Finally Able to Rest

Hola Y'all!!!!

Well, Mom is home today. She posted all the photos of the rescue babies yesterday at all the shelters, local grocery stores, and gave the final list and photos to the govt. officials.

She says she has done all she can do in that area.

She did bring out two more dogs yesterday. She got the one that was in the house that is about to collapse. She says he was laying against one of the outbuildings. That's a good thing cause Mom says if he had been on the porch of the house, like he was the first day, any little struggle would have brought the house crashing down on their heads.
He had gained some weight from all the food they left for him the first day.

He was laying there, growling at them. Mom tossed him a few kernels of dog food and he scarfed them down but kept growling the whole time. She put a small mound of food on the ground near her feet and placed the loop on the catch pole around it.

The dog was so hungry it never even noticed when Mom raised the loop up to get it around the dogs neck.

Mom sent Joray back to the car to get a crate ready while the dog finished off the food.

Once it got done and realized it was caught it started screaming, rolling, tumbling, launching itself behind debris and clinging to it. He yanked Mom down the steep bank three times.
She finally was able to get him around to the car and he stopped struggling to catch his breath. Then he saw the food in the back of the crate Joray had waiting and he walked right in.

Mom took the loop off his neck and closed the crate. He calmed down then and, before the day was over with he was wagging his tail at them.

Joray went back to the yard of the house and left food for the chickens that are there.

Then, at one of the refugee shelters, a dog had wandered in with an injured leg. They had been feeding him so he was in pretty good shape except for the injured leg.
He would not come to the shelter director but he did come to Mom. He liked her and let he pet him and love him, then he let her feel of his injured leg. He did not want to go in the crate though so Mom had another wrestling match to get him in. He was about 40 pounds and very solid so he was pretty strong. He pee'd all over her while she was wrestling with him and she smelled REAL funny when she came home.
Same with him though. He calmed down after a while and now both of them are at the vet hospital to be looked at and will go to Karin's shelter tomorrow.

Mom doesn't know what to do now. There is still an area she can't get into without a helicopter and no one has offered one. Mom says the animals there are haunting her but she can't get to them.
Y'all say a prayer for them okay?

Anyway, the photos of most of the rescue babies are below on the last post. Mom put up these same pics at all the places where the people gather so they might could identify their dog/cat/goat/chicken, etc. and reclaim it.
Altogether our crew brought out 67 animals. We feel really proud to have helped so many.

Tailwags from BudBud the very proud, but tired, Perro Primero.

Our Earthquake Rescues All In A Row

Here are most of the animals we brought out of the earthquake zone. Some have already been reclaimed by their owners so their photo is not here.

There are 50 still in the shelter unclaimed. We are placing posters in the areas tomorrow with these photos on them to make sure everyone has a chance to reclaim their pets.

Altogether we probably brought out 65 to 70 animals and fed, watered, and gave medical attention to hundreds.

All of these are safe and waiting to either be reclaimed or adopted. And GUESS WHAT!!!! Karin already has homes for EVERYONE who doesn't get claimed.
YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VIDEO of rescue on Youtube

Hola again Y'all,

Mom finally found a video on Youtube so y'all could watch it.
It is from Channel 7 TV here in Costa Rica.

It was made the first day Mom and her crew were in there. No other groups were there.
The news at 7:00 that night showed Mom, Isabelle, Max, Jack and their ATV drivers rescuing animals out of the worst hit area.

The next day channel 7 showed the same footage of Mom' crew and but other rescue organizations were taking credit for it.
Go figure.

Oh well....all that matters is that we got the animals out of there.

The little schnauzer they were trying to catch was so scared he was trying to bite everybody but Mom got him calmed down and picked him up and he immediately bonded with her.

The bucket Mom is holding has the four ten day old puppies in it. They and their mom all made it out alive thanks to our gang!!! You can read about them in an earlier post.

Anyway, here is the video. That's Isabelle with the long blonde hair and Mom in the bright orange jacket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWc9cnwZcE

Tailwags!!!
A very proud BudBud

New Photos of Earthquake Zone 1-28-09

Hola Y'all!!!!

