Are YOU ready ??
Start this music playing before you read any further ......
At Rikki’s, we are known for never doing anything in a small way. And so for our 1297 critters of 22 species
..... 12 Days of Christmas would never
be enough ..... we present to you
.... the 28 Days of Christmas at Rikki’s .... follow along daily .....
On the Second Day of Christmas .....
Look What Came to Rikki’s,
Two
Rabbits a Mating,
AND
..... a
Chukar in a Cherry Tree!
Well let’s talk about the birds and the bees for a moment here, and
please don’t cover your ears !!!
Those rabbits got “fixed” right away !
Fixed is often used to described speutering, the unisex word for spaying and neutering.
Yes, rabbits, like everybody else, get speutered at Rikki’s Refuge. As a matter of fact NO reproduction is
permitted at Rikki’s Refuge. You may
ask why? Well it’s cus there are so
many homeless animals in the world who are dying because they don’t have
homes. No matter what the species or
the breed ... somewhere, somebody is without a home and will be put to death as
if it’s a crime.
So PLEASE remember two very very important things.
First, make sure ALL your animals are Speutered !!! Even one litter is bad for the planet and
devastating to the animals in shelters hoping to get a home.
Second, always adopt. Never
buy. ANY kind of animal. No matter what kind of animal you’d like to
share your home with, there is one in a shelter just praying you’ll pick
them. Please shop only at shelters and
rescues. Your refusal to “buy” animals,
is a huge step towards stopping the wonton breeding of animals. The behind the scenes of breeding,
including, and especially fish and birds, is worse than the behind the scenes
death machines at many pounds and shelters.
For some species only one in a hundred survive even long enough to get
into a store .... and even less stay alive
int heir new home.
Speutering is terribly important.
It is the one fool proof way to stop the killing of so many innocent
animals in our society. Stop creating
them by the dozens ..... Cuz everyone not born, is somebody that won’t be
killed for being homeless.
I know ... I know ... but Fluffy
or Ruffy is cute ..... you’re thinking
just one litter ... just one ... so I can have somebody just like Fluffy or
Ruffy .... and I’ll be responsible ... I’ll make sure all the others get good
homes.
And you may. Your kittens or
puppies or bunnies or chicks or goats or what ever, may end up going to very
good homes. But think about this. For every home one of your newly created
animals goes to .... there is one less
home for somebody sitting in a shelter .... and that somebody will be
killed.
If there are 4 million homes every year .... but 10 million animals born ... 6 million of them will be killed
..... only 40% will make it out alive.
And that’s about what it’s like out there. In just the United States alone, 6-8 Million healthy happy
adoptable cats and dogs .... we’re not even counting the countless rabbits,
guinea pigs, mini pigs, parrots, parakeets, goats and horses that are killed
due to lack of homes ..... but 6-8
Million healthy happy adoptable cats and dogs killed every year just because a
home cannot be found.
Rikki’s Refuge is one of the many stepping stones leading the way to a
NO KILL NATION .... A nation that takes
life seriously, regardless of the species.
A nation that cares. A nation
that supports their homeless animals. A
nation that educates their people to not permit pets to overpopulate. A nation that supports their Community Cats
(feral cats) with TNR (trap, neuter, RETURN to the location they were trapped, THEIR
home).
I don’t know a rescue that doesn’t run at capacity. Nobody in the business of saving lives sit
around with empty beds, not bothering to fill them. Everyone is filled to 110% (at least) of their budget. they are always on the edge. That’s why you see all of us begging for
financial help all the time. We
desperately want to save one more. We
can only do it with your help.
And everyday somebody out there is having just one cute litter of
something. STOP. We can end this problem together!!! Rikki’s is devoted to seeing a time when no
one is killed for being homeless. NO
ONE. NO ONE OF ANY SPECIES.
How do we work towards this goal?
In many different ways.
Our sanctuary, Rikki’s Refuge, makes a small dent. We house 1300 animals on a daily basis that
would otherwise be killed. Every
sanctuary and rescue specializes in what they do best. We specialize in the elderly, the problem
kids, the handicapped, the ones that fewer other rescues are able to care
for. There are many good adoption
organizations, so we leave most of that up to them. We provide life care for those who need it.
We promote speutering all animals and we are vocal about it, we reach
out and educate, and help many people who can’t do it on their own. Our residents are speutered. The exceptions are large farm animals where
the risk of surgery is great. In those
species, the males are speutered because it’s a simpler less invasive procedure
which carries fewer health risks.
What about the birds, people ask?
We use egg control for them.
Speutering is terribly risky due to their anatomy. Yes, our wonderful vet has done extensive
research. Some species lay all the
time, their natural instincts have been breed out of them. Those are easy, the dogs eat the eggs, the
skunks come round about midnight and scarf down any left over.
Some lay only a few eggs and have that instinct to sit on them. In the emu, it’s the male that sits on the
eggs, guarding them with his life. It’s
a little tricky to get those eggs and escape un-eviscerated, but so far we’ve
been successful !
Some birds, like the pigeons, must sit on eggs or they will keep laying
eggs till their bodies are calcium depleted.
