5 Pets Rescued as Fire Destroys Massachusetts Animal Shelter

A fire that swept through the no-kill Sweetpea Friends of Rutland (FOR) Animals Inc. shelter in Paxton, Mass., late last night tragically took the lives of as many as 50 dogs and cats, but firefighters and volunteers were fortunately able to save five of the pets.

The structure was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. “We didn’t think we’d be able to save any of the animals,” Paxton Fire Chief Jay Conte told WCVB. “That was our first goal – to do that. We were just trying to get to the dogs if we could.”

Four dogs (in the photo above) and one cat who were rescued survived.

Firefighters from Holden, Leicester, Spencer, Rutland and Oakham assisted the Paxton Fire Department in putting out the blaze. The fire appears to be accidental, but is being investigated by the state’s fire marshal’s office, WCVB reports.

Paramedics and a veterinarian who’s the wife of a firefighter treated the rescued pets for smoke inhalation.

Devastated volunteers “sobbed as they tried to warm the dogs rescued from the burning building, holding them wrapped in blankets, and shared the names of the dogs that were lost,” the Telegram & Gazette reports.

“Tonight, Sweetpea has lost almost everything,” the organization wrote on its Facebook page late last night. “We would like to send a HUGE thank you to our community, without whom, we would have lost everything.”

Sweetpea takes in pets who are on “death row” at other shelters, or whose owners can’t keep them but don’t want to surrender them to a kill shelter.

A vigil will be held at the shelter tonight at 7 p.m. to honor the memory of the pets who died in the fire.

How to Help Sweetpea FOR Animals Recover from the Fire

“This fire will clean out our whole year’s operating budget,” Sweetpea FOR Animals writes on its website. “We will struggle to rebuild and to pay off the mortgage. This is really serious for us – we had just taken a mortgage on the rescue shelter and one of the two shelter buildings burned to the ground.”

To help Sweetpea recover and rebuild, here’s what you can do:

  • Make a donation via the Help Us Keep Saving Our Animals GoFundMe.com page. As of this morning, over $35,700 of its $100,000 goal has been reached. (When a fire started by an 15-year-old arsonist destroyed the Manchester Dog’s Home in the U.K. last year, over $1 million was raised in just a day. Let’s do this.)
  • Make a tax-deductible donation by PayPal or send a check payable to Sweepea FOR Animals to Sweetpea FOR Animals, 1090 Pleasant St. (Route 122), Paxton MA, 01612.
  • Check the Sweetpea Friends of Rutland Animals Facebook page for up-to-date lists of supplies needed.

Photos via Twitter; Facebook

Hero Pit Bull Stabbed While Protecting Dog Dad from Home Invaders (He’s OK)

Around 10 p.m. Thursday night, Aubrey Christopher was awakened by the growling of his usually docile 1-year-old Pit Bull, Blue.

When Christopher got up to see what was the matter, he saw three strangers standing on the porch of his Kansas City, Mo., home. One man had a gun, and another was holding a knife.

Christopher ran to his kitchen to find something to protect himself with. In the meantime, Blue burst through the screen door.

The Pit Bull scared off the criminals, but was stabbed in the neck in the process.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Christopher told KCTV. “It was terrible. I called the police and wrapped a pillow case around his neck to try to stop the blood.”

With help from the Kansas City Police Department, Christopher rushed Blue to Union Hill Animal Hospital.

“He’s such a sweet dog,” Dr. Christina Belew, the veterinarian who treated Blue, told KCTV. “He was licking the hospital staff as they were treating his wounds. Everyone fell in love with him.”

Blue is now recovering at home with his grateful dog dad.

“If it wasn’t for him, I’d be a dead man,” Christopher told KCTV. “I’m just so glad he’s going to be okay.”

The Union Hill Animal Hospital offered a discount for Blue’s emergency treatment. The $600 bill was paid by the nonprofit Frankie’s Friends, according to KSHB.

To make a donation to help Frankie’s Friends help save more heroes like Blue, click here.

Photo via Frankie’s Friends

Pot-Bellied Pig and Her Pooch BFFs Need Forever Home Together

NOV. 25, 2015 UPDATE: Happy news! Paprika, Pickles and Pattie the Pig have been adopted together by Blue Hound Farm in Lewisberry, Pa., WPVI reports. According to the farm’s website, it’s home to horses, sheep, goats, cows, pigs, ducks and more. “Triple P” will be off to join the rest of the menagerie Friday.

Paprika, Pickles and Pattie, who are inseparable, are ready to be adopted together into a forever home.

Paprika, 4, and Pickles, 2,  are female and male Chihuahua/Pomeranian mixes. Pattie is a 2-year-old pot-bellied pig. The trio, referred to as “Triple P” by the Animal Rescue League of Berks County, was left in the stray building at the Pennsylvania shelter in September.

“They sleep together. They do everything together, go for walks together,” Sarah McKillip, manager of the shelter, told WFMZ. “The littlest one rides the pig’s back, and they’re like a real family.”

The one thing Triple P does not do together is eat, McKillip jokingly told ABC News, because Pattie the Pig will scarf up the dogs’ food as well as her own.

McKillip said the trio is often in cahoots with each other. “When we first got them, we once moved everyone outside to clean the kennels, but Pattie found a way to open the door into the kennel and let the two dogs in,” she told ABC News. “We had to chase the three of them through the kennel. It was hilarious.”

When they were abandoned at the shelter in September, both dogs were infested with fleas and had little hair from the neck down. Two months later, they’re both flea-free, healthy and energetic.

Both dogs are well trained. Like her two buddies, Pattie, who weighs 120 pounds, is also housebroken.

“She’s obviously not small. She gets a little bit grumpy like some pigs do, so it’s a tough sell,” McKillip told WFMZ.

So far, most potential adopters are interested in either the dogs or the pot-bellied pig, but not all three. If no one is willing to give Triple P a forever home, the shelter may have to separate the BFFs.

“It will be heartbreaking to watch Pattie, because she would probably be the one that’s left behind,” McKillip told WFMZ as her eyes filled with tears.

“They are a family, which is what breaks my heart to have to separate them. The staff, we cry about it when we think about separating them, and I’m getting emotional right now. I don’t want to separate them, so please come help.”

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The Animal Rescue League has been receiving a lot of inquiries about Triple P “and a few viable candidates both locally and out-of-state that we’re looking into,” McKillip told ABC News. “The only thing is that we prefer people with pig experience or really willing to learn and research about taking care of pigs. We also want to make sure the potential adopter’s township doesn’t have any laws against owning pigs.”

Potential adopters can try fostering Triple P for a few weeks to see how it works out before making it official. The Animal Rescue League will waive the usual adoption fees.

If everything works out, “We will send them home with everything we have for them, and we will give you a big hug!” McKillip told WFMZ.

Anyone interested in adopting Paprika, Pickles and Pattie can email McKillip at smckillip@berksarl.org or call 610-373-8830.

Photo via Facebook

Pit Bull Mix Stays by Buddy Trapped in Fence for 2 Days

After a pair of male and female Pit Bull mixes apparently escaped from their Atlanta yard last week, the female’s back right paw became entangled in the wire of a chain-link fence she’d attempted to jump over. She was left dangling and standing on her front paws.

Her buddy stood by her side, barking nonstop to get attention.

It worked — but the person who saw the trapped dog didn’t bother letting anyone know until 48 hours later.

“We received a call from someone saying there was a dog hanging by her toe on a fence and that she had been there for two days,” Karen Hirsch, of LifeLine Animal Project, told Mashable.

Hirsch and others from LifeLine, a nonprofit that manages Fulton County Animal Services, freed the female, who they named Athena. When they took her inside their trailer to examine her foot, her buddy, who they named Zeus, was beside himself, barking and crying.

“We had to bring him back and put him in the cage beside her,” Hirsch told The Dodo.

Despite her ordeal, Athena only suffered a swollen toe. When Hirsch visited Athena and Zeus the next day, she said Zeus “was busy licking her toe and protecting her from everyone.”

Thanks to Lifeline, Athena received the veterinary care she needed. “It’s important to note that at most municipal shelters, she would be put to sleep or left untreated,” Hirsch told The Dodo. “But LifeLine raises money enabling us to help animals who are in trouble at the county shelters we manage.”

Lifeline Animal Project was intending to adopt the two out together, but according to Fox 5 yesterday, the two BFFs are now back at home with their pet parents.

Tillie Stayed with Her Trapped Buddy, Too

Just two months ago, an Irish Setter named Tillie also proved just how loyal dogs can be. When her best friend, a Basset Hound named Phoebe, fell into an old water basin in Vashon Island, Wash., and couldn’t climb back out, Tillie did not leave her side for days.

“For nearly a week, Tillie stayed by her side with the exception of the few minutes of each day when she went for help,” Vashon Island Pet Protectors (VIPP) wrote on its Facebook page.