Me and Mom just got done posting LOTS more pics of the earthquake to my photo site. Mom is still working there but she and her buddies got all the animals out they think.
www.mrbudbud.shutterfly.com

Let us know what you think. Mom reads all the responses to me.

Tailwags!!
BudBud, the very patient perro

Earthquake animal rescue 1-24-09

1-24-09


Click on the picture to see a larger view



Many more earthquake photos at www.mrbudbud.shutterfly.com

I will try to catch you up with what has happened in the past few days.

World Society pulled up stakes and left the scene Thursday. That means they were here Wednesday, still turning away animals because they were getting "organized" Friday, worked for 5 days, and now they are gone. I do not know where they sent the animals they had collected.

The vets and govt. officials are now working hand in hand with us to try to finish this job. Our rescued animals are all safe in a warm shelter, receiving veterinary attention, and waiting for their owners to claim them or to be adopted at the end of February.

We are posting them on a web site and I am making up posters to place in stores around the quake areas so people can look for their dogs there and call us.

Some of the animals are beginning to show up at the refugee shelters. They are concerned about disease because most of the animals are suffering from diarrhea at this point. We are going into the shelters and taking the dogs from there. When we get the vehicles full we tell the directors, who are working with us on this, that we will be back the next day for any more that might be there.

We also are being taken, by local people, into areas where the people have left animals and have not been able to come back to feed or water them.

One house we went to Friday is barely standing. There is a dog there, doing her job, and guarding the house. There are also chickens there. We were able to get up onto the porch of the house where the dog is. With every step we took, the whole house swayed and rocked. It is going to fall.

We could not get the dog that day. She is not willing to come and we will probably have to use a catch pole to get her as she is aggressive and scared. We will have to figure out a way to get her off the porch though because even a small wrestling match will bring the house down on all our heads.

Another man took us to a house where he said there was a dog whose owner, (an elderly man,)had fled and had not been able to get back to feed him.

The dog was in the back yard pen with the chickens, but so much "stuff" had fallen during the quake it was like trying to maneuver in a huge pile of rubble.
Tin roofing, boards and timbers with nails and wires, fencing, all tumbled and tangled together. The little dog had a LOT of hiding places and was terrified. He had not been touched since the quake. Nor had he been fed.

Neighbors, who have come back to the area, had thrown chicken food over into the pile of rubble so that is what the little guy had been feeding off of.

The man who took us there climbed with us into the mess and we were able to move some of the tin roofing material away from his hiding place and slip a noose over his neck.

The poor thing was already traumatized and this was just another horrifying experience for him. He wanted to bite everybody and almost succeeded.
Once we got him out of the rubble I slipped a muzzle on him and then held him against me and loved him telling him, "It's ok now. Everything is going to be ok."

We got him in the car and, while my daughter soothed him and petted him, he finally relaxed and lay his little head down on her arm. We put him into a crate in the back and, when I petted him and loved him, his little tail started beating against the side of the crate. I took off the muzzle and he licked my hands in thanks.
He has calmed down and now is a total sweetie.

GOOD NEWS on that one....his owner called and wants him back. He is now living with his relatives and told us that when the quake happened he could not get to the dog because of all the rubble. The old man is on a walker and I can just imagine the horror he went through. He had been taken to one of the refugee shelters where nobody really had the time to go back and help his dog.

We brought out 11 dogs from one shelter on Thursday. Two of them have owners and they will be returned to them as soon as they have a place for them. Hopefully, others will be claimed too.

We left food with anyone who needed it and have been handing out de-wormers, vitamins, and various other meds.

We have released LOTS of cattle from pastures in danger of going down in a landslide. We break the fence down and head the cows out, down the road, toward the more stable areas so the dairymen there can care for them. The police gave the orders to release any cows we found fenced. Most of the places we are going are off limits to the general public. Way too unstable.

I have posted MANY of the quake animal photos to our photo site at www.mrbudbud.shutterfly.com

There are more to come.

Please pray for these people, these animals, and us.

