This is a series of diaries highlighting animal rescues around the country and noting and celebrating the work they do to help animals who have no voices but ours to speak for them. I have decided to make this a daily series because there are so many wonderful rescues out there who need human help and weekly just doesn't seem to be enough. I have long wanted to start a rescue but lack the resources or time available to do so right now so this is my attempt to do my part. I hope that these rescues will benefit from the kindness and benevolence of the community here at Daily Kos. They are amazing organizations and worthy of Kossack attention and care. I wrote this poem for the Climate Change blogathon and I think it applies here. This rescue was another suggested by
Hannelore.
I am here
I am alive
I am all around you
I have no voice
I am in your trees
I am in your air
I am in your fields
I am in your oceans
I am in your world
I have no voice
I am a mother
I am a father
I am a protector
I am a soul
I have no voice
I can walk
I can crawl
I can sing
I can fear
I have no voice
You must be my voice
Empty Meow Corral
The Empty Meow Corral was started in 2009 when we bought our property in Naples, Florida and found that three cats had been abandoned by the previous residents. Not ones to turn away hungry animals, we fed them and took them on. The three new additions to our family joined the four inside cats that we already had. Three of which are rescues from the North Eastern United States.
Within a few months, a female cat started to frequent our property and we began feeding her as well. Not realizing that she was just sizing us up to see if we were qualified to be good caretakers to her new litter. Suddenly, within a months time three darling little under nourished and dirty kittens emerged from the thick brush behind our home. These new little lives would just stare up at us scared to death, but hungry enough to eat and not run away. Sadly, when they would open their little mouths to try and meow, they were so weak nothing would come out. It was then that the Empty Meow Corral was born.
The website is here
You can donate here
They have an Amazon wishlist here
The Empty Meow Corral on NBC 2 News!
What We Do and Why
Do not confuse a feral cat with a stray. Ferals are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats or other feral cats who have not been fixed. They don't easily adapt or may never adapt to living as pets in close contact with people, but they still need our help. Sadly, many do not survive, however their lives are not easy without human caretakers.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that there are 3 to 4 million cats – feral, stray and owned -enter animal shelters every year and at least half of them are put down. They may be put down for many reasons, including age, illness, injury, temperament, lack of space, scarcity of homes, and owner request.
Our goal at the corral is to follow the pricipals of TNR (Trap-Neutar-Return). The basics of TNR involve trapping the cats in a feral colony, having them spayed or neutered, vaccinating them against rabies, identifying them with an ear tip, and returning them to their original territory where a caretaker provides regular food and shelter and monitors the colony for newcomers and any problems. Ear tipping is a procedure where a quarter inch off the tip of the left ear is removed in a straight line cut (usually performed while the cat is anesthetized during spay or neuter surgery). It is the only reliable method known for identifying a spayed or neutered feral cat.
That's where we need your help at the corral. Our cats will always have a safe non-violent home where we are 100% committed to following the pricipals of TNR. Please take a moment to make a small donation to our corral and help us fulfill our promise to keep our ferals out of harms way and certain death.
~ Thank you, Rusti
Follow them on Facebook here