We're Having Company!!!!

Hola Y'all!!!

GUESS WHAT!!!! Aunt Louise and Aunt Jane are coming to visit us all the way from the US!!!
Mom says they are rescue folks just like us so that means they're our kind of people. They're supposed to get here Tuesday and I get to go to the airport with Mom to pick them up!! I'm the official welcomer y'know. That's part of a Perro Primero's job.
Mom says they are bringing lots of supplies for the shelter so maybe they will bring some treats for us perros and gatos too!!!
I'm limbering up my tail real good so I can wag like crazy and Mom's gonna brush my teeth real good so they SPARKLE when I smile!!!




Kerry, (Zulu and Swazi's mom) was so sad about losing Zulu she decided to go back to Canada to be with her family. She hasn't been there in along time and losing Zulu made her realize how important family is. Mom gave Swazi some booties cause she didn't want his feet to get cold way up there in Canada. He was REALLY funny the first time he tried them on. Mom video'd it so y'all can see.
It's at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slThRVrke4M
Ya just gotta go watch it!! It's HILARIOUS!!!
All us other perros laughed at him and teased him.

We had a GREAT volunteer last week!! We haven't had one in a long time!!
Her name is Stina and she is real pretty for a human!!!


She is from some place called Sweden. Mom says that is a long ways away. She had to leave yesterday though but we're all hopin' she'll come back to see us someday.
She helped Mom give us all baths cause we had all gotten pretty dirty while Mom was so busy in the earthquake zone. I had to try to keep Milana clean. She is a sweetie and I always want her to look her best.


Y'all should see Tommy!! He is that really skinny kid Mom brought home back in November. He had given up and just didn't want to live anymore. Mom just kept forcing food and meds down him and doin' that subcutaneous fluids thing until he decided he wanted to live after all.
He looks GREAT!!! He lost a lot of weight while Mom was away so much after the earthquake. I guess he was just sad cause Mom wasn't here. He would go dig a hole in the yard and hide in it. When Mom would finally get home at night he wouldn't come when she called. She would have to go hunt him and love on him before he would come back to the house.
But now he is gettin' lots of lovin' and a big "puppy food" special snack every night and he is one happy dog!! He stands up on his back legs and dances when Mom says his name.



Me and Mom want to thank all of you who donated money to help us with the earthquake rescue. Finally we have gotten most all of the animals out. There were a few we couldn't catch though and Mom worries about them. But she says we gave it our all and that is all we can do. We all appreciate the help you folks gave us.

OK...gotta go help Mom bring the clothes in off the line. Will write more later!!!
TAILWAGS!!!!!!!
BudBud

Why we need a helicopter

The photos below were taken by an INCREDIBLE professional photographer. Mr. John Dessarzin.
They show the road we were on the other day when we went into Cinchona by car.
The bridge is destroyed even though there are still parts of it there.
But the road is, in some spots, just hanging off the side of the mountain.
I have tried to mark some of the spots on the road so you can see what I am talking about.
In the notations on the one picture #'s 1, 2, 3 and 7 are where landslides have covered the road.
# 6 is where the road has caved away even more than it was the day I was driving on it.
# 4 shows where the road has slid down and is now just sort of hanging there in a very slanted position.
# 5 shows what is left of the bridge.

Just click on the photos to get a larger view.




None of this can compare to what has happened on the other side of the mountain where we went, by car, to try to rescue the animals.


As you can clearly see, there is no way to get in there except by helicopter.

We are hoping to go back in sometime this next week to try to collect the remaining animals.

I am posting more photos to our photo site at www.mrbudbud.shutterfly.com
All of them were taken by John Dessarzin.

Say a prayer for us please.

Update 2/13/2009

Hello Everyone,

It's me again. BudBud's mom, "Kitten."

He's allowing me to use his blog to send you this update.
Thanks BudBud. Good boy!!

I could not get a helicopter donated to get into Cinchona so we had to hire one.
I paid for it with what was left of the donations I had and some from our own
pocket as usual. The total cost for the helicopter was $3,000.00. We still owed $1,000.00 because they worked longer than we had planned. We finally got some donations from people here and were able to pay off the balance today.

The weather washed out all the bridges (the one pictured below and shown in the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b92ozoWLNgo washed out the night after we crossed it) and that kept them from dynamiting. They will have to build a temporary bridge to get in to place the charges. The government is not going to allow anyone to build there ever again because the land is too unstable.
We could not go in even by helicopter with the high winds on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.



Cinchona is now nothing but a huge pile of dirt from the mountain that fell on it from above. All the homes were buried. There was a jelly factory there that made the worlds best strawberry jelly and jam. It was destroyed along with 300 workers homes and other buildings in that small village.

