Latest News
AWAY FOR A MONTH
June 13, 2013
Michael and I are are going on holiday for a month, so you won’t see much on our page until we return. This is an old photo, but it shows what I’ll miss most while we’re gone… cuddles from the wonderful, loving, brave animals at our animal refuge. The Animal Sanctuary will be closed until July 14. We won’t be able to do any rescues or rehoming, or even answer emails, until we return. THANK YOU to Vincent, Georgie, Jane, Allie, Jemma and Jo for taking care of the animals while we’re away, and for making it possible for us to have a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday. Love, Shawn.
TRANSPORT ASSISTANCE NEEDED…
June 11, 2013
We’ve been working with a lovely woman named Mandy, who needed a home for 5 alpacas. Happily a home has been found, but I’m going overseas tomorrow and can’t help move them. Does anyone have a horsefloat that could help with transport? Or could you be an extra pair of hands to help Mandy to gather them and load them? She could really use some assistance to get these lovely boys to their new home. They’re near Silverdale. Contact Mandy directly please: pomz@clear.net.nz or 09-426-9040 / 021 157 5614 Thanks!!
HOORAY! CUDDLE MONSTER ADOPTED
The first of the kittens has a wonderful new home for the rest of his life. He’s going to be doted on and loved. Thank you to Geert and Lieve for deciding that their lives just wouldn’t be complete without a Cuddle Monster in the house!! I already miss him terribly, but am delighted that he now has a loving permanent family. The other 2 kittens are coming along nicely, and will be available for adoption in a couple of weeks. We’ve had 2 enquiries which I’ll follow up this week… but if you’re interested, please let me know!
THE CUDDLE MONSTER!
June 9, 2013
This is the kitten that I’m fostering, who was found with 2 others living wild. It took just 1 day for him to settle, and within 2 days he’d become a complete cuddle monster! I’m so proud of him. He snuggles and nudges and purrs and pats and kisses and rubs and plays and cuddles for all he’s worth. I had a hard time moving far away to get a photo, cuz he loves being close to me. Anyone who says these kittens should have been euthanised because “they can’t be tamed” should come meet him and his siblings! He’s a normal loving kitten. He’s been desexed and had his shots, and is now waiting for a home with a person who loves cuddle monsters!!
WE DON’T DO CATS…BUT…
June 8, 2013
We’ve been very clear about our boundaries at The Animal Sanctuary. There are many groups that specialise in rescuing cats and dogs. Therefore, we focus exclusively on abused animals that are harder to find homes for, like donkeys, goats, pigs, parrots etc. etc. Plus, we’re a native bird rehab centre, and even though we adore cats we made the difficult commitment to have no more cats ourselves. Well, so much for best laid plans! A neighbour had 3 little stray kittens turn up at their door. They called all the cat rescue groups, and to their horror every one said the exact same thing: “We don’t accept wild/feral/stray/timid kittens. Please have them put down.” The neighbours couldn’t kill them, and we couldn’t have 3 feral cats growing up near our bird sanctuary, so…. In they came. Temporarily!!!! Wonderful friends Jemma, Jane and myself have taken one each to foster and socialise. Mine took just 24 hours to become totally tame. He’s a cuddler and a champion snuggler. I’m in cat heaven!!! Truly short-term, though – especially since I go overseas in a few days. I’ll tell you more about this gorgeous wee boy in the next post.
PS, this is a true one-off exception, so PLEASE don’t inundate me with requests for cats. We really can’t do it. 
ZEUS RETURNS
May 28, 2013
Although Zeus had been living free for a couple of months. A very large wild kereru had been keeping her company, sitting nearby constantly. We noticed that Zeus’s tail feathers were getting shabby and broken, which meant that she wasn’t flying well, so had started putting her back in her old aviary each night to keep her safe. A few evenings ago when we went to her tree to bring her in, she was gone. We searched for her for 3 days. We found a number of breast feathers near her tree, and saw her companion sitting alone, so feared the worst. It’s been a sad few days. Then late yesterday afternoon, Michael discovered Zeus sitting at the back door!! Needless to say, there was much jubilation and a fair flow of happy tears. Zeus is staying inside for a few days, eating heaps and basking contentedly in the sun. I’m soooo happy that she survived her adventure and was able to walk home!!
FOIE GRAS (part 1)
May 25, 2013
Hi All. I’ve been sick this week, so haven’t been able to post lovely photos from our animal sanctuary. As long as I’m stuck inside, I’d like to tell you about foie gras, and in the post below this I’ll ask for your help in a really simple way…
Foie gras – French for “fatty liver” – is the diseased and enlarged liver of a duck or goose, produced through force feeding. Two to three times a day, a worker grabs each bird, shoves a long, thick metal tube all the way down his throat, and an air pump shoots up to two pounds of corn mush into his esophagus. Picture 30 one pound boxes of dry pasta and then add water. This is proportionally how much a 150 pound human would be force fed using this formula. EVERY DAY!
A duck’s liver naturally weighs around 50 grams. However, to qualify as foie gras, the industry’s own regulations require ducks’ livers to weigh an absolute minimum of 300 grams. The vast amounts of feed pumped down the ducks’ throats causes enormous internal pressure, and the pipe sometimes punctures the esophagus, causing many to die from choking on the blood that fills their lungs. Some birds literally burst, choke to death on their own vomit, or become so weak that they are unable to fend off rats from eating them alive (yes, there’s footage, but it’s awful to watch). Other ducks die a slow, painful, and premature death by suffocation from inhalation of regurgitated feed. In fact, because of the massive toll taken on the birds during the force-feeding process, the average pre-slaughter mortality rate is up to twenty times higher than on other duck factory farms, according to the European Union’s Scientific Report on the subject. And of course, the ones that survive all this horror are then killed, gutted, and their diseased liver is served as foie gras.
PRODUCTION OF FOIE GRAS IS BANNED IN NEW ZEALAND… BUT BECAUSE OF A LOOPHOLE IN THE LAW, SOME RESTAURANTS IMPORT IT. We believe these restaurants should remove foie gras, the product of enormous cruelty, from their menus. See below…
SO HOW CAN I HELP? (foie gras part 2)
One simple thing is to contact restaurants that serve foie gras in New Zealand, and ask them to remove it from their menu. State that you will not dine at their restaurant as long as foie gras is on the menu. Right now we’re letting Clooney’s Restaurant in Auckland know that we believe having such a cruel product on their menu is unacceptable. You can email them at information@clooney.co.nz If you don’t have much time and want to do this in 10 seconds, you can use the letter that is already set up at http://veganpirate.info/activist/clooneys-stop-selling-foie-gras/ Remember, production of foie gras is banned in NZ, so they shouldn’t be able to bring it in, either. Customer feedback and protest does work, so please give us a minute or two to help stop this cruelty. Thank you very much.
