Heroes

CidMiLgUUAALQeeHe was found wandering the streets of Lancaster, California. Like thousands, probably millions, of other stray dogs, he was sick and starving. Nothing but bones and matted fur, an infected wound festering on the side of his face, days from death.

Anemic, his intestines wriggling with parasitic worms and foxtails (those scrubby plants that grow in parking lots) embedded throughout his body causing infections even in his eyes and lodging in his carotid artery, George teetered between life and death for almost two weeks before finally stabilizing.

This is Ned the chicken in all her glory with her sweater for warmth. Her home made 'feet' are mismatched; one is teal, the other a light purple.
This is Ned the chicken in all her glory with her sweater for warmth. Her home made 'feet' are mismatched; one is teal, the other a light purple.

By Michele Young

Temperatures had plummeted below normal for several days in a row in winter of 2013. Tracy Reynolds crossed the yard of her Campbell Range acreage on the southeast edge of Kamloops to check on her flock of chickens. She grew more concerned with each step when she noticed a soft bump on the cold, hard ground outside the coop.

Wendy Ross would like to see this injured crow get help so it can possibly fly again. she's worried it won't survive the winter.
This crow has survived for more than a month in Wendy Ross's Kamloops neighbourhood despite having an injured wing and not being able to fly. It climbs up this tree in her front yard by hopping up from the ground-level branches. Ross is concerned about how it will make it through the coming winter.

Kamloops woman monitoring injured bird

By Michele Young

A representative from the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team, Deborah Silk, met with Kamloops volunteers Sunday to start their CDART training.
Deborah Silk from the Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team got a group of 25 Kamloops volunteers started with their training Sunday.

Note: Full disclosure, I was among the 25 who signed up for the CDART training. I believe I am now a volunteer.

Imagine going to a property that’s in the line of a fast-moving wildfire. You have little time to get a family’s dogs loaded up and moved to a safe location.And when you arrive, you realize: this is a puppy mill.

Jane Goodall and Wounda
Jane Goodall with Wounda as the chimpanzee is released in the wild after rehabilitation.

The bright lights that shone onto Jane Goodall’s face as she spoke at Thompson Rivers University Monday night took their toll.

By the time Goodall asked for the lights to be dimmed so she could field questions from the audience after more than an hour of telling stories of her life and urging everyone to do what they can to make the world better, her eyelids were growing heavy and her responses less energetic.