They are given artificial eggs or boiled eggs to sit on. Eventually when the season is over, they
give up and they move on.
There is so much more to caring for 1300 animals than just feeding and
cleaning !!!
We educate.
When people understand the ramifications of having a litter of animals,
they are more likely to take measures against letting it happen. We speak in schools and at groups and teach
visitors to the refuge about the value, the necessity of speutering ALL
animals.
Our Life Center is a wonderful new avenue for education. We’ve started yet another wonderful program. Kitty-Litter-ature, where kids will learn
compassion and caring while reading with the animals. The younger kids are read to by Opie, Duke and their friends. Then when they are tired of reading, the
older kids will read to the animals!
There will always be a lesson of compassion and speutering is a hugely
compassionate gift you can give any animal.
I spoke at a school once and told the fairly young kids about ways to
stop your cats and dogs from having babies all the time. it was spring and many of them were talking
about too many cats and dogs and the trauma of seeing their parental units kill
the excess. I told them to have their
parents call us or call the local shelter for help with speutering if needed.
With all the speuter clinics springing up everywhere, with all the
programs for assistance, it’s almost impossible for some one to truly not be
able to get their animals speutered at a rate they can afford or thru an
assistance program. If you’re having
trouble or know someone who is, email us mail@RikkisRefuge.org and our volunteer who helps people line up
speutering will help you find a place that it can be done affordably.
Anyway, so later in the year during a tour this little boy ran up to me
and threw his arms around me. He was
hollering, mom, mom, here’s the lady who said we don’t have to keep having
kittens and puppies and dad doesn’t have to kill them .... she can tell you how to make them stop
having babies !!!!
Mom looked most skeptical as I told her about speutering. It seems almost impossible in this day and
age and in the society you live in that anyone could possibly not know about
speutering. But a lot of folks just
need education. Who would have told
them before? If nobody tells you and
you aren’t in the animal circle with all the latest news .... how would you know ?
I got mom all set up with some vouchers to get her critters
speutered. She seemed so happy to know
about this. the endless cycle of birth
and death had taken a toll on her as well as her son.
I can only hope that the mom and son told other people about this great
idea and they too wanted to stop the endless cycle. I think that little boy might keep our conversations in his head
and he might grow up to be a more caring, sharing, loving person.
For every person who truly loves an animal, the world will be changed,
just a little bit more. It may be one
animal at a time. But it’s happening. I see it every day. How many rescues are there now? Many many more than there were 30 years ago
when I first learned about rescue. Once
upon a time I had no idea how many animals were killed for being homeless.
When I learned 30 years ago that the numbers were 38-40 MILLION every
year .... it changed my life. I knew I had to be a part of that
change. Today it’s 6-8 million
.... that is still 6-8 million too
many ..... but it is also 30 MILLION +
FEWER ....
and
all thanks to everyone of you who rescue,
those
of you who volunteer,
those
of you who donate,
every
one of you !!!
You have made that change !!!
Help Rikki’s Refuge head into another year of change and wonderful news
for the animals. We can only do it with
your support. www.RikkisRefuge/Donate There is NO
government funding, NO big grants, NO support but for your donated
dollars.
Here’s a few of our special programs for compassion, education, or
speutering you may wish to support. You
can make a gift in honor of anyone, just mention tell us their name and address
and we’ll send them card letting them know you did !! When making your donation, just include a note telling us where
you’d like your funds use. We always
follow your wishes.
AND best of all, our overhead is less than 2% of our expenses. So that means better than 98% of your funds
are going directly to our programs. How
can we do that? Only because of our
wonderful volunteers who donate their time doing all the things many
organizations have to pay for. Things
like accounting, fundraising and so on.
Thank you, you wonderful volunteers.
You don’t only help Rikki’s, you are helping EVERY donor too!
Kitty-Litter-Ature -- Animals and Kids reading and learning compassion
together.
Wild and Feral -- educating and promoting TNR of Community Cats (feral
cats), this division of ours is located in Pulaski, Virginia
Pana Speuter Clinic -- we help to support Mayan Families’ Speuter Clinic
in Panajachel, Guatemala. We helped to
set the clinic up in 2008 and it has been running successfully ever since. Funds designated for this program help the
indigenous Mayan people Speuter their cats and dogs.
We’d like to expand our global reach to Speutering in other countries,
especially in rural, isolated, poor communities, like Pana. If you work with, or know of organizations in
such places, let us know, we may be able to add them to out Helping Paws Abroad
program.
Speutering New Residents -- this is mandatory for all new
residents. Often being able to accept a
new resident is contingent on the funding for their initial medical care and
quarantine, including Speutering.
This week, 8 animals will be visiting the Virginia Kinchloe Speuter
Clinic in Fredericksburg. The five
pyrenees who joined us from a sheep farm in Alabama that went out of
business. They found themselves in a
world of trouble in a high kill and luckily found someone willing to drive them
here. They’ve been thru heartworm
treatment and treated for lyme and other tick diseases and are now ready for
speutering !!!
Big Mac is a beagle spaniel mix who was left at the emergency vet clinic
to be killed, he’d been attacked by other dogs three days before and had
festering wounds and now the owner just wanted rid of him. The emergency doc said, I’ll fix him up, if
you can take him. The wounds are nasty,
but not life threatening if treated asap, and he’s such a nice guy. He’s all healed up but now needs neutering.
Ebony is a black kitty who turned up at the Life Center, living in the
barn. It’s possible she’s been a barn
cat who came with the property and has eluded being seen, or she’s found her
way to a safe place. She’s semi feral
semi friendly, I’m guessing never been a real people lover but used to seeing
them around. And it’s time to get
speutered. We’ve been working on the
compliment of barn kitties that were left at the Life Center and as far as we
know .... she’s the last .... hopefully she was that final one hiding out
!!!
We believe strongly in TNR, Trap Neuter Return. For everyone should be returned to their
home (when ever possible, exceptions do apply in dangerous situations). But following our belief of Zero Population
Growth , Ebony must get “fixed” before re-joining her friends !!!
The bill for speutering these 7 dogs and cats? $860 .... WOW .... to us that’s pretty huge. But on the global scheme of things, it’s
quite cheap. Speuter clinics are life
savers. Very seriously. For every speuter surgery they do ..... countless lives are saved down the
road. Bless you, everyone who works in,
who volunteers in and who supports Speuter Clinics everywhere.
If you’d like to contribute to any of these programs, you can leave your
mark, and make the world a better place right here www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate if you don’t
see a drop down for the program you’d like to support, just write it in the
comments !!!
And Please, if you can, help us raise the $860 this weekend, as we must
pay the full amount, no credit at the Speuter Clinic !!!
Thank you so much !!
If you have time over the holidays,
even a few hours, volunteer at your local shelter, take them some much
needed food or other supplies. Every
shelter needs our help. Spread the
love. Share your caring. Let’s see how few years it will take us to
reach the goal of ZERO homeless animals killed !
And remember, speuter your pet.
Give gift certificates to speuter clinics to folks who haven’t
speutered. Just imagine if everyone
with an un-fixed animal received a gift certificate for speutering instead of
some silly or unnecessary object !!!
WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
ONE DAY AT A TIME
ONE ANIMAL AT A TIME
THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF
RIKKI’S REFUGE
A PART OF A POSITIVE FUTURE
Click the rabbit in the photo above to make her dream come true !!!!
RIKKI’S UPCOMING EVENTS
Photos With Santa -- at Re-Tail, starts TODAY !
Gift Wrapping in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg and Falls Church -
please volunteer to help !
Christmas Day Tour - RSVP Tickets now !
New Year’s Day Nature Hike - -
RSVP Tickets now !
Would you Like Santa Opie, Duke or another Rikki’s animal to send an
authentic letter to your child (or to a friend)? Send me an email and I’ll send you the details. Vincent@RikkisRefuge.org
Gift Certificates Available at Re-Tail -- THE best gift of all, give the gift everyone will want, from Rikki’s
Wear to a special Treasure !
At Rikki’s we don’t care who threw you out, who left you homeless, where
you came from. We only care about
making your future bright and happy.
Will you drop a penny in our favorite cat’s hat this holiday season to
make the days bright and happy for the 1297 animals YOU have saved !!! Thank you !!
click on
Vincent’s hat to make our dreams come true !!
NUMS for YOU
brought to you today
by the Rabbits of Rikki’s Refuge
you share with
us, and we’ll share with you
Click on a leaf of kale in the photo above to make the rabbits dreams come true !
THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME TO
SAVE SO MANY LIVES
... with your support we’ve been able to save so many animals ... it’s
only with your continued support that we can continue to care for them each and
every day .... Thank you for your kind
and generous support for food, medicine, doctors, cleaning supplies ... and
love !!
Without YOU
none of us would be here
thinking about what the holidays might
bring this year !!
THANK YOU !!!!!!
Your donations saved every one of us and will keep us all alive the rest
of this year and into 2015 .... we pray.
Please HELP US as we stock our pantries for another winter at Rikki’s
Refuge !!!! Take the Opie Pledge and promise to work each and every day to
make the planet just a little bit better.
If the pictures of the animals you have saved in this issue have made
you smile, please take a few moments to make a donation so we can keep them smiling!!! www.RikkisRefuge.org/FeedMe
Love,
Opie
PS I want you to
know something very important. We
always spend your funds very wisely and frugally. We buy the basic necessities, we buy generic in bulk, volunteers
drive many miles, donating the cost of gas, to get the best deals, we use day
old produce, recently expired products, others left over construction materials
and recycled products.
We don’t need luxury, we don’t need the best ... we just want to save
lives and create a world of happiness and contentedness.
When we can meet our basic needs, we are happy ... so very happy.
Thank YOU for making that happen.
Join us on
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RikkisRefuge\
Rikki’s Web Site: www.rikkisrefuge.org
Help the Animals: www.rikkisrefuge.org/FeedMe
Re-Tail: www.facebook.com/ReTail.org
our thrift store
Web Site:
www.rikkisrefuge.org/?page_id=6330
Location:
3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg VA 22408
Phone:
540-891-5300
Hours:
10 am - 6 pm Monday - Saturday
noon - 5 pm - Sunday
