NEWSLETTER January/February 2004 ACTION VOLUNTEERS FOR ANIMALS P.O. Box 64578, Unionville, ON L3R 0M9 905-771-6273 www.actionvolunteersforanimals.com actionvolunteers@yahoo.com

Handing Over the Torch …

It is with full confidence and appreciation that I hand over the reigns of presidency to Shana Mortimer-Gibson. Shana has been a very active member of AVA for several years. An expert on the care and handling of feral cats, she feeds and traps at numerous colonies, as well as runs one of AVA’s most successful adoption programs. Shana also serves on the bazaar committee and raises thousands of dollars for AVA every year at her giant garage sale. She cares deeply for all animals and for Action Volunteers for Animals, and I am pleased and excited to have Shana as our new president.

I would also like to welcome our other new officers: Treasurer: Carol Lawson, 1^st Vice President: Rena LePage, 2^nd Vice President: Josephine Polk, Secretary: Janis Gibbs.

Yours truly,

Denielle Duncan

Poor Tom Update

To help us keep track of growing vet bills and increasing numbers of cats and caretakers, we will be implementing some new policies for the Poor Tom Committee. We are hoping that these new procedures will enable us keep better track of where Poor Tom’s money is going, so we can spend it wisely; and that they will also help with record-keeping and follow up for each animal.

The system we will be using has been tried by other groups in the GTA, and both the vets and the rescue groups find it works really well.

Instead of phone approvals, a voucher will be faxed to the vet when an animal is being taken for treatment. The voucher will note the animals age, description, temperament, etc., and the procedures to be done (ie. vaccinations, spaying, medication, etc.). The vet will ensure that the voucher matches the animal brought in, and at month end will attach the voucher to the invoice. Your “approval rep.” will fill out the voucher when you call for approval. Please do not call Maria for vet approvals; she is no longer handling this. For west end, call Janis 905-271-6733; east end call Shana 905-839-7637; central call Carol 416-438-1295.

Please don’t take any animals to the vet without prior authorization. Our vets have been instructed that AVA will not pay for any work that has not been pre-authorized.

Those of you who are “volume users” will be receiving a package in the mail shortly that explains these changes in more detail. Let’s all work together for the animals’ sake!!

More Poor Tom News

Maria Davies has, as most of you know, served AVA for a long successful term, and has worked extremely hard during that term for AVA and the animals. But she has decided it’s time for some well-earned relaxation. While she will still be active with AVA, Maria has retired from her position as treasurer. Maria is no longer doing the vet approvals, please do not call her for approvals (See Poor Tom update.) We cannot thank Maria enough for her years of dedication and hard work.

As of Jan. 1, 2004, our new treasurer and Poor Tom Fund administrator is Carol Lawson. Most of you probably know Carol, but for those who don’t, she has been a valued and busy member of the AVA team, working hard on ferals, adoptions and fundraisers, and has been a member of the board of directors for over a year. Thank you Carol for taking on this time-consuming and very important job!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For helping make bazaar 2003 a great success. The numbers are in (see this newsