View past Newsletters:

December 2008

September 2008

November 2007

April 2007

October 2006

May 2006

February 2006

September 2005
 

April 24,2003
A couple of weeks ago you received a sad email about our little Ember.  It has haunted us every day since her death and we have been anxiously awaiting the autopsy (or necropsy for those of you that are technical); the results are in. 

First, let me say "Thank you Dr. Stephen Galloway for being there for us and our rescues".  Think about it, here is a man that loves animals and he unfortunately does not get to see the majority of them unless they are really sick. Yes, they come in for vaccinations but for the most part with FCAR the little ones have suffered a great deal and he does have healing hands.

Back to our "Ember".  The results, in layman's terms, are she had a multi-system shutdown due to stress. Lesions on every single organ in the little ones body; the heartworms, etc.  What does that mean?  It means that she was bred constantly, hit by a car and continued to breed by unscrupulous individuals that sell "God's flesh."  Harsh words I know.  But the truth. For those that did not recognize the breed when we posted her picture with the first news about "Embers" death; she was a pit bull.  You know, they get a bum rap and really bad treatment by individuals that simply don't give a you know what about life.  Fortunately, Ember came under the protection of FCAR and the little life she had was the best. 

I can picture now, walking her on a leash and her wagging her tail at the ducks that are swimming and quacking on the pond next to the shelter.  She knew that she was safe here and we played and she raised her pups and eloquently turned them over to FCAR and went to the Rainbow Bridge knowing her babies would find the best of homes.

This weekend at Shelby Farms will be the second annual Gimme Shelter Pet Adoption Festival-2003.  I will be giving a tribute to all those little creatures that suffer needlessly but somehow find their way to the many rescue groups in the Mid South area.  Please plan on attending this life saving event and bring awareness to the fact that it takes a community, not just a few individuals, to make a difference in the needless suffering of our four legged blessings from God..............

April 14, 2003

In Loving Memory of Ember

I got a call several months ago from a neighborhood here in Fayette County.  The nice, sincere, concerned lady told me about a "neighborhood dog" that everyone had been taking care of and feeding for some time now. She said this dog was a mixed breed of sorts and it appeared this "neighborhood" dog had been hit and after the long months that the whole neighborhood had taken care of her, why it appeared she was also pregnant at the same time and the lady thought she might not be able to deliver the puppies she was carrying.  Well, you can take this story all sorts of places and wonder (like FCAR has) why all the really deeply concerned neighborhood people now, thought that Fayette County Animal Rescue could do a better job in taking care of this dogl  Ok, let us not mention that until we agreed to take this pregnant dog in, has any one of those concerned neighbors called about our sweet "Ember".  No, they had not ever given her a name and yes when a surrendered animal comes into our loving arms we give them a name of their own because they deserve it.

We immediately had our "Ember" a sweet loving smaller mixed breed, examined by Dr. Stephen Galloway of Animal Care Hospital and the injury was very old and yes she would be able to deliver her puppies. Ember touched all of our lives here at FCAR and I cannot express our sorrow at losing her today.  Yes, she delivered her puppies, in a very loving foster home, our very own Cheryl Sexton,. Even though she was in poor health when she came to us, (we had put her on vitamins and whatever else the doctor said to do, money was no object), she nursed them up to 8 weeks old and we took her away from them just 9 days ago.  I guess I failed to mention this little trooper was heartworm positive and could not be treated until she finished nursing. 

Let me bring it down to the day before yesterday which was Sunday.  I went to the shelter to get some paperwork and noticed she was throwing a stuffed pig into the air that some wonderful, giving person had sent for our rescues to play with and I stopped and played with her.  No signs of pain, no signs of illness. Just a happy dog that had a full belly, a wonderful place to stay and yes we knew she would start her heartworm treatments shortly.

Now, the heartbreaking part.  Because of our volumn of animals that we have taken in we have hired a part timer, Raychel Hurley, to come and take care of the kennels in the mornings.  Again, I was headed to my office in the shelter and saw Raychel sitting on the floor with Ember with her vitamin in front of her and she was not eating it as she would normally do.  I looked at Ember in the face and told Raychel that she looked sick to me to go and walk her because I was taking her puppies to the clinic to get their first vaccinations and I would just take her also.

I will spare you all the trauma of what I experienced from 3pm until Dr. Galloway made an emergercy call at 6 pm at the shelter.  As I mentioned earlier I had taken her to the vet with her puppies earlier that morning and a complete bloodwork had been done on our sweet Ember and it was all normal.  She had a slight temperature and all that could be found was that her milk was not drying up and she was uncomfortable.  Everything was done and honestly when she passed away overnight it was so overwhelming for FCAR and the staff at Animal Care Hospital; it was a nightmare. 

