April Newsletter
Hello!
Well, the time is almost here. If the weather cooperates we will be opening for the season this Saturday, April 7th at Noon.
Our bake sale on the 18th was a success as usual. As a result we were able to purchase the much needed replacement swimming pools for our tiger habitats. The large pool was over ten years old and had to be dismantled the previous month and the other two tiger pools had major leaks. The three swimming pools are now up and running. The tigers love to swim and they spend a lot of time in these pools.
We would like to say a special thank you to Bill Lyons of Kona Ice of Shreveport. Bill is donating a percentage of his sales to Yogie and Friends. He was at the bake sale in front of Petco and will be there every other Saturday during the season in support of Yogie and Friends. We appreciate the kindness he is showing our animals. Thanks Bill!
The drought we have experienced the last two years has really had a negative impact on the grass in our animal pens. The lion dens have the biggest need of grass and we have looked into purchasing sod for the habitats. It would be easier than trying to get grass to grow. The soil is packed down so hard, almost to the point of looking like pavement. We checked into purchasing sod at a local business who offered the best prices, but the cost of transport is almost as much as the sod itself. We are looking at buying Bermuda grass since it can pretty much take a beating. The sod people told us it works well in high traffic areas. A pallet will cover 400 square feet and most of the pens are at least 2400 square feet. In the overall scheme of things it really is more cost effective. The cost of delivery though is $125 dollars, so we want to make the most out of the transport. We are looking at approximately $3000-$4000 for sod in all the pens. That is worst case scenario. Hopefully it will be less. It’s all about the animals, so we are trying to improve the quality of their habitats. If you would like to help us purchase this sod, then please send a check or money order to: Yogie and Friends, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027. Your donation is tax-deductible. Or you can donate on-line via our website www.yogieandfriends.org. Any amount is appreciated.
Don’t forget to recycle those ink jet/laser jet cartridges. We have a really good program of recycling and this is an easy way to help both the environment and the big cats when you recycle your cartridges. Check out the link on our website how to participate in our recycling program.
Yogie and Friends is always looking for skilled laborers such as carpenters, plumbers, etc. People who have the skills to help us make improvements to the animal habitats and surrounding structures such as the admissions/gift shop building. At this time we need some carpentry help to repair the floor in the building. Also, someone who can do some finish work around the entry/exit doors, and wooden fence repair. If you have these skills and can volunteer your time and skills we would appreciate the help. Volunteers are a huge staple and how we get things done at Yogie and Friends. You can e-mail us at yogieandfriends@hotmail.com if you can help.
Please remember Yogie and Friends during your charitable giving. We are, and always will be, a 100% volunteer driven organization. We have an awesome group of people who dedicate their time and talents to help our animals. Many cannot give monetarily, but they do so with their time and skills, which is a huge help to what we do and how we are able to continue caring for these animals. So, when you donate, please consider sending your tax-deductible donation to Yogie and Friends. We always need your help.
Sometimes we are a little remiss in thanking our behind the scenes regular volunteers. I want to say a little about them here and thank them for what they do to make the support side of Yogie and Friends possible. Paige and Damon Bass make our awesome website possible. We don’t know what we would do if we didn’t have them doing this for us. Paige is also the one who made the recycling program the success it is. We cannot thank them enough. Vicki Volk is our VP and helps with fundraisers and Saturday visitor days and pretty much anything else I ask of her. Jeanne Reed bakes and does the majority of our graphics for events. Jaret Snow is our electrician and overall helper with heavy maintenance work. Andrea Labor is a great tour guide and volunteer for our Saturday visitors and helps at events when she is not studying full time at college. Tim Mills, well, what can I say? He is our founder and the reason Yogie and Friends even exists today. He is the animal caregiver and does so much. There is too much to say about what he does at Yogie and Friends. He did a great thing by making the sanctuary possible for these animals to live out their lives in peace. So, thanks to our great volunteers. You are appreciated.
We hope that people will spay and neuter their pets. There are far too many unwanted adoptable animals dying everyday at local animal control facilities and this can be easily remedied in several ways. Don’t shop! Adopt! Spay and neuter. Work with rescue groups to get that beloved family pet. There is a huge problem with wild born cats and feral cats can be considered a nuisance to people. They have their place in society. They help control the rodent population for one. If you trap-Spay/Neuter-release feral cats, there are programs that will help you do so at reduced costs. Please consider this anytime you see feral cats. Also, be part of the solution. Don’t be part of the problem. There are a lot of instances of people abandoning their pet cats thinking others in the neighborhood will feed them. This is not often the case and these animals end up in kill shelters. So please check out sites that help with feral cats. And please be good to your pets.
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Upcoming Events: . April 7th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Opening (Weather Permitting)
June 16th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Military Appreciation Day
September 15th, 2012 11am-4pm Bake Sale and Fundraiser Petco, Youree Drive Shreveport, LA
October 27th, 2010 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Finale
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Facebook: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Sometimes we even make special offers on Facebook for our fans and it’s a good way to spread the word. We’d love to increase our fan base.
A few ways to help financially:
Coins for Cats! Do you empty your pockets of all your coin when you get home and throw them in a jar or piggy bank? Well, what a great way to get kids involved in fundraising help for the animals. A little coin can go a long way! That little bit of effort can end up being a nice chunk of change.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: The accumulation period is 1 July 2011 – 30 April 2012. It is so easy to do. Just give the cashier the letter we have linked on our website. The old letters work since it is the same barcode. The cashier will scan that and your Plus Card and it will be linked. Every time you shop at a Kroger in Texas and Louisiana and use your card, then a percentage of the sale goes to Yogie and Friends. Kroger gives a portion of $1 Million to local Texas and Louisiana programs through this program.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
March 2102 Sanctuary Newsletter
Hello!
We have had a very odd February season with temperatures up and down we didn’t know if it was summer or winter. Hopefully we will have a very mild summer with some nice, gentle, rain fall throughout the season. Just enough to take care of the drought, but not so much we are flooded.
We have a mixed month of emotions. Sadly, our 28 year old lioness, Snagglepuss, died of natural causes on February 26th. Snagglepuss arrived at Yogie and Friends with Leo and another female, Snaggletooth, on July 15th 2002. They lived in a garage in Texas for 17 years. We know that our facility was not what she should have been in, but it was so much better than the conditions we rescued her from. We hope she knows she was loved and cared for as much as any human can for an animal that should have never been captive born. We loved her, as we do all our animals, and will miss her a great deal. The “Leo” Pride is now gone from Yogie and Friends, but not from our hearts.
On a positive note Moses, our lion, has turned six years old on February 27th. He has turned into a magnificent lion with the most amazing mane we have seen.
We had our surprise annual USDA inspection on February 22nd and we are happy to report “no non-compliant items identified during this inspection.” This is always a good thing. We are always inspection ready. As we should be.
Our inspector did say he doesn’t believe the buildings we have for den houses will work for our needs. Some of the composite materials in the buildings will not withstand the heavy claws of the cats. So, this means we will be looking at some alternatives.
Our Vice President, Vicki Volk, would like to thank everyone for their well wishes, thoughts, prayers, and monetary donations to help with expenses while her husband, David Patterson, was in the hospital. Dave was in from December 21st till February 13th. Unfortunately he has been readmitted to the hospital on February 26th. Not sure what the issue is at this time, but he still has a long road to recovery. He has been through a lot physically and his family emotionally during this difficult time. Thank you for caring.
Our large blue pool that was in Gomez and Putty Tat’s pen has seen better days. It was taken down since it was beginning to deteriorate beyond repair. It has served us well, but this means we now need to purchase a replacement pool for the pen. Actually, we need to purchase new pools for all our tigers. We hope to have those within the next few days and can always use your financial help to purchase them. If you are interested in helping, please let us know. You can make a tax deductible donation on-line by one of the methods on our website or mail a check or money order to: Yogie and Friends, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027.
As usual we will be preparing the property for the visitor season. This means the usual lawn care and cleanup. The property has been very wet with the recent rains and that has put us a bit behind on mowing, but hopefully we will be able to get that done in the weeks before our planned April 7th opening day. We are always looking for volunteers 18 and older (17 for married or active duty military personnel) to help with this work. We will also be doing some repairs in Snagglepuss’ pen to prepare it for Moses as we will remove the fence between his current pen and Snagglepuss’ pen to make a larger one for him. We will need to plant some grass and pampas grass for him.
Volunteers of the month: We would like to thank John Romero and K.C. Hadley for their time and skills as welders by dismantling the large blue cat swimming pool. This was a 10x20x3 steel pool that needed to be cut using oxygen acetylene torches. Thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate it.
Domestic Animal Project (D.A.P.): Yogie and Friends has worked for years behind the scenes with domestic pet issues. Because our facility is not designed to house domestic animals, and the health issues they bring could possibly put our big cats at risk, we don’t house at the sanctuary at this time. We hope to sometime in the future. We do work with several individual fosters and other domestic animal rescue groups. We do a great deal of trapping, spaying/neutering, and returning of feral cats. A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild. We are trying to help control the population of feral cats, who do have their usefulness in keeping the rodent population down in neighborhoods. But, if the get out of control they can become a nuisance and anger people. We don’t want them killed and hope they can have a peaceful coexistence. We really just wish people wouldn’t abandon their animals. So, as a result of the work we do, we are working with small rescues that do not have a non-profit status. We will allow them to adopt domestic pets out at Petco under D.A.P. These will not be same day adoptions and the adoption process may not appeal to all potential adopters, but what we check is to ensure the best possible home for these already discarded pets. Things such as vet references, calling your landlord if you are a renter to ensure you are in fact allowed to have pets, fenced yards, etc. These are not unreasonable things to ask. We are also trying to get grants to help people with pets keep their pets. Sometimes people need a little assistance through hard times with things like preventatives and pet food. Just something to get them back on their feet again with keeping their beloved pets. We hope to have our first adoption partnership at our upcoming bake sale on March 18th at Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport. Keep watching for more information. This is why we are called Yogie and Friends!