I didn't get to go into Cinchona with the helicopter (I had to make a 3 day trip to Panama on Monday) but Isabelle, my earthquake rescue partner, went in. The helicopter people, who did give us a discount, also sent a search and rescue crew to help with capturing and transporting the animals. A reporter from channel 6 and a professional photographer also went in to help.

Isabelle and the crew brought out 6 dogs, 19 pigs and piglets, and about 65 chickens. Even the helicopter pilot helped. All the animals were starving and most were thrilled to be rescued..... well....the mama pigs did put up a bit of a struggle but the baby pigs thought it was fun.

Three of the dogs they brought out had owners waiting for them with open arms. The other three are now with Karin at Animales de Asis shelter.
The animals who have not been claimed by the 15th of February will be placed into adoptive homes. There are many.

Some people have called Karin and told her that she has their dog in her shelter but they have no place to live yet. She is placing a longer hold on those animals to give the owners extra time to find a place for them.

There are still dogs and other animals in Cinchona who need to be rescued. The dogs have turned somewhat feral at this point and cats, goats and others were too frightened to show themselves. Some of the dogs were street dogs who were already feral. They could not be caught that day, since helicopter time was so limited, but we are trying to get enough money together to go back in to to capture them and bring them out.

I am supposed to get the photos from the rescue tomorrow and I will try to post them on BudBuds photo site so you can see them.

Other groups, who have not been anywhere NEAR the earthquake site, are now putting up fliers asking for donations to help with the animals "THEY" rescued from the area. It never ceases to amaze me how people who claim to be rescue people will exploit the animals if it will line their pockets.

One of the groups, who caused so many problems originally, threw a HUGE party in an expensive resort to celebrate "THEIR" accomplishments.
While they were having their party we were still rescuing animals out of the area from which they had claimed to have already rescued all the animals.

The money they spent, just for that party, would have paid for ALL of our expenses and THEN some. I guess that is how they spent the $75,000.00 donation from Europe.

We have also found out that some groups are claiming to be "teamed up" with Lighthouse Animal Rescue and are asking for donations for the animals.
Lighthouse Animal Rescue is not "teamed up" with ANY of these groups.

We cooperated with ALL of the so called rescue people but are not associated with any of them.

I am tired. I have lost 17 or 18 pounds. I am anxious to get back into Cinchona and get the remaining animals out. I don't believe in leaving a job until it is finished.

Please say prayers that we can manage to get another copter and get back in for one more try at saving these animals.

I will update again when I have more news.

Frances "Kitten" Jones
Lighthouse Animal Rescue

Newspaper article on earthquake animal rescue

There was a real good article in a local newspaper yesterday. Mom scanned it so I could put it here on my blog.

Mom is still trying to find a way to get into the Cinchona area so if you know anybody with a helicopter please let us know!!!
Tailwags,
BudBud


Click on the article and it gets big enough to read!!

Video of Cinchona quake area

Hola Everyone,

Mom uploaded a video she took Wednesday coming out of the Cinchona area. They went there to rescue the animals that are left trapped there. They could not get to them because it has started raining and the mountainsides, roads and trees are coming down more.

Everyone, including the media, had been told by the big money groups that they had already gone into this area and rescued all the animals. They lied.

When they were found out they went to the outskirts of Cinchona (safe area) and took some animals out. They made sure the media was there so it would look like they had done their jobs.

If they had not lied Mom's crew would have gone in before the rains and could have saved all of the animals. Many are dead now from starvation.

Mom is going to try to go back in on Saturday and/or Sunday, by helicopter if we can get one donated, to get the animals out before the government dynamites the mountainside on Monday.

Please pray and if you have any connections to someone with a LARGE helicopter please contact us immediately.

Our video is at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b92ozoWLNgo

Say prayers please.
Worried tailwags,
BudBud

I Was Mistaken

It's back to work for us. No rest for the weary.



Ok, we lied. Ummmm well... we didn't exactly lie.....I was just "mistaken." We're NOT done at the earthquake site quite yet. There are still strays wandering in from parts unknown in the bad areas.

Mom had to go back to the zone today. A siberian husky had strayed into a stricken area and one of the neighbors, who is known to kill stray animals, had said he was going to shoot the dog.

Another neighbor, who likes animals, called one of the officials at the Freijanes refugee camp and told him about it. Then the official called Mom.

The husky seems like a really nice guy. Mom thinks he's awful pretty too!! He's pretty skinny but it's nothing a few pounds won't cure.



And there's also the little guy Mom got from the chicken pen behind the old house. He's the one who was SOOOOO scared and tried to bite everybody. Now he's in love with Mom.



Anyway, we are still doing our best to finish this job up.

Tailwags and snuggles,
BudBud