Best Friends Sanctuary Outside of New York City

Dear Members and Friends,



The Best Friends rapid response team is in action again.




This time it’s at a sanctuary outside of New York City. Full details, and how you can help, are at network.bestfriends.org/petsalive.



Sara Whalen, the founder of Pets Alive, was a one-woman band with a heart of gold, a will of iron, more than 500 homeless pets and other animals, a small local staff – and no succession plan! She passed away a few weeks ago after a bout with cancer, leaving the animals in an emergency.



Things had deteriorated badly during her illness, and shortly before the end, members of the board asked Best Friends if we could come to the rescue. Since then, we’ve had a team on the ground – animal care staff, emergency veterinary support, and sanctuary maintenance – all working ‘round the clock.




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What we’re doing:

Many of the animals needed emergency medical care, which they’re getting. Beyond that, we’re working our way through complete health checks and routine vaccinations, spay/neuter and the like.




New accommodations:

We also loaded up our trucks with the fencing we’d used in Hurricane Katrina and other rescues, and we’ve reassembled it now at Pets Alive. Some of the dogs were in very small, dark areas, and they all have lots more room to run and play and enjoy themselves.



Next steps:

In an agreement with the Pets Alive board, Best Friends will be running the sanctuary for the next three months. This includes all the urgent work that needs to be done right now. And we’ll also be coming up with a series of options for the future of Pets Alive, which we’ll present to the board at the end of June.



For the future:

The sanctuary itself has enormous potential to do good. And that was always Sara’s vision for it. In the last few weeks, we’ve heard from many people who are closely in touch with the New York region and who can see the many roles that a sanctuary like Pets Alive could fulfill for the community as a whole. So we’ll be building all of that into our assessment.



But first things first.

Right now there’s an urgent situation on the ground, and the animals need all the help we

can give them.



We’ve set up a special page on the Best Friends Network with news, blogs, and information

about volunteering, adopting, and donations.



Donations are critical. The animals need all the help they can get. Your donation, large or small, will make all the difference. When our first team arrived, they were greeted like the proverbial cavalry to the rescue! It was so encouraging.



And with their new spacious play areas, the animals are all perking up. “It’s already beginning to feel like Best Friends here!” said one of the volunteers.



Pets Alive means so much to the animals who live there, the people who have worked there, and the whole region that it has supported. Between us we can make it all worthwhile … and maybe even give it a whole new future, too.

Please join us with your support.



It’s a major operation, and you’ll find news updates, blogs, and information on how to adopt, volunteer and donate

right here.
















Michael Mountain
Best Friends



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Quick links:

* Donate to Pets Alive Emergency Support Fund



* Helping Pets Alive: A Best Friends Network Community with blogs, forums and news.


http://network.bestfriends.org/Commu...ab748996702b25