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

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

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