Frances "Kitten" Jones
BudBud's mom

Latest on the Earthquake Animals

Earthquake/Animal Rescue photos at www.mrbudbud.shutterfly.com

1-20-09

We are still having problems with the World Society. They have caused MULTIPLE problems with the locals, the police, the govt. officials, and have hindered our rescue efforts.

One man, an American from Orlando who now lives in the quake area, had three great danes. He stayed in his home after the earthquake. The first time he left was for two hours on Saturday the 17th to take his daughter to Alejuela.

When he returned his dogs were gone. There was a note on his door from World Society saying they had taken his dogs and they could be reclaimed at the World Society encampment.

He went there immediately, within an hour after his dogs were taken, and two of the dogs were gone. World Society had sent them home with some woman they knew from another organization.
(Keep in mind here that they were telling MY group that no dogs could leave the area, actually CONFISCATED two of the Lighthouse rescue animals, and even kept a very pregnant yellow lab there in their cold encampment when one of the vets begged to be allowed to take her to his home to care for her.)

As we were leaving the area on Saturday night he came flying by our meeting place and skidded to a stop. He backed up, shouted "It's not them. HEY!! Do you have my dogs?"

He had seen the two goats we were allowing out of the car to go to the bathroom and, in the darkness, thought they were his dogs.

He told us what had happened and said World Society had told him they would have the police stop their friend from other organization at the first roadblock.

We were back in there Monday and he, his wife, and his young daughter were there also....still asking for his dogs. They were extremely angry, (rightfully so) and were demanding to know where their dogs were.

He had been given the phone number of the woman who supposedly had them and had been unsuccessful in reaching her. They had also given him seven other numbers to try. All with no success. He had been trying for three days to find his dogs.

He was telling them that his female was WAY pregnant and he was worried that whoever had her would not take proper care of her.

THEN they informed him, "We are so sorry to tell you they have both been castrated."

The man was livid!! "How can they castrate a pregnant dog? Are you saying they aborted the pups?"

They said yes and that they were very sorry.

I had to leave at that point and do not know if the man has gotten his dogs back yet or not.

We were told we could not enter the area that day, Monday, because World Society had "taken over" and was not allowing anyone other than their own people into the quake area to deal with animals.

So we are meeting with the local officials tomorrow to try to get back to doing rescue. The Costa Ricans are a very non-confrontational people but even they have had their fill of World Society.

All that I have stated is fact. World Society is hindering the rescue of animals and is costing lives. There are animals in that area we have been looking after for their owners. They trusted us to make sure they had food and water. Now we cannot even get into the area for the past two days because of World Society. They even confiscated two of the animals that owners had given into our care. Fortunately the driver of the vehicle thought quickly enough to tell them all the other animals in the car were her own animals and she was taking them to the vet.

Areas are still sliding. People are begging the officials to keep looking for their missing family members. It is just a nightmare for these people and for many more animals.

At least I know the ones we brought out are safe and have a chance to be reunited with their owners.

Hopefully, tomorrow, we will be able to work something out and get back to what we are supposed to be doing.

Hugs and prayers,

Earthquake/Animal Rescue Photos

I was finally able to reduce the size of some of the pictures and have uploaded 91 animal rescue/earthquake photos to our photo site at http://mrbudbud.shutterfly.com/

Here are just a couple of the ones I uploaded to shutterfly.
Will upload more when I have made more.

Frances "Kitten" Jones
BudBud's mom
Lighthouse Animal Rescue

Earthquake update from Mom

Hello All,

I had a day of rest today, thank God, so am going to write a little bit about what has been going on.

I have been trying to reduce the size of my photos all day and can't get the program to work right so will try again tomorrow if I am not too tired.

This situation is terrible here. Thousands of people are homeless and living in 18 (I think) shelters around the quake area. From what I can gather, the officials are keeping it quiet because they do not want to hurt their tourist season. It is high season right now.

They keep changing the number of dead and have yet to tell the truth.

I do know for a fact there were 34 bodies in their make-shift morgue last Saturday and they have dug out more bodies since then.
And they are still digging for more they know are buried.

