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By Tip Burrows
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Wednesday, 24 November 2010 09:21 |
 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- We at the Humane Society of Grand Bahama (HSGB) have a lot to be thankful for this week of Thanksgiving. Despite numerous setbacks last week, as plan after plan fell through, we ended the week with a total of 35 dogs and puppies finally getting off the island and on to their new lives!
Jeff Butler kindly came through for us again, flying three adult dogs (all long time shelter residents) to Florida last Thursday. Desire and Chloe went to their new home in Miami, and Joanna spent the night in Ft. Lauderdale and flew to her new home in Boston on Friday. At last report, all are doing well and happily adjusting to home life and their new families.
One mama dog and 30 puppies lucked out when at noon on Thursday, we found out GB Express had a flight on Friday morning. After many hurried emails and phone calls to various rescues to see who could still take puppies on short notice, Dr. Wildgoose kindly came in on her afternoon off to do health certificates, and we managed to scramble the right number of crates and get all the other paperwork done.
 At 7 a.m. Friday, several HSGB staff came in to get all the puppies out for some exercise, and by 8:30 we were at the airport with them. Our amazing Florida volunteers were ready to spring into action the minute the plane landed in Ft. Lauderdale; clearing customs and getting the travelling dogs (Atlanta and Denver) to their flights in record time. This program simply could not happen without them.
Julissa, petite little mama dog from the streets of West End, and her six puppies went to a rescue in Atlanta. They're all being fostered at the same home and doing great. We are so grateful to this rescue for taking not only the puppies, but Julissa too. So many rescues are unable to take adult dogs because of foster space limitations. Too many of our awesome mamas are left behind.
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By Tip Burrows
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Wednesday, 17 November 2010 07:55 |
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 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Operation Puppylift is underway again! Thanks to cooler weather the Humane Society of Grand Bahama has been able to renew our efforts to save precious lives by sending them to rescue friends and in some cases, adopters, in the U.S.
In the last two weeks, 28 dogs and puppies have left Grand Bahama for brighter futures. Four adult dogs left on November 3rd, all destined for their forever homes in upstate New York! Kind part time GB residents had fostered two of the dogs when they were here last spring. Fell in love with them, and our mission ... and made good on their promise by adopting two and finding homes for two more.
Adult dogs Ace, Maxie, Picasso and Chance were met in Ft. Lauderdale by their savior, who rented a van and drove them all the way to New York, where they are all happily adjusting to real home life and doing great. All but Chance had been in the shelter for at least two years! Chance was surrendered a few months ago by his owner; he was emaciated and neglected but his good temperament and sweet spirit spoke to the New Yorkers; they just had to help him, too.
Ten puppies went to our constant friends at LuvAPet in West Palm Beach. Six puppies went to Royal Potcake Rescue in Atlanta. Those pups were born on an uninhabited cay in the Abacos, where their mom was abandoned. Rescued by boat from the cay, flown to Freeport, and now on to a better life in the U.S. We still have their four siblings, and mom, lovely sweet dogs and pups.
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By Tip Burrows
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Wednesday, 03 November 2010 08:20 |
 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Thanks again to everyone for supporting Howl at the Moon October 23rd. See additional party photos below. We're pleased to report that we adopted 24 dogs and puppies locally in the month of October! This is about double our average and we're hoping these numbers keep increasing. We can only hope more people are realizing that not only is adoption the humane choice, but it is a good value! Our adoption fees are reasonable, our pets come with a 30 day health guarantee, they are fully vetted, vaccinated, and free of fleas and ticks. Adopters get an information packed folder complete with a DVD on training and care for your newly adopted dog or cat. We don't forget about our babies once adopted and we are here for their lifetime for support and advice. We might be a bit picky and ask a lot of questions but this is how we try to find the right match for a potential family. We welcome your questions, too! The down side is that we took in a total of 125 animals in October. 108 dogs and puppies, 17 cats and kittens. A few were injured or sick beyond all hope and we mercifully and humanely ended their suffering. For the most part, the rest were abandoned or lost, bewildered pets, deserving of life and love. Now that the weather is a bit cooler, we are again working on other rescue outlets for our pets. 4 dogs and 16 puppies are headed to Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 3rd. The dogs to their forever homes in upstate New York, the puppies to various rescue groups in South Florida and Atlanta. |
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Submitted by Kenton Pinder
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Wednesday, 27 October 2010 19:13 |
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 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- The Humane Society of Grand Bahama held their fall fundraiser, “Howl at the Moon”, party this past Saturday, October 23rd, at the Junkanoo Beach Club on Taino Beach. It was definitely a fun night to be had by all those who came out to support the Humane Society.
Guests made their way through a spooky graveyard decor to enter the beach club which was decorated and reminiscent of an old ghost ship. As guests entered they received the special drink of the night the Howler, which was “to die for.” The musical talents and sounds of Steve Davies filled the air as people mixed and mingled, danced, and enjoyed some great food and great company.
As guests made their way around the room they admired, and bid on, the beautiful selection of different items that were in both the Silent Auction and Chinese Raffle, hoping to be a winner and take home some of the great prizes. People also purchased tickets for the main Howl at the Moon Raffle which consisted of great prizes sponsored by American Airlines/American Eagle, Harbourside Resort at Atlantis, Dolly Madison, Western Air, BTC, Ginn Sur Mer/Old Bahama Bay, Celebration Cruise Lines and Mr. & Mrs. Scott Albury.
“Our Board of Directors and volunteers really outdid themselves for Howl at the Moon! All the guests really seemed to enjoy it,” said Tip Burrows, Executive Director of the Humane Society. “We the HSGB offer heartfelt thanks to everyone who came out or supported in other ways. Our four legged friends at the shelter are very grateful!”
As the night progressed people danced the rest of the night away to the grooving tunes of DJ Prolific, who took us back in time and brought us back to the present.
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By Tip Burrows
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Wednesday, 20 October 2010 08:05 |
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 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- Is there a better way to spend a Saturday night than at a howling great party, on the beach, with a full moon to boot?!
Oh, and you get to support some great animals by doing so? Don't miss out on the "Howl at the Moon" pre-event price of $35 or it will cost you $40 at the door. Junkanoo Beach Club, on beautiful Taino Beach (formerly Kaptain Kenny's), is the place to be at 7:00 pm, this Saturday, October 23rd. The first 50 people to arrive will receive their complimentary "Howler" drink in a keepsake glow cup. Costumes are optional; you will not be out of place either in or out of costume, we promise. However, the best costumes will receive prizes.  There will be a special contest for the best "howler" and we don't mean the drink. Live music, DJ music, there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
Fabulous silent auction items, great Chinese raffle items, great food, and don't miss the live drawing of the winners of the HSGB raffle that has been ongoing for the past four weeks. You don't have to be present to win, but we sure hope at least local folks who bought tickets will be! Our amazing dogs and cats, who ended up with us through no fault of their own, thank you for your support. Click here or see below for the event poster. |
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By Tip Burrows
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Tuesday, 12 October 2010 06:40 |
 FREEPORT, Grand Bahama -- So many animals come to us in conditions that the ordinary, compassionate person would find incomprehensible. We see things that could never be shown in this venue. So many people tell us they "don't know how we do it" and that they "could never do what we do". We know they mean well - but at the same time a tiny part of our minds wonder...does this mean they somehow are implying that we have less compassion or are colder by nature than they are? We can only hope that those who say the unthinking words to us understand that we are not heartless, cold machines. Each and every abused, neglected or grotesquely injured animal we take in affects us deeply. If we don't care for them, who will? If we can't even look at them, who can? Within us all is a reservoir of strength that we often don't know we have - until we realize we are the last possible hope and we just have to suck it up and deal with it. We just can't faint or throw up when a living creature in front of us needs our help. Does this make us heartless?  We deal with what we have to, to alleviate pain and suffering, and we save the crying and cursing for later, when we rail against the world for allowing innocent defenseless creatures to suffer to begin with. And then we hope that more people will volunteer to join our mission to stop this suffering, and we despair when hardly anyone does. We can't save them all, unfortunately, although we are working towards the day when all treatable animals will have a chance. We are compelled at times to try and save at least some of those who have been treated the worst. The hardest thing in the world is putting down an animal who has no hope or trust in his/her eyes and is just expecting the worst, yet again, from humans. Dogs and cats that are meant to be our beloved companions deserve better, and we are compelled to give those that have given up all hope a chance - because we believe it's important that they know that all humans are not evil and uncaring. |
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