Sunday, March 29, 2009

Working Together

Regardless of our personal beliefs or even agendas it is great to see them put aside for the sake of helping others.  We all have a stake in the care and welfare of our animals - regardless of their status of companion, working, livestock or any other designation.  Manitoba is reaching out to help our friends to the south care for the animals that have been moved out of harm's way.  See the Free Press link here:


What can you do, here at home or in North Dakota?  Be willing to help however you can, be prepared so that you and your family (animals included) are ready if you have to leave or if you have to stay without many services.  

I got a call from North Dakota yesterday looking for crates for cats and dogs who have been moved from the flood areas and are being cared for by vets and other volunteers.  About four calls later we had an amazing response - the Winnipeg Humane Society put out a media call, offered their location for a drop off point and we've been coordinating with them to get the word out for our call.  The awesome folks at MERA (Manitoba Emergency Response For Animals) got us a truck, trailer and a driver to get the crates down to the border for pick up by our US relay driver.  All of this will be happening on Monday!  Not bad for a Saturday afternoon...and there is MORE to the story.

The 'more' is the crates, once they are done using them in North Dakota, will return to Manitoba for storage and  use when we need them for our own emergency animal care.  That means if our shelters, rescue groups or other organizations have a need we'll be able to help.  What a great coordination between AEWG, MERA and WHS to get this done...good work everyone!  

If you have a crate to donate, you can drop it off at the Winnipeg Humane Society - all sizes are needed but large crates are going to be in high demand. Remember these are for cats and dogs who are needing a crate to call home until they can return to their own homes and families.

If you are on Facebook check out the pages for WHS and MERA - get involved and be ready.  We can be a part of the solution when it comes to preparedness!  

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Stay Dry...

The new format for Chore Time will be twice monthly news and story feeds, much like the former email version, and in between will be commentary, editorial and information sharing. You are welcome and encouraged to contribute and share - lets make this an interactive community for sharing, growing and learning together.

We have a busy spring coming up here in Manitoba - many folks calved in harsh weather, and now we are facing flooding and rain and snow.  Great news it's not - although the good news is that we are better prepared in Manitoba for flooding than many other areas. Have you checked your farm and home to be sure you would be ready for harsh spring weather?  We don't know what Nature will toss our way but we need to be able to be prepared for taking care of ourselves and our animals for at least 72 hours. There are many links and resources please share the good and the bad here with everyone.

You may not know this but Chore Time has readers from all over the world and across the country - we all have a vast knowledge base to share.

Take care of yourselves and your animals!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Welcome To Chore Time!

You may have gotten used to the email version of Chore Time, but with the changes that have been made I thought this version would be more broadly accessible to all of you who have enjoyed the twice monthly news updates. They will still happen twice monthly, and I encourage you to become followers or subscribe to this blog to catch the newest stories, links and images from around the world with the focus always being on farmed animals and the farmers who care for them 24/7/365.

This blog also allows for your feedback, input and will encourage dialog. Let's talk about farming and talk about animal agriculture and keep welfare on the top of the list of important issues for us to be active, proactive and vocal about!