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A safe place for Saffron…an appeal for your help
Hi all.
Our new rescue, Saffron, has made it necessary to put out an urgent appeal. Read the story of Saffron here.
https://honeyspledge.org/2013/08/07/saffron-and-the-good-samaritan/
Saffron is totally blind and we need to create a new paddock for her as soon as possible. At present she is confined to a loose box and is fretting and finds it difficult to eat from a feed bowl as she cannot locate it. A dedicated paddock will enable her to graze, to have a companion, and to gain confidence.
We have an ideal paddock next to the house, but it has a very deep dam, and we need to fence this off. This will create a safe paddock with shade trees and ready access to the yards and stables. There is an added advantage that this will also create a spring paddock for the ponies prone to laminitis.
A fencing contractor can do the fence this week. But, we cannot start the work until I have raised the funds.
We are asking for supporters and anyone you can recruit, to contribute $20 to pay for two metres of fencing. Of course if you can assist with more we will not say no!
OUR TARGET
The fencing together with gates is estimated at $1500. Therefore we need 79 contributions of $20.
We will update via our Facebook page of how we are going. As Sunday 18th August we are at 65% of target. ..thank you.
HOW CAN I DONATE?
1. By Paypal.
Until we incorporate the Paypal account is in my name, Linda Mira-Bateman
To pay go to: https://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/home
Log in
Click on the tab ‘Buy’
Click on ‘Make a payment’.
Select ‘Pay for goods or services’
Use e mail address lindamirabateman@bigpond.com to make the payment’
Please if you have any problems let me know…I have not used Paypal before to receive payments!
2. By direct Internet transfer
Again, until we incorporate we do not have a dedicated account for Honey’s Pledge.
Donations can be made into an account. Please contact me for details.
3. PLEASE e mail me on lindamirabateman@bigpond.com so I can trace your donation and issue a receipt.
TAX DEDUCTABILITY
As we are still in the process of incorporating we cannot offer Deductable Gift Status. We will however provide a receipt. Please make sure you e mail us so we can do so.
Saffron is a very special rescue with special needs. This is why we are reaching out for support.
Many thanks
Linda and the Honey Pledge team (and Saffron of course)
Saffron and the Good Samaritan
Often horse rescuers will get requests for a pony who is totally reliable, rideable, ‘bomb proof’ and suited to a child to take to pony club.
Although some of these ponies do find themselves at rescues at times, as a whole, they are more likely to be for sale with a four figure sale price attached,
A lucky few are valued by their families, who see their care as a lifetime responsibility and reward the pony for the service they have given. Others are passed on from child to child, family to family, and finally, too old to be ‘useful’ they are abandoned in a paddock, allowed to be given to an unsuitable home. sent to auction, sent to the knackery.
Saffron has clearly had better times.Saffron was someone’s beloved pony once.
We first heard of Saffron last week with a call from a neighbour and friend. She rang to pass on the information that a horse had been found on the main highway. A concerned person had seen her in her gateway, and thankfully she quickly moved her into her garden and secured the gate.
This lady has no experience with horses, but her one thought was…’If this were my pet I would want her safe’. She then set about contacting local vets, the shire and neighbours to try to find who the carer was.
After putting an interim post on FB I offered to assist with the horse, getting some better identification and a photograph plus anything else required.
On arriving I found an aged pony, initially reluctant to handled, she backed away, but with gentle talking she allowed me to put on a headstall and do a quick check over. She was clearly a pony who, although rugged, had had little other attention. The garden had ample grazing and the good Samaritan was happy for her to stay put for the time being so, I gave some basic care advice and waited to see if anyone claimed her. I also made enquiries with all local horse people and feed suppliers but no one knew the mare.
I later discovered that Saffron had been seen on the highway for at least three days. As the highway comes under the jurisdiction of VicRoads, the local ranger was not permitted to take action to secure and impound the mare…so Saffron had been left where she was. Apparently another person had put her in a nearby paddock, but for some reason she had been put back out on the road.
After some days the owner arrived. When advised that authorities and others had been notified of the mare the statement was made ‘ I thought she had drowned in my dam.”
The owner went on to say that, as the mare seemed happy where she was, did they want to keep her? This quick thinking and compassionate person agreed.
We arranged for Saffron to be surrendered on to Honey’s Pledge.
As a dentist was attending that week, Saffron has already had her teeth attended to. Watching how Saffron preferred to reverse rather than move forward, and her funny high stepping walk got me thinking.
Saffron is so reluctant to walk forward she had to be reversed onto the float and then turned, but she did it.
On arrival on a wet and bleak day, the float was backed into a large yard so Saffron could unload straight into the yard. She moved onto the fence line where there were other horses and stayed there.
After time to settle I went in to assess Saffron, put on a new rug, show her where the water is and start her on a small feed. Quickly it was apparent that Saffron could not see. She cannot see the feed bucket, she stumbled over the water trough and was trembling as she tried to negotiate the strange environment, including the sounds of different animals in the vicinity.
The yard was not suitable to leave her in unattended and it is muddy and slippery. So with much coaxing and gentle words, I was finally able to get Saffron safely into a loose box.
We are just at the first night. After working her way around the walls with many bumps, Saffron seems to have settled. I have to feed and water her at regular intervals as she cannot find her feed and water buckets yet.
She has a new warmer rug on and Maisie the goat next door for company.
Tomorrow the vet will assess Saffron and we will get a better idea of what is behind her loss of sight and any other health issues.
My thoughts though keep going back to how terrified Saffron must have been stumbling around at the edges of the highway with cars and trucks roaring past, how she must have wondered where her paddock mate was to help her, no water. And I also think of that simple and unequivocal act of compassion by the Good Samaritan driven by the thought…
‘If she were mine I would want her to be safe……..’.
UPDATE: The vet has examined Saffron and she is totally blind. The blindness appears to be the result of past eye issues that have not been treated. She is not in pain but at present is disoriented in her new home. Unprecedented for us, we have put out an appeal to assist us with providing a safe paddock for Saffron.
https://honeyspledge.org/2013/08/10/a-safe-place-for-saffron-an-appeal-for-your-help/
Be part of a rescue and rehabilitation team……Foster care
At times Honey’s Pledge requires short to medium term foster care for our animal rescues. Most frequently this is for horses or ponies who have come into our care, but may be required for other animals.
We require foster carers to be experienced with type of animal they wish to foster and able to provide for basic care.
If you are in a position to help, please contact us using the form below. We will then e mail you an application to foster.
Many thanks…rescue is a team effort!
Sophie’s Choice
….. Sophie reveals her deepest, darkest secret: on the night that she arrived at Auschwitz, a sadistic doctor made her choose which of her two children would die immediately by gassing and which would continue to live, albeit in the camp. Of her two children, Sophie chose to sacrifice her seven-year-old daughter, Eva’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie’s_Choice_(novel)
Any person involved in rescue has to make choices.
So often it is said, ‘But you cannot save them all’ (with the sub-text ‘So why save any?’). No we cannot save them all, we cannot change all lives, but if we can change the life of one animal that is something.
One quote that I love is:
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. Helen Keller
Rescuing Sophie was a matter of chance, a matter of choice, and like the novel Sophie’s Choice, the journey has been a dark journey of betrayal and cruelty.
I first ‘met’ Sophie as post on a Facebook page dedicated to rescue. Every two weeks photographs of horses in the saleyards on the night prior to the auction, would be posted, to encourage attendance at the sales and for appropriate people to bid and secure the future of as many of the animals as possible.
At the saleyards. ‘Laura Jane’ the Wednesday after failing to win at Geelong on the Friday.
To understand the reality of saleyards here is a film by a rescuer of horses.
The night following the sales was always a mix of joy, finding out who had been saved, and depression at those purchased by the ‘meat men’, to be driven onto trucks and sent to a knackery, for slaughter.
The question was asked, ‘What happened to the chestnut mare?’….and the answer was one we all hated…’She was bought by the knackery’
Rescuers know the meat men and it was established that Laura Jane had been bought by a Melbourne knackery.
This same knackery was the subject of an undercover investigation.
Beware footage here is very confronting.
and also see
After a number of rapid telephone calls, a rescuer offered to take Laura Jane, with some financial assistance for the purchase price.
We made contact with the knackery and secured Laura Jane.
She still had to make the journey to Melbourne and had to stay at the knackery until she could be collected.
On the Sunday she was collected from the knackery. As she was being taken from the yards a grey mare tried to follow….see https://honeyspledge.org/2013/05/25/charlottes-fate/
Here is how Laura Jane looked now just nine days after her last race. Transported from Geelong to Echuca, at the saleyards, trucked from Echuca to Melbourne and kept in the yards.
Laura Jane, kicked and bitten
Laura Jane was given a new name and went off to be rehabilitated and to be trained as a riding horse, with the contractual requirement she would be rehomed under a contract to protect her future.
The months passed and there were positive updates regarding her overall nature and progress.
Then it became apparent, through the rescue network, that there was a problem. The full story is confidential, but Honey’s Pledge became aware that Laura Jane was at a property known for issues in regard to animal welfare.
Fortunately we were able to arrange immediately to collect Laura Jane.
We found a listless horse, looking aged for her years, covered in bites and kicks, with pressure sores, and a low body score. Even her manure showed that she had been eating dirt to ‘survive’.
She was taken direct to our vet practice and left as an inpatient to make sure she had the best care while she was fully checked, restarted on food and water and treated for parasites. This is a critical stage with rescue as horses can go downhill rapidly with colic. We also changed her name as a symbol of a new future to Sophie, meaning ‘wisdom’.
Sophie then came back to Honey’s Pledge to gain condition. She settled in well and over time her bites and kicks healed, and after two months her pressure sores resolved.
Sophie has one fear, being without food. This leads her to be aggressive at ‘defending’ her food, and unfortunately she caught her hind fetlock in a loose strand of wire. The injury was severe, cutting to the joint.
Our wonderful vet’s attended and with their care and some prolonged nursing Sophie’s leg is healing. The damage means Sophie can never be ridden and will have a possible weakness in the fetlock joint.
It does not appear to slow her down as she prances with paddock mate Ruth, her ‘twin’. https://honeyspledge.org/?s=ruth
Every day I look out of my window and see these two together, both ‘wastage’ from the racing industry. Sophie could so easily have been Nature’s Child if fate had not intervened. I rejoice in watching their life now free of fear, with plentiful food, water, shelter, companionship.
The next stage is now underway. A wonderful family wants to adopt Sophie as a companion. They are happy to care for her in exchange for love, nothing more, nothing less.
In order to rescue, it is essential that there are new safe homes out there, to make room for the next ‘choice’.
No we cannot save them all, but with your help we can save more.
Our day in the sun
Beautiful boy, our boy Petal
Why we love what we do…………….
Sharing as this clip encapsulates what rescue is all about.
Here is Ruth loving life.
Read Ruth’s story
Daisy, Daisy…we are crazy all for the love of you!
At Honey’s Pledge we care for many animals, including some wonderful cats. Here is the story of Daisy.
A very good friend in Geelong contacted me worried about a young kitten in her neighbourhood. The young female seemed to be permanently on the street with little care. . She asked around neighbours but those who answered had no idea who was caring for the kitten. The kitten with no tattoo showing she had been speyed and was not micro chipped.
It was a searing hot summer and the kitten was obviously sleeping under cars with no access to shelter or water. After making enquiries widely my friend asked if we could take in this little girl.
We were able to do so and named her ‘Daisy.’
She is a real beauty with wonderful snow leopard colouring with ginger highlights. She arrived in a cat basket travelling in style and immediately settled into a life of inside luxury to ‘the manor born’.
Daisy settled. Then one day my friend had a knock on her door. A neighbour held a young female dog in his arms but with her legs hanging. He frantically asked my friend to help as his dog had started having her pups and he did not know what to do. She sent him to a vet but found out the young dog, just 6 months old, was in pup to a large dog…….asking some questions she then found that these same people had ‘owned’ the kitten…but had gone on a long holiday, leaving her behind.
She told them that she had rehomed the kitten and they told her they really did not care……. So we were glad Daisy came to us. At a shelter she would have been lucky to have been adopted amongst the thousands of unwanted kittens.
It is vital that all domestic animals are de sexed. And carers who care, microchip their dogs and cats.
It is always really helpful if dogs and cats can have a tag with a mobile telephone number to contact a carer as soon as possible, especially after hours.
Here are some glamour shots of Daisy!
Needless carnage and suffering
Honeys Pledge has a large area of native forest and grasslands. We are proud to provide a home for a variety and number of native animals, who after all, were on this land before my forbearers arrived.
This morning started with an event that makes me very very angry and sad.
I received a call re a kangaroo, obviously in trouble, on the road adjacent to our property.
I called BADGER to come to assist and went to find the kangaroo
http://www.wildlifeshelter.org.au/.
Sitting on the road was a female, obviously from the forest that is the extension of our property. She was just sitting on the road.
I had to wait for an hour for the closest available carer to attend, thankfully it was Manfred from Five Freedoms. Manfred has helped us before and is a marksman specialising in darting, which was a huge help in this situation. http://fivefreedoms.com.au/
Firstly thank you so much for wildlife carers. You are invaluable.
All while we waited the kangaroo stayed put, even with passing cars and trucks. I must say all were considerate of her plight and my request they slow and pass wide, except for the driver of a quarry truck who ignored and drove past twice at speed and without diversion.
She licked her stomach and tried to scratch. From the amount of poo she had been there for some time.
When Manfred arrived he assessed her but was worried at an obvious head injury and irreparable damage to her eye. He darted her and we waited until this took effect before Manfred moved in to gently assess her.
Manfred showed me the baby kangaroo suckling from her Mum, and I thought how, all that time, unable to move, stranded on the road, she had still cared for her baby, licking her pouch even with a severe head wound.
Luckily, although she had had previous joeys, the second teat was dry, so there was no second joey on the loose without its mum.
As she slept, thankfully now without pain, Manfred checked her closely. As I had suspected, her injury was from being shot. And the shot was obviously from a .22 rifle, which is illegal.
I know when the shooting occurred and so it was evident this poor kangaroo had been with this horrific injury for two days, barely alive, without being able to get to water and in unimaginable pain.
There was no option but to euthanize her and her joey.
Although this was heart breaking it was so much better than the unbearable slow death that would have occurred otherwise from starvation, thirst and fox attack.
To all wildlife carers who dedicate their lives, and it is a true and complete dedication, I thank you from every fibre of my being for being there.
- To everyone who drives, go slow, stop for wildlife, give them to opportunity to get clear of traffic.
- Put your local wildlife carers number in your mobile.
- ALWAYS stop and check an animal. Always get assistance. be prepared to wait with them until help arrives to ensure their safety, no meeting is more important than a life.
- Give clear specific direction.
- Equip you car with some basics, a collapsible box, some towels, sturdy gloves, a bottle of water and rescue remedy.
- IF possible to do so and advised as safe by wildlife carer, please assist with transport.
- Consider donating to wildlife rescuers. They get NO government funding and are the only agencies that care for wildlife.
- If you get assistance, follow up with a donation.
- Report shooting to your local police. If you can do so safely get car registration details.
- Shooting from the road is always illegal.
- Illegal shooting should also be reported to DEPI (formally DSE) http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/about-depi/customer-service-centre or equivalent department in your state/territory.
And to the person who shot this kangaroo, why not use that ‘skill’ for good. We need marksmen to assist with euthanasia, not to cause wounding, suffering and unnecessary deaths.
And to our little kangaroos, rest in peace.
Honey's Pledge 