program expands.
The track on Tuesday delivered four recently retired horses.
Suffolk Downs owner Richard Fields has pledged not to send any horses from the track to slaughter. He says once you make that promise, you have to back it up. The track worked with the Retired Thoroughbred Foundation and the sheriff’s department to set up the new barn.