An autopsy was performed and nothing remarkable was found but tissues have been sent and we will know,(we hope) what really happened to our "Ember".  I can't express how devastated we are here at FCAR because we feel that once we take in an animal, they are safe and secure.  I told Dr. Galloway's staff that and of course they are very supportive and said that she was weak when we got her, were able to get her puppies delivered (Thanks Cheryl) and she knew that she and her little family were safe.  She was just not strong enough to carry on......Yvette, my right hand in this organization, spent the day with me (We had to go and make an inspection for someone that wanted to adopt from us)  said "I feel like we have failed her".  I too felt the same way but I also feel that God sent this little one to us and she brought so many of us together and reminded us of what our purpose was....help the silent ones.....My heartfelt thanks goes out to Yvette Gilbert, Cheryl Sexton, Patricia Turner and Marty Lindberg because you see; Ember touched all of us.. and we are deeply saddened by her loss and trying desperately to deal with it tonight..........and we will............because we love them all..........

February 15, 2003

Saturday we became the proud recipients of a 1993 Jaguar, mint condition, 60,000 original miles from Mr. Bryan K. Smith of Germantown.  This very generous donation will be sold to the highest bidder and the proceeds will go to help the sick, injured, abused, abandoned and neglected animals of Fayette County.  Mr. Smith had heard of our hard work and decided rather than selling this automobile he would just donate to to our group and of course he will be able to use it as a tax deduction because of our nonprofit status.  You can bid on this wonderful car by mailing you sealed bids to Alissa Thomas, CPA of Thomas & Associates 7050 Hwy 64, Oakland, TN. 38060. 901-465-6226 or Fax 901-465-7660.  Inspection of this car will be seen by appointment.  Call 901-854-2565 or 901-856-0901.

February 12, 2003

On January 27, 2003 Fayette County Animal Control Officer Bill Crook and Fayette County Animal Rescues' Yevette Gilbert and Delores D. Provow spent a week with the Law Enforcement Training Institute in conjunction with The Humane Society of the United States attending classes in animal cruelty investigations.  The classes were held at the Comfort Inn in Downtown Memphis.  

Dr. Gary P Maddox, Director of the Law Enforcement Training Institute, Charlotte J. Robinson, DVM, William M. Stephens, Assistant Professor Law Enforcement Training Institute and Nan M. Sturat, Director of Training, Code 3 Associates, Inc. taught the classes.

Certification was received in the following categories:  Law and The Legal System, Animal Law, Evidence Collection, Crisis Intervention and Officer Safety, Search and Seizure, Photography and Crime Scene Sketching.

Also there were classes dealing in Report Writing, Dealing with the Media, Interview and Interrogation, Courtroom Testimony and Veterinarian and Peripheral Reports.  Quoting Yvette Gilbert, Vice President and medical tech for FCAR "Of course we were already familiar with animal cruelty investigations and procedures but this course was very intensive and to me the class on Veterinarian and Peripheral Reports was of particular interest.  Information given on veterinary evaluations as pertains to assessing the environment, the animal, the evidence and working with a veterinarian will make all our jobs easier and we are less likely to make mistakes in the future cases."

"I know Delores and I would have not lost a particular case two years ago involving some horses East of Somerville if we had taken this course before hand" said Bill Crook. "Yes we were essentially 'out- lawyered' in that case.  Instructor, Dr. Gary Maddox's educational background in law and the law enforcement field opened my eyes as to the procedures necessary to successfully prosecute animal cruelty cases. "quoted Delores D. Provow, President of Fayette County Animal Rescue.

Many thanks to Sheriff Bill Kelly for seeing the necessity of continuing education of Animal Control Officer Bill Crook  concerning animals in Fayette County.  An anonymous donation was received to send Fayette County Animal Rescue officials to this school.

February 5, 2003

The Gimme Shelter Pet Adoption Festival will be held this April 26-27 9am-6pm. Kicking off the event with a "fun walk" for your pets and Sunday morning with the "Blessing of the Animals"  in the main event tent.  Over 50 animal shelters and rescue groups will come together bringing in healty, adoptable dogs, cats, snakes, reptiles etc and making them available for adoption.  There will be live entertainment, vendors providing food and non-alcoholic beverages, vendors providing pet items/services and a series of informative and educational presentations that will enlighten and highlight the issues affecting our pets and their owners in today's world.

I just today secured the appearance of Code 3 Associates, Inc. out of Colorado.  Code 3 Associates,Inc. is dedicated to both professional disaster response for animal rescue operations and to training individuals working in animal related law enforcement throughout the country.  They will be bringing "BART" which is Code 3's Big (76'/32 ton) Animal (all animals) Rescue Truck. Bart is used as a mobile command center at any type of disaster in the continental United States and Canada.  BART is designed to go into a zero resource environment and be self sufficient for seven to ten days without resupply.  This means that BART carrries on board all the food (people and animal) water and supplies needed for up to nine people and all of the animals that may be in their care.  Onboard the big truck are two generators, 460 gallons of water, 1-1/2 baths, kitchenette, computers, TV/VCR combo's and air conditioners, all for crew comfort.  Mission specific equipment includes a 15' Zodiac and a 14' Jon Boat, swiftwater, ice, and technical rope rescue items, a full veterinary clinic and cages/corrals for 50 to 75 animals.  Also this truck carries a 4 wheel drive vehicle along with horse trailer.  Mark your calendars to come to the festival and tour this amazing vehicle and the instructors Nan Stuart and Chris Ogle that help operate this wonderful life saving organization.