January 2008 Sanctuary News
Happy New Year!
Here we are in 2008. Help make it great in 2008! And when we say Great! We mean these Great Cats! They are special and we hope you can make it even more special for them. After all this is what we are all about at Yogie and Friends. The Cats!
All the Yogie and Friends volunteer staff want to say a very special thanks to those of you who contributed to us financially this past year. There are so many of you and we can’t thank you enough
As you can see from our website we are closed for the winter season. We close at this time because of the typically wet weather. But please continue to visit the website for updates and events.
There were many things accomplished in 2007 and yet still so much more to accomplish in 2008.
All the animal pens were updated with the installation of the horizontal poles 3 feet high off the ground around each pen. That’s over 1000 linear feet of poles. We also purchased newer locks for all the pens. We do this periodically just to ensure they are the best in safety we can have.
Our bake sales continue to get bigger and better and even more successful that we will have another one in March.
We have a new webmaster, Paige Bass, with WickedTickle.com and she is really doing a great job for us. We thank Don Sherret for his many patient years with doing the website for us. He’s probably relaxing more now. Don will always be part of the Yogie and Friends Family.
Wicked Tickle put on the first Orange and Black Friday to benefit Yogie and Friends with several local bands volunteering their time and talents to raise funds for the cats. Very cool.
We were able to purchase the calf hutches for the animals as new cat houses. We still aren’t sure how we feel about these yet, but they seem to be a nice alternative to the wooden structures we had previously.
Yogie and Boo Boo, our two lionesses, were spayed without any complications. We want to thank Dr. Jane Eggerstedt and Donna Burrell for financing these two surgeries. Since the birth of the lion cubs in March 2007 we knew that the industry standard of vasectomies for lions is not a good birth control method. All are doing well and they are experiencing continued good health.
There is still a lot of work that has to be done to maintain a facility like Yogie and Friends. We have lots of projects planned in 2008. We still need help with the education building and hopefully we will get that completed this year and it will present us with a tool to raise more money for the cats.
Please remember that Yogie and Friends is a 100% volunteer driven organization and this means none of us receive any compensation for the work we do. This is a labor of love and we are rewarded by seeing these cats live in comfort for the rest of their lives. Since none of these cats can ever be released into the wild, they were after all captive born animals, we provide the next best thing to what they should have been born into.
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.
Tim, Jenny, and the Yogie Cats
Posted in Monthly Newsletter and tagged 2008 January News, Latest News, Yogie and Friends News