The PUPS Act was introduced in Congress because a recent audit uncovered severely inadequate enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act. This bill is a chance to make sure large-scale commercial breeders abide by the Animal Welfare Act. CLICK HERE and sign the petition supporting the PUPS Act now.

Please cross-post to all your Louisiana contacts. Thank you in advance for your help.

For the welfare of the animals,
Rae Domingues

More informative reading can be found by clicking on the graphic below, courtesy of Animal Aid of Vermilion Area.

We’d like to tell you about The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge – together with Petfinder, starting January 18th. The Animal Rescue Site is awarding $100,000 in grants to eligible Petfinder.com member rescue organizations to help animals. The grand prize is a $10,000 grant, and there are many other prizes! Visit www.theanimalrescuesite.com to vote every day and learn more. You don’t have to register, and voting is free. Support PAAW as your favorite shelter and vote today! Thank you!

Eighty-five grants will be awarded for a total of $100,000 to eligible Petfinder.com members. Final prizes will go to the eligible Petfinder.com organization with the highest accumulative votes for the duration of the Challenge as specified in the rules.

Voting begins on January 18th, 2010, and ends at midnight (PST) on April 18th, 2010. The more friends you can rally to vote for PAAW, the better our chances of winning. Every vote, every day counts – shelters can pull ahead even during the last few days with enough support. Get people involved! PAAW is counting on you!

Eligible organizations with the most votes could receive a weekly prize and/or one of the other grants below:

Grand Prize: One $10,000 grant!

Honorable Mention: Three $3,000 grants!

State Winners*: Fifty-one $1,000 state grants

(50 U.S. states and Washington D.C.)

Canadian Winners*: Two $1,000 grants will be awarded

International Winner*: Two $1,000 grants will be awarded.

Weekly Winners** Twenty-Six $1,000 grants will be awarded, two for each week of the Shelter+ Challenge.

Walk for the animals on Sat., Nov. 14, at the River Ranch in Lafayette, LA.

For More Information, visit the Wild Cat Foundation website

Please help us by voting PAAW as your Favorite Animal Shelter. The winning shelter gets $10,000 and there is a weekly random drawing of shelters for $500. Every vote counts!

Please click to VOTE!

10am to 5pm both days

Heymann Performing Arts & Convention Center
1374 South College Road
Lafayette, LA 70503

PAAW will be at the show with cats and kittens available for adoption.

For more info on the show, go here
or here Evangeline Country Cat Fanciers

In Fifteen Legs: When all that stands between death and freedom is a ride… Silva recounts her travels as an uninvited and sometimes suspiciously eye-balled guest aboard an Internet enabled escort service for last-chance animals.

Smitten by an inner urge to tell the public at large about the largely undiscovered world she stumbled upon, Silva writes, This notion of volunteers connecting in cyberspace on behalf of desperate, unwanted animals had stolen my heart. The thought of perfect strangers coming together and working as a team to shuttle society’s non-human cast-offs out of harms way was too wonderful a story to pass up. I had to tell it.

Along the way she encounters the heroines and heroes of the animal rescue and transport world, people like Yahoo groups list owner Brandy Holleran, bunny transport boss Jennifer Barbieri, volunteer pilot Kevin Boyle, hurricane search and rescue leader Jane Garrison, and esteemed transport coordinator Terri Epp, who performs cyber-miracles at home from her computer in Canada.

But who ARE these people, and why, after working regular jobs all week, do they willingly give up their weekends to do what they do? As Silva asks, Is this some kind of a clandestine club comprised of people I would never want to take to lunch? Or are they individuals like you and me who, feeling helpless when it comes to big picture problems, will leap at the chance to give an out-of- time animal a lift?

Through a whirlwind of voices speaking on behalf of angels wrapped in fur, Fifteen Legs shows us what can happen when a synchronized squad of strangers fuels up and hits the road. With stubborn optimism and a deep compassion for animals, Silva leaves room for everyone who wants to come along for the ride. No prior experience with shelters, pounds, or animal-people required.

Facts: Approximately 6 to 8 million healthy dogs, cats and other pets are killed in animal shelters every year. But very often a loving, adoptive home, or a temporary foster home can be found for many of these pets. Sometimes, though, that home is several hundred or even thousands of miles away.

That is where the volunteer animal transporters come in – moving animals one leg at a time, usually on a weekend. The planning is done on the Internet, and the transport is done on the Interstate! A transport coordinator (generally working along a specific Interstate corridor) plans the route and schedule for the furry passengers, and then notifies members of that transport group via e-mails. Group members can then volunteer to drive a leg of the route that is convenient for them.

Some transports are only several legs long, some are ten to fifteen legs, and occasionally a transport consists of over 30 legs, moving animals all the way from Florida to New Hampshire, or Louisiana to Oregon. Volunteer animal transport is something anyone with a car, a few hours on a weekend, and a desire to make a difference in an animal’s life can do. And, as one transporter put it, I do a transport almost every weekend because it is just so good for my soul!

Please be sure to visit The Fifteen Legs Website!