Happy June!

Well, the heat is on. With temperatures already in the nineties I hope you will take extra special care to make it a safe June. Hurricane season is also upon us. Please prepare accordingly for both human and animal lives to be safe.

As many of you know the 13th and 14th of May we had some very heavy rains resulting in some damaging floods. We are happy to report that we had no damage at the sanctuary or any of our homes. Yes, it was messy and we had some trees down, but not in an area that impacted the animals or any of the volunteers. We realize not everyone was so lucky, but we know it could have been worse.

As you can see on our site we are trying to raise some money for a privacy fence. There is some property adjoining Yogie and Friends that we have been unsuccessful in purchasing. The owner is planning on moving her daughter and children onto that property. For over eight years the land was overgrown with brush and provided a natural landscape barrier on the other side of our fence. Our concern is now that the land has been cleared and people moving that close to the Yogie property it will now be a source of noise and stress to our animals. We currently have a cyclone fence separating the property for safety reasons, but it doesn’t provide any privacy and we have found people who don’t want to pay admission walking onto the lady’s property and looking through the fence. They are trespassing on her land when they do this. But, again, our concern is providing privacy and noise reduction for the cats. So, if you can help with this effort it would be appreciated. The current quote for all the materials is $6500. Yogie and Friends volunteers will provide the labor and that will save us a bunch. If you can help, then please do so. You can contribute on-line or just by mailing a check to us. You can also watch the fundraising progress on our site as well. We’ve taken a couple of pictures of a fence at another sanctuary that we are modeling ours after.

One of our major goals for Yogie and Friends is to locate more land. The ultimate dream would be to have someone donate 40 – 200 acres of land, in a safe location free from future highways, like I-49 or I-69, have no land leases with anyone, and then build our natural habitat designs and move the cats there. We realize this was never God’s plan for animals to be in captivity. Since they are we want to provide them something more like nature intended. Unfortunately we rescue animals in crisis and don’t always have the luxury of waiting to build the ultimate dream home for these animals. We need to save then and save them now. But, with our plans for the new and future sanctuary we can build first while keeping the animals safe in current sanctuary before moving them to their new dream homes. Again, this can be made possible with your help. Being a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization gives the donor the opportunity for a really great tax deductible gift. Think about it. Getting a tax break while helping these amazing animals. It’s a win-win situation.

Military Appreciation Day will be held on Saturday, June 14th, 10 A.M. - 5 P.M., to honor our military men and women, active duty, retired, guard, and reservists with FREE refreshments and admission to Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary (military I.D. required). Yogie and Friends is a 100% volunteer driven organization and military personnel are an integral part of our volunteer team. This is our way of saying “Thank you!”

On a sad note for us at Yogie there was a dog who adopted us about four years ago. She had seven puppies under our education building and when they were big enough to be weaned and wandering around the property we caught them and socialized them. They were frightened because they were not used to humans. But, I brought them home with me and had friend’s children play and get them used to people. All seven were successfully adopted. The mother dog never let us touch her, but we found her eating in the waste pit of the food we had for the big cats. That was how we came to know her. Well, we started feeding her dog food and eventually we trapped her in a safe capture cage. She was taken to the vet and spayed and immunized. She was a true stray, but she would interact and play with us, but still never allow us to touch her. I looked forward to seeing her every time I arrived at Yogie and she would do her little doggy dance. Well, we have not seen her since May 10th. After all this time we can only assume she is dead someplace and it breaks our heart. Tim and I drove all over Fob Lane and the Stonewall-Frierson Road. We have not found her body anyplace, but after all this time we feel she is gone. She is truly missed. I know we didn’t have a very original name for her but we called her Mama Girl. We miss you Mama Girl.

The education building has come a long way. We just have a few things left to do and it will be done. We have two windows to install, finish work on the trim around the inside of the exterior doors with the drywall work. We need to build awnings over both exterior doors as well as ramps for wheelchairs. If you can help, the please let us know.

Volunteer of the month: We want to thank Brianna Volk for helping me with the tour from Camp Tiger. There were 103 people on that tour and she was a great help. She also helped me paint the outside of the education building after the tour. The girl really works! Thanks Brianna!

If you are interested in volunteering with us then please contact us. Come visit us at the sanctuary and see what we are all about. This is a 100% volunteer driven organization, which means, nobody gets paid for the work they do. We love the animals and what we are doing for them. There are many different volunteer opportunities such as tour guide, admissions, lawn care, fundraising, etc. A little something for everyone. But, please know this. There is absolutely no contact with the animals. So, if you think this is the place for you, then let us know.

Check out the programs being offered at Yogie and Friends. There is the Yogie and Friends Membership Program , Sponsorship Program, and Corporate Sponsorship Program . These are programs that help us support the animals and another way that you can get involved. Program packages are available here on our website.

Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. Details are listed here.

We have several programs for you to help our animals: www.magfundraising.com, www.igive.org, www.networkforgood.org, www.goodsearch.com, just to name a few. They are all listed here on our website.

We are still waiting for the Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor program to come on-line. Keep watching our website.

Please remember to spay and neuter your pets. We have been receiving numerous calls for fostering or adopting domestic cats. The Ferrell cat problem is really bad in this area and this can be better controlled with just spaying and neutering these animals.

Also, do what you can to prevent flea and ticks causing serious illnesses to your animals. They deserve your care and kindness.