A man who lived nearby notified VIPP that a “reddish dog” had approached him on his property a few times, and then would run back into the ravine.

VIPP rescued Phoebe from the cistern. Both dogs were in good condition. The two had escaped from their house during a party when a guest left the front door open.

“Tillie would never leave, even if the gate was left open, but she’s best friends with Phoebe, and so when Phoebe follows her little Basset Hound nose, Tillie always goes with her to make sure she’s okay,” their relieved dog dad, B.J. Duft, told ABC News. “They’re best pals — inseparable.”

For being such a loyal friend, Tillie was honored Oct. 15 as a “Washingtonian of the Day” by Gov. Jay Inslee, who encouraged everyone in the state “to celebrate the bravery and loyalty of this canine companion.”

News Crew Rescued Dog Dangling from Fence

Unlike the person who waited two days to let anyone know Athena was stuck in an Atlanta fence, a news crew in Corpus Christi, Texas, took immediate action in March when they came across a dog who happened to be in the exact same predicament as Athena.

Using a pliers, an unidentified 3News photographer cut the dog loose and the crew called Animal Care Services.

It was not known how long the dog had been trapped or if anyone else had seen him there. He suffered “a little bit of damage to the paw,” a spokesman for Animal Care Services told 3News.

A woman across the street told the animal control officer she knew the dog’s owner.

“When we spoke to the owner, we educated them, told them they needed to go to their primary veterinarian for medical treatment,” the spokesman told 3News. “We’re going to be following up on that in the next couple of days to make sure they did provide that treatment for the animal.”

Video of Police Officer Rescuing Dog Trapped on Fence Goes Viral

In perhaps one of the most famous rescues of a dog trapped on a fence, Plattsburg, Mo., police officer Nick Sheppard rescued a dangling dog in May 2010.

The rescue was recorded on a very shaky video by a camera inside Sheppard’s hand-held radio.

The video — featuring the dog’s unforgettable reaction to being saved — went viral. The dog was reunited with his owner soon afterward.

Photos via Twitter; Facebook; Facebook

Buh-Bye, Cute Puppy in Budweiser’s Super Bowl Ad Who Didn’t Sell Beer

By now you’ve probably forgotten about most of the commercials that aired during last February’s Super Bowl game.

…Except for that “Lost Puppy” one with the yellow Lab. That’s right, this one.

The problem is, that commercial — which was voted the No. 1 viewer favorite in just about every poll — probably ended up selling more Kleenex tissue than Budweiser beer.

That’s why, sadly, there won’t be a puppy in the Budweiser commercial that airs during Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016.

“Budweiser aired two very different spots in last February’s Super Bowl, and we learned that content focused on the quality of our beer was most effective in generating sales,” said Jorn Socquet, vice president of marketing for Anheuser-Busch, in a statement sent to Adweek.

“Starting with our ‘Brewed the Hard Way’ ad in last year’s game and throughout 2015, our marketing has featured a bold, confident voice that speaks directly to Budweiser drinkers, and sales trends have improved as a result. We’ll continue this tone in Super Bowl 50, and we’re excited to explore new creative territory.”

Borrrr-ing! And what’s especially unfair is that Budweiser has been featuring Clydesdale horses in its Super Bowl commercials for decades — yet the company gave viewers only two measly opportunities, in 2014 and 2015, to establish a connection between cute puppies and buying beer.

I’m fairly certain that if the puppy could stick around for Super Bowls 50 through 60, viewers would successfully make that association and Budweiser beer sales would skyrocket.

 

So, have those cute Clydesdales been given the ad ax as well?

Nope. They will “most certainly make an appearance,” Socquet assured Adweek. Bless those beer-sales-generating beasts.

I know I’m not alone in wanting the puppy back. In an Adweek poll last month asking if people wanted the puppy to appear in Budweiser’s Super Bowl 50 commercial, a whopping 75 percent answered, heck, yeah.

Many advertising industry experts also disagree with Budweiser’s decision to dump the cute doggie.

“The commercials that usually win the popularity contests are the ones that have recurring characters and an ongoing story,” Scott Davis, chief growth officer at brand consultancy Prophet, whatever that means, told Adweek.

But apparently Anheuser-Busch doesn’t care about what industry experts or we consumers think. For that reason, on Feb. 7, I’ll watch the game (“Puppy Bowl XII,” that is) while enjoying a nice, frosty non-Budweiser beverage.

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