Yogie and FriendsFIV+ Cats

Feb 2nd February 2008 Sanctuary News

Greetings!

Well, things are going well with the animals. They are all healthy and happy. The weather has not been difficult for them at all.

It is always a difficult time for us being closed during the winter season. This is a time that we need even more financial support from the public because we are not receiving funds from admissions and tours. The main reason we close during the winter is because we do not have paved walkways and it gets pretty wet out there. You have to remember that most people really don’t like getting their feet wet. Also, we will probably never pave walkways at the sanctuary. Did you know that concrete will raise the ground temperature about 15 degrees higher? Well it does and it gets hot enough around here in the summer. We don’t want to bring in any more heat than necessary in the summer. But, you can look forward to us opening back up the first Saturday in April.

Even though we are closed to the public during the winter months we are still available to visit schools, social clubs, and other venues to speak and educate the public about the plight of these magnificent creatures. No, we will never bring any animals to any event or venue. Even if the law allowed us to do so, and the LAW DOES NOT, we would NEVER do it anyway. Transporting animals like this around in cages and into unfamiliar areas and people add an extreme amount of stress on animals. You may wonder why it doesn’t when you come to visit Yogie and Friends. Well, one reason is that they are in their familiar home surroundings and we limit the amount of time the public gets to visit them. Also, we have better control over the behavior of people visiting and will not allow them to yell, tease, throw anything at the animals, or otherwise do anything that will stress or harm the animals. The animal’s health and well being are foremost with us. Their safety and comfort also ensures the public’s safety as well.

This brings us to another issue. I am sure you may have seen all the media frenzy about the tiger attack at the San Francisco zoo. How tragic that anyone got hurt and killed. It is also tragic that a beautiful tiger had to die as well. This was all 100% preventable. This is one reason many sanctuaries will not open to the public. But, we control the visits and behavior of the visitors. We have also had surveillance cameras at Yogie and Friends for several years and we monitor the facility to ensure we don’t see any dangerous activity on the property. We inspect the perimeter fences often to make sure things are as they should be. We have a buddy system in place to guarantee there are no keeper errors that would allow any animal to escape. We don’t want any of our innocent animals to die because of our negligence and stupidity. That is how it should be. Safety first.

On a positive note it looks as though our education building may be completed within the next few weeks. Surely in time for our spring opening. This will allow a place for birthday parties, volunteer meetings, and other fundraisers. We are excited about this. Keep watching for updates.

There are so many ways you can help our animals and you may not even realize it. For instance, if you shop on-line, and many of us do to avoid the crowds and traffic, you can help in different ways. You can go to www.giveline.com or www.goodshop.com, or www.igive.com and select Yogie and Friends as your charity of choice. Any one of these organizations will donate a percentage of your purchase to our cause and it is very simple to do. Heck, you don’t even have to leave your house to help the animals, but we hope you do come and visit.

If you are a big magazine subscriber, then your subscriptions or renewals can help us when you do so at www.magfundraising.com and purchase or renew your magazines there. You will receive a big discount at the same time helping the big cats at Yogie and Friends. They give us a large percentage. What a great gift giving idea and a fun and easy way to help.

Do you Yahoo or Google? Well, instead of using that search engine you can go to www.goodsearch.com and choose Yogie and Friends as your charity. Every time you do a search we will get about a penny for that. It all adds up.

How about going Green with us? There are so many little things you can do and one of the biggest ways we are asking you right now is to send us your old cell phones. Don’t just throw them away. Let us recycle them. We will get anywhere from $4 – $80 for your old cell phone and at the same time helping our environment by keeping them out of our landfills.  Click here for more information !

We have several fundraisers in the planning stages. Please keep watching for that.

The semi-annual Bake Sale is scheduled for March 15^th at Courtyard Coffee on Youree Drive in Shreveport, next to Michaels from 11a.m. – 4 p.m. Please come out and see the amazing baked good we have. It gets better and better. We look forward to this as always.

Moses, the lion cub, will be 2 years old on 27 February. You will be amazed at how magnificent a lion he is becoming. His mane is going to be a thing of beauty. I hope you get to come and see him.

Please remember to take the necessary steps to reduce stress on your animals. Always have fresh, cool water and a clean, dry shelter available for them. The weather is cooler and you also need to make sure during the colder weather that your outdoor animal’s water doesn’t freeze in their bowls. Remember you are the only voice they have and they depend on you.

Please spay and neuter your pets. There are far too many unwanted pets as there is and the animal shelters are filled to capacity with these animals needing to be adopted. Be kind and take the time to make sure your animals don’t end up as garbage. That is not at all kind.

And remember, Wild Animals Do Not Make Good Pets!

Please don’t ever pay anyone to have your photo taken with an exotic cat or any other wild animal. You are just encouraging them to exploit these animals.

Be good to your animals and their people! Be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Jenny and the Yogie Cats