They have mentioned one whole town that is completely gone, under a landslide, where they estimate there might have been about 50 people.

We have brought out 37 animals and have fed and watered hundreds daily. Not only dogs and cats, but chickens, cows, goats, birds and others were left behind when people fled the area or were crushed by the landslides.

At the shelters people come to us with animals in their arms. They tell us, "Their owners are dead. We brought their dog/cat with us to the shelter but we can't keep it. We don't have a house anymore."

We find dogs in falling down buildings, still doing their job and guarding the property. If they are in a relatively stable area, and don't want to leave their homes, we feed them, water them and leave them there. We go back daily and freshen their water and give them more food.

If they are in an area that is expected to slide down the mountain we take them out with us.

Some of the areas we have brought animals out of are now gone completely. Some of the roads we were on no longer exist.

We found a calf, too small to sip water or eat grass, who still needs to be nursing. He was locked in a small shed with water he was not capable of drinking. He was terribly skinny and was SCREAMING for us to help him. We found a local man who works at a dairy barn and took him with us to look at the calf.

He immediately took us to the dairy barn for a bottle and fresh milk. The man was shocked at the calf's condition and promised to contact the owner and ask if he could take the calf to the dairy barn until it is healthier.

We will check on him again tomorrow. If he is not at the dairy barn we will bring the police back to the shed and take the animal.

Cows in pastures that are unstable are developing mastitis from not being milked. We are releasing them and shooing them down the roads into town where the dairy barns take care of them.

It is very cold and windy there and it rains most days, even in dry season. We slide down mud hills and struggle up mud hills. We go into houses and sheds that are tumbling down around us.
When it does not rain, the dust is terrible because so much of the land has been laid bare by the quake and resulting landslides.

The police have been VERY cooperative with us and have been a huge help getting us into areas that are in the most danger. They bring animals to us if they find them. They flag us through the roadblocks with no hesitation. If there is a crisis with an animal they call us to come to the scene.

They know we were the first on the scene (Monday) and are doing what needs to be done. They do NOT like the 2 big money groups because when they took animals to them they were turned away just like the locals who bring animals who no longer have families. Those groups didn't even get there until Wednesday and were still getting "organized" Friday. They had not done ANY rescue before that. They told everyone, "We're not prepared to take any animals. We are still getting organized."

If we happen across a crisis, the other groups will just be standing there with their hands in their pockets, watching the animal suffer.
The police are always so glad to see us arrive.
Even the vets who are volunteering for those groups are coming to me for proper needles, syringes, meds, etc. I just cannot believe these groups are here so ill prepared.

Most of my medical supplies have been used up, loaned to vets, or have disappeared when we come back out of a slide area.

We brought out two full grown goats Saturday night. One in a large dog crate. One in my back seat with my daughter and a helper.

I am reducing just a few pictures until I can get my "batch re-size" to work and pictures will be on this blog later.

Please say prayers for us as we are going into another area tomorrow and matters will definitely be worse. It has been a long time since some of these animals have had any food or water. Pray that we can save them.

I will write more when I can.

Thanks for the prayers and good thoughts,
Kitten

Friday, January 16, 2009 Earthquake Update

Hello Everyone,

Not much tonight. Just too tired.

Areas where we were Wednesday are now gone under terrible landslides. New quakes happening. Tremors all the time.Thank GOD we got in AND OUT before that happened.

There are still areas we can't get to. We DESPERATELY need a helicopter.

The big money group is still causing MANY problems for genuine rescue people and the poor people who have lost everything. They take animals, whose owners have died in the quake, to the groups encampment and are told, "Just turn them loose. We aren't prepared to house them.

THERE'S A SHELTER WILLING TO TAKE ALL OF THEM, HOUSE THEM, AND VET THEM!!!!! That is where MY rescues are going.

OH!! And the VERY pregnant yellow lab is still there. The groups vet who is "in charge" would not allow the other vet to take him to his home for care.

I will try to write more tomorrow but I am too tired tonight. Brought out many more today and going in tomorrow with two vets and more helpers.

Please pray for us.