We hope that people will spay and neuter their pets. There are far too many unwanted adoptable animals dying everyday at local animal control facilities and this can be easily remedied in several ways. Don’t shop! Adopt! Spay and neuter. Work with rescue groups to get that beloved family pet. There is a huge problem with wild born cats and feral cats can be considered a nuisance to people. They have their place in society. They help control the rodent population for one. If you trap-Spay/Neuter-release feral cats, there are programs that will help you do so at reduced costs. Please consider this anytime you see feral cats. Also, be part of the solution. Don’t be part of the problem. There are a lot of instances of people abandoning their pet cats thinking others in the neighborhood will feed them. This is not often the case and these animals end up in kill shelters. So please check out sites that help with feral cats. And please be good to your pets.
Upcoming Events:
March 18th, 2012 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Bake Sale and Fundraiser
(This is a change to Sunday) Petco, Youree Drive
Shreveport, LA
April 7th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Opening
(Weather Permitting)
June 16th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Military Appreciation Day
August 13th, 2012 TBD Bistro Byronz Fundraiser
September 15th, 2012 11am-4pm Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, Youree Drive
Shreveport, LA
October 27th, 2010 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Finale
Facebook: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Sometimes we even make special offers on Facebook for our fans and it’s a good way to spread the word. We’d love to increase our fan base.
A few ways to help financially:
Coins for Cats! Do you empty your pockets of all your coin when you get home and throw them in a jar or piggy bank? Well, what a great way to get kids involved in fundraising help for the animals. A little coin can go a long way! That little bit of effort can end up being a nice chunk of change.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: The accumulation period is 1 July 2011 – 30 April 2012. It is so easy to do. Just give the cashier the letter we have linked on our website. The old letters work since it is the same barcode. The cashier will scan that and your Plus Card and it will be linked. Every time you shop at a Kroger in Texas and Louisiana and use your card, then a percentage of the sale goes to Yogie and Friends. Kroger gives a portion of $1 Million to local Texas and Louisiana programs through this program.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
February 2012 Newsletter
Greetings!
January has come and gone and with that comes preparation for the new visitor season. Our scheduled opening for 2012 is April 7th, weather permitting of course.
It was a pretty quiet month for us. The freezer is up and running and is now filled with food. The cats are fat and happy with all the fresh food coming in. We are getting an abundance of food and have actually had to turn some away because we have no more storage room. This is a good problem to have.
All of the Yogie animals are in overall good health. We do have an aging population of animals. Moses is our youngest and he will be 6 years old this month. Snagglepuss is 28 and has a growth on her breast, but because of her advanced age we will not be doing any surgery. She is eating, drinking, and doing well. When the time comes to make a decision, we will do so out of love and kindness. She is an amazing animal.
Our Yogie truck blew the water pump yesterday, but was quickly repaired and back on the road. We don’t like repair costs, but it is also the cost of having any vehicle. Things do go wrong. Things do break. Fortunately we have a great mechanic who works to keep the costs down for us and that is much appreciated.
We are at a standstill with getting the buildings modified for dens houses. More to come when we know.
Combined Federal Campaign is in full swing. If you are a military or Federal employee this is a way you can do a payroll deduction donation to Yogie and Friends. Our CFC number is 42427. Please think of our wonderful animals when donating.
We hope that people will spay and neuter their pets. There are far too many unwanted adoptable animals dying everyday at local animal control facilities and this can be easily remedied in several ways. Don’t shop! Adopt! Spay and neuter. Work with rescue groups to get that beloved family pet. There is a huge problem with wild born cats and feral cats can be considered a nuisance to people. They have their place in society. They help control the rodent population for one. If you trap-Spay/Neuter-release feral cats, there are programs that will help you do so at reduced costs. Please consider this anytime you see feral cats. Also, be part of the solution. Don’t be part of the problem. There are a lot of instances of people abandoning their pet cats thinking others in the neighborhood will feed them. This is not often the case and these animals end up in kill shelters. So please check out sites that help with feral cats. And please be good to your pets.
Upcoming Events:.
March 18th, 2012 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, Youree Drive
Shreveport, LA\
April 7th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Opening (Weather Permitting)
June 16th, 2012 Noon – 5pm Military Appreciation Day
August 13th, 2012 TBD Bistro Byronz Fundraiser
September 15th, 2012 11am-4pm Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, Youree Drive
Shreveport, LA
October 27th, 2010 Noon – 5pm Yogie Season Finale
Facebook: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Sometimes we even make special offers on Facebook for our fans and it’s a good way to spread the word. We’d love to increase our fan base.
A few ways to help financially:
Coins for Cats! Do you empty your pockets of all your coin when you get home and throw them in a jar or piggy bank? Well, what a great way to get kids involved in fundraising help for the animals. A little coin can go a long way! That little bit of effort can end up being a nice chunk of change.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: The accumulation period is 1 July 2011 – 30 April 2012. It is so easy to do. Just give the cashier the letter we have linked on our website. The old letters work since it is the same barcode. The cashier will scan that and your Plus Card and it will be linked. Every time you shop at a Kroger in Texas and Louisiana and use your card, then a percentage of the sale goes to Yogie and Friends. Kroger gives a portion of $1 Million to local Texas and Louisiana programs through this program.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter