We will keep the site updated with success stories. We've had some happy endings and would like everyone to see how their support gives an unwanted dog or cat a second chance at life. Read on!
A BOY AND HIS CAT:
A SAD TAIL WITH A HAPPY ENDING [Sorry, no photo available]
Hi there, my name is Nixon. I’m neither a crook, nor male and if someone gave me a dog named Checkers, I’d give it right back. I came to PAWS Animal Welfare Society scared and alone after my first owners abandoned me to move to Portage. Just dumped me outside, like a broken chair. Can you imagine! No wonder I was skittish. Thank heaven for a neighbor who called PAWS.
PAWS introduced me to Josh. I’ve seen some pretty cool cats in my day, but Josh, one look and I lost my heart. When he took me home, I didn’t even mind that he was human. We lived together for nearly a year. I protected him and he fed me. I know, cats get all the work and humans most of the pleasure, but that’s life.
Then disaster struck. Josh had to move and his new apartment wouldn’t let him keep me. He took me back to PAWS. He promised me he’d be back for me as soon as he could, but told them if they found me a new home, he’d understand. At first, I was angry. Dumped again, and after all I did for him too. I hid for about a week behind the bookcases before I came out. Then I had an idea. I’d refuse to go to anyone else’s house. People say many things about me, but fickle is not among them. I love Josh. I knew he loved me too.
I was in a foster home when my white knight returned riding through the streets of Fort Kent waving a banner that read “Nixon Come Home.” He’d convinced his landlord they needed me, what’s a home without a cat. The minute Josh scooped me up he started to purr, or maybe that was me. I’m not sure. Doesn’t matter, we’re together again. Forever this time.
| Morgan and Lucas adopted these two homeless female kittens from PAWS Animal Welfare Society. The adoption fee was $80 per kitten. In return, the new pet owners received a voucher which will cover the basic costs of spaying/neutering their kitties which often exceeds the $80 adoption fee. When the kittens are 4-5 months old, their voucher can be redeemed. PAWS will cover a pre-op exam, spaying or neutering and rabies vaccination. The voucher system ensures animals get fixed, and the $80 adoption fee helps cover the Veterinarian cost. Vouchers are only for abandoned/stray pets that need a home. Crystal and Mittens were lucky enough to find a forever home together! | Image: http://www.ourvalleypaws.org/e107_images/custom/KITTENS.jpg |
| Image: http://www.ourvalleypaws.org/e107_images/custom/babies.jpg | These adorable dilute-tortiose shell girls were born in a garage on Market Street. Their mother was living as part of a colony at the local McDonalds. PAWS has been monitoring this colony and trying to trap, neuter and release as many as possible. The kittens were found by a local animal lover and the mother was humanely trapped so she could continue to care for her babies. Once they were old enough, they all found forever homes and PAWS covered the expense of having "Mama Cat" spayed. Destined to live with the nameless on the streets of Fort Kent, these girls are all happy and healthy and soon old enough to be neutered as well! Shelby, Carol, Jeanette and MJ are living lives of luxury in their respective homes. |
| Here is "Mama Cat". She was humanely trapped with her kittens and held long enough to take good care of them. Living in the McDonalds colony did not give her many opportunities for socialization with humans, so she remained fearful and unapporachable but not mean. We knew it would be hard to find a home for this gal, but we got lucky and she now has a forever home where she can live her life as she pleases and not reproduce anymore. She'll probably never be a lap cat, but maybe someday will see humans in a different light. | Image: http://www.ourvalleypaws.org/e107_images/custom/mama cat.jpg |
| Image: http://www.ourvalleypaws.org/e107_images/custom/buddies.jpg | These two cuties were also living as part of the McDonalds colony. Tiny and on their own, they were spotted by a local animal lover and caught on two separate occasions. Sunny, the orange kitten, has a forever home with Cheryl while Teddy lives across the street with Linsy. This unseparable duo has regular "playdates" since their bond was so strong. A third kitten was trapped soon after by PAWS member Paulette. These kittens don't know how lucky they are--or DO they? |
| This "bouquet" of adorable babies were born to a feral mother on North Perley Brook Road. Unfortunately, the mama cat was sick with feline leukemia and needed to be euthanized but lucky for the kittens, they were all healthy. They were taken to R.O.A.R., a rescue facility in Connecticut and were all adopted within three weeks. A happy ending for all five!! | Image: http://www.ourvalleypaws.org/e107_images/custom/kitty_bouquet SM.jpg |
There are many causes that I am fighting for; this is one of them. I’m attempting to pole this “Miracle Mile” to raise money to help establish a shelter in the St. John Valley of Northern Maine to provide adoption and animal care with emphasis on trapping, spaying/neutering and release. I’m doing this to honor my Mom, because of her love for the innocent in our world. My Mom, like St. Francis of Assisi, has a particular fondness for animals. She would say that not only are they innocent, they don’t hurt us; we just hurt them. To illustrate her love for animals, several years ago, my Mom, my two sisters and I were involved in a catastrophic moose accident traveling to the Bangor Airport on I-95, just south of Houlton. It was a miracle we survived. After the crash, and after assuring her children were ok, she turned her attention to the welfare of the moose, which was alive and in the front seat with us. It soon died in her lap.
My Mom devoted her life to caring for others, through her actions and prayers, and this is just one thing a son can do for his mother, so that some of her prayers can be answered.
In this “Poling for PAWS” pledge, we are asking you to contribute whatever you can, by sending in a donation by mail to PO Box 94, Fort Kent Mills, ME 04744 or by PayPal through PAWS’ website at www.ourvalleypaws.org. The “Miracle Mile” will involve me poling my 20’ Old Town Tripper canoe, with my 12’ well used ash canoe pole up the Cross Lake-Mud Lake Thoroughfare, from the mouth of Cross Lake, to the bridge crossing on Route 161. Poling a canoe is an art practiced by the old-time river men, and now, by this kid from the Bronx. It is about ¾ mile upriver, and ¾ mile back downriver. This trip will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 3, 2009 [Please note: This date was changed from the original date of Thanksgiving Day]. The weather at the end of November in Northern Maine is like mid-winter in Boston.
I’m also attempting to do this “Miracle Mile” to bring immediate attention to some of my other causes involving the innocent in our world. All my life I have strived to do things which make sense, in large part because of all the insanity I saw all around me growing up. Vietnam, the assassinations of John, Bobby, and Martin, poverty, hatred, proliferation of disease, weapons buildup, Iraq, to name a few. The world today, doesn’t make much sense to any of us anymore, and the suffering is getting worse. These actions I take in attempting this “Miracle Mile” make sense to me.
I’ve been in contact with leaders throughout the world trying to build a momentum to create a world of peace. A world where we can cooperate as brothers and sisters, and not as enemies as we are now, on behalf of all of the world’s children. Leaders from various nations have responded and their beautiful letters about peace can be found on my website http://www.worldpeacemiracle.com along with other information relevant to building a safe and healthy world for all the children of this world.
This peace effort had to be put on hold when I was diagnosed with terminal cancer, as I needed to devote my time to developing and implementing a treatment paradigm. This disease process that we call cancer I do not take personally; it is a disease originating out of our disrespect for our earth, our air and water. I worry for those we leave behind, our children.
The cancer I have within me; metastatic melanoma of the liver, and beyond, originated as a uveal (eye) melanoma. I was told that this cancer has a zero percent survival rate and in September 2008 was given six months to live; anywhere from 2 months to a maximum of 10 months. Treatments, proven to be unsuccessful and guaranteed to make me sick were offered, along with drugs to take away the pain while taking away my life. That didn’t make sense to me, so I decided to begin to take care of myself, choosing a pathway of respecting my body and its own powerful healing abilities. It involves diet, herbs, and meditation, or, what many call prayer. When I pole this miracle mile, it will be in my 15th month of living.
I’m now ready in body and soul, to make good on a promise I made to the God I have talked with all my life when I was given months to live. That promise being to stay alive long enough to be hopeful about what the future holds for my children, and theirs. I will feel this hope when I see all the leaders of this world agree to the necessary first step of ridding this world entirely of humankind’s greatest weapon of fear, the nuclear threat.
In the picture at the beginning of this letter are myself at the motor, my grandson Brendan, my son Jimmy, and my granddaughter, Noelle. We were heading upriver on a momentus trout fishing trip, on the same stretch of river as the “Miracle Mile. With us is a friend, an “angel.” This angel has a message for all who see it. The message for me was “Jimmy, you’re heading in the right direction and you’re not alone on your journey.” The angel accompanying us, I have come to believe, is my good friend, Jesus. I also sense two other souls, my Dad and neighbor Frankie, along with many other good souls I have not yet met.
Please support these efforts for the innocent in our world, through your donation to this cause, and through your prayers and thoughts.
In peace and love,
Jim Killarney