Frances "Kitten" Jones

Thursday, January 15, 2009 Earthquake Update

I can only apologize for last nights e-mail. I am really tired and made so many mistakes.

Tonight's e-mail will be shorter so I don't mess up so much.

We went back in today but did not get to the area we wanted to go. We found so many animals before we could get there we had to return home. We only have my Montero and can load only so many crates into it. Hopefully, this weekend, we will have some large vehicles going in with us.

It was raining today which makes the land MUCH more unstable so the police won't allow anyone into the worst slide and quake zone. There are still tremors constantly. I have a terrible fear (phobia actually) of earthquakes so it's no fun being in these areas when we feel so many rumblings and the ground is so unstable.

If you stomp your foot it feels like you are stomping on something hollow. You can feel the earth vibrate from your stomp.

Please say prayers that we can save more of the animals and that we will stay safe.

Isabelle, Joray, and I brought out lots more animals today and will be going back in again tomorrow.

As before, the BIG "rescue" organizations are still getting in the way. We stopped there today to pick up one of my crates they had borrowed and, even though their "base station" is very near the quake site, they had no animals except for one parrot. They are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. Oh...and they didn't have my crate either.

Although I have no problem with giving them locations of animals found, photos of each animal, and any information they want so that owners can reclaim them, I will not trust my rescued animals to them.

Residents of the area have told me that they took homeless (due to the quake) animals to the groups base station and were told. "Ummm We're not really set up for that yet. We don't have any place to keep them. Just let them go.
"THESE PEOPLE ARE HOMELESS TOO!!! They are living in the shelters and in dairy barns, etc. They care enough to try to get help for the animals and are TURNED AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes!!! I am VERY P.O.'d!!!!

Karin has told all the organizations she will take ALL the animals so that is NOT a problem. These organizations just do not want to be bothered.

Karins shelter is called "Animales de Asis" and is located in Heredia. She is taking all the animals we bring out into her shelter to be vetted and cared for. It is, of course, a no-kill shelter. I am trying to get her paypal info so you can donate to her if you'd like. She deserves it.

Okay, enough. Please pray.

Hugs and prayers,
Kitten

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 Earthquake Update

Sorry everyone but Mom is really tired tonight again.
She says we can use donations of food for dogs, food for cattle, food for cats, and chickens. Also medicines.

They saved one brahma bull tonight who was down in a pen with several other cattle. All of them were starving. They released cattle to a pasture where they can at least eat grass. The one who was down is now on his feet again after four injections but it took most of Mom's medicine to get him on his feet.

One of Isabelle's friends, who has cattle, knew what medicines to use and Mom had the medicine in her bag. The guy did the injections and all of them pulled the bull up on his feet. He staggered around for a few minutes and then headed for teh grass and started eating. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are other rescue groups showing up now, but Mom says they are doing nothing but getting in her way while she and her group are actually trying to rescue these animals. All they are doing so far is leaving a little food and water. Mom's group had already done that and had planned to pick the animals up on their way out of the area. This area might not even be here tomorrow as they are expecting more landslides tonight. Mom won't leave the animals in danger.

The other group has asked her to leave her rescues with them so they can tell everyone THEY have rescued these animals in order to get donations.

Mom refuses to leave these animals with them because they are not equipped to take care of them. Today, Mom opened the back of her car in front of one of their vets and the vet from the group turned to the others and said, "They have more medical supplies than our vets have.
But they are not doing anything to help. Mom has one vet going in with her Friday and three more going in Saturday and Sunday to the areas nobody has been able to reach. Four wheelers cannot reach these areas so Mom and Isabell are trekking in on foot with 50 pound sacks of food for dogs, cats, cows, etc on their backs..

Gonna be a hard day tomorrow.

Please say prayers for their safety (the land is VERY unstable) and that they can help lots more animals.

Mom is promising to send pictures as soon as she is able. She is taking as many as she can.

Tailwags,
Very lonesome furbaby,
BudBud

Monday, January 12, 2009 Earthquake Update

Hola Y'all,
Thanks so much for all the prayers and good wished!!!

Mom came back at about 7:00 tonight with 12 more furkids!!!!!
She looks really tired and dirty. And some of those furkids smell REAL bad!!!!

None of them had eaten or had water for four days!!!!!!!

One is a tiny little mama dog, a min pin, with 4 little puppies. They are only about ten days old cause their eyes are just now opening. Mom says mama dog was BEGGING for someone to help her. Mom had to break into the house to get her puppies.

One is a cocker spaniel and her puppy that our friend Jack (a paramedic) pulled out of a landslide on Saturday. He had to dig her out cause she was half buried. When he reached for her she tried to bite him and he realized she had a puppy laying under her. He could not bring them out that day so when Mom told him she was going in today he went with her. He and Mom were SO glad the dog and her puppy were where he had left them. She got diarrhea on the way home and covered the car and Mom's leather purse.

One is a purebred schnauzer!!! It really likes Mom. She says it's becasue she was the first one to touch him after the earthquake. He was trying to bite until Mom finally laid her hand on his rump and told him "everything is going to be ok now."
Then he just melted and let her pick him up. He got a little panicky after that anytime she got out of his sight.

The rest are mix breeds and all are REALLY sweet.

One was just standing in the road, in the upper part of the earthquake area where cars are still allowed, in front of cars that were about to hit him .He looks, and smells, like he might have been buried and dug himself out.

One is a puppy that had come to the staging area for help. The policemen had been feeding him gallo pinto (rice and beans) for two days!! His belly is HUGE!!! And he puked all the way home!!!!

One is a little yellow dog that lived at the same house where the little mama and 4 puppies were found.

One is a white dog who has an eye problem in one eye.

Today, Jack, (our paramedic friend), Isabell, (a beautiful young Costa Rican girl), Max, (a friend from the Costa Rica Red Cross) went with Mom. Olga and her other nephew came later but didn't get to go with them to the bad areas.
They had to go in on four wheelers cause cars are not allowed in the unstable areas.
The search and rescue people had found two more bodies there this morning.

They are saying they have gotten all the stranded people out but there were helicopters back and forth all day so Mom says there are probably still people in there somewhere.

When they got back to Atenas, Joray, (my human sis) came up to help Mom amd Jack settle the dogs, nice and comfy, in their kennels in the clinic.

Mom, Jack, Max, and Isabelle were all POOPED!!!!!!

Anyway, Mom says she is too tired to type anymore so I'm gonna shut up and let her rest.

Karen, from another shelter here in Costa Rica, is going to come in the morning to take this 12 to her shelter. Mom sure is glad cause she is going back Wednesday to get more. Karen says she will take all the animals Mom can bring out.

For some reason Mom is the only one who can get in at the ground zero thing.!!!

Karen is really mad cause other shelters are advertising and asking for donations for the quake dogs and they have not even been in there!!!!!!!!

Mom promises to post all about it when she is rested up. Maybe tomorrow. She took pictures but says she will send them later.

Y'all keep saying prayers, ok?
--

Sunday, January 11, 2009 Earthquake Update

Hola Y'all,

We got our first quake victim in tonight. She was found, by a paramedic friend of ours who volunteered to help with the human quake victims. He found her in a house that had been destroyed by a landslide caused by the quake. The human family, a father, a mother, and three children were all dead. Crushed by dirt against one wall. The little kitten was the only one left alive. She was sitting on top of the dirt that had killed her family.The paramedic had tears in his eyes when he told me, "I couldn't just leave her. She was all that was left." I've named her "Miracle."



This paramedic saw horrors today that he had never experienced before. Please say prayers that he will be able to block out the memories of what he witnessed. I am sorry and ashamed to say things are much worse than they are reporting. They are not telling the truth about the number of dead. I have been told that it could be as many as 400. The paramedics and rescue people are not doing all they can to help and are just standing around, in little groups, doing nothing. Probably on orders from the government. Even the helicopters, that are here from other countries to help, are sitting idle. Nobody will give them direction.

One pilot said he could only compare it to FEMA after Katrina. He was there. People are still stranded. Landslides are still occurring. Homes are still collapsing and families are still dying. There is too much horror to describe. Nobody here is being told the truth. They have ULTRA security around ground
zero and it is almost impossible for anyone to get into the area.

Why are they hiding the facts? They are afraid it will hurt their tourism industry.
May God have mercy on them.
Please pray.
More when I learn anything.
Kitten

Check THIS out!!!

My human sis just got done with a woodburning of Flaca and one of me and our Ebony.

Flaca's mom and dad wanted her picture done on a cutting board.
I think it turned out really good!!!

I am SOOOOO proud of my sis!! She's pretty talented for a human!!!

If you want to see more of her work you can go to
http://littlepawcustomdesigns.shutterfly.com/

Zeus is missing

Hola Y'all,
One of our neighbors furkid is missing. He is a german shepard pup. If you are in Costa Rica and you see a dog that looks like this one please call. He was last seen on Saturday January 3rd in Bario Mercedes de Atenas.
There is a LARGE reward offered for his return.

Kerry, Zulu, and Swazi REUNITED!!!!!

Some of you have read about Kerry, Swazi, and Zulu. Lots of you donated to help!!

Thank you's are in order!!!!

Kerry was talked into leaving her dogs behind when she moved to Costa Rica from the US.
"Friends" told her it was unfair to the dogs to drag them all over the place.

Not knowing that there were other alternatives, (ANIMAL RESCUE, BREED RESCUE,) she allowed her "friend" to take them to a place they thought was a no-kill shelter. They were wrong.

As it turned out it is a kill shelter and the dogs, 7 and 8 years old, were in danger of being euthanized within three days.

Kerry realized she had made a horrible mistake. Her dogs were very precious to her and she felt lost without them. When she found out the shelter was a kill shelter she was crushed. She cried for days fearing the worst.

Luckily, Kerry's friends in Atenas Costa Rica are rescue people and, when they found out about the situation they immediately contacted rescue people in the US who they knew would do everything they could to help.

American Eskimo rescue people, Labrador rescue people, and others banded together to see to it that these dogs, a black lab and a min-pin who are totally devoted to one another, were rescued and returned to their now heartbroken owner.

The rescue people jumped into high gear to save these animals and send them on their way to Kerry.

Lab rescuer, Teri and American Eskimo rescuer, Heidi got the dogs out of the kill shelter and fostered them until plans could be made for transport. They got the dogs examined by their vet and got all the international transport papers in order.
Louise, another America Eskimo rescue person, got busy making flight arrangements and raising funds from other animal lovers, to reunite these three.

Wonderful, animal loving people from all over donated to the cause.

Kerry knew only that her dogs had been pulled from the kill shelter and were safe in new homes. She still cried every time she thought about them but at least they were safe.

In order to surprise Kerry she was told she would have to return to her rescue friends home, (my home) to help with a surprise for my husband.

We told her that she was to keep the hubby on the screen porch until we yelled for her. Then she was to bring him through the clinic and out the front clinic door to see his brand new MOTORCYCLE!!!! (He wishes)

My son, my daughter, and I went into the clinic and got ready with the cameras. Then we let Swazi and Zulu out of the crate, where we had them hidden, and called out to Kerry. (Links to the video and photos is below)
The rest is history. She wept and kissed and hugged and laughed and wept some more. Zulu's fur was soggy!!!



The dogs were as thrilled as Kerry when they spotted each other. Wagging, kissing, and hugging was the order of the day.

Below is Kerry's post to the wonderful angels who worked so hard and donated.

"Hello to all! I just arrived here at the Jones residence to find the most amazing and wonderful surprise. I just wanted to say how very grateful I am that you all went above and beyond to bring my babies back to me. I was missing a huge piece of me without them and I knew I would never be the same having had to give them up. You all are very compassionate and giving people and I cannot thank you enough for everything you did for them and me. I will always remember you and thank you again so much from my heart.
Kerry"

You can see video of the reunion at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_smhPKClQ

And you can see still photos at
http://mrbudbud.shutterfly.com/

God bless you all.
All's well that end's well.
Kitten (BudBud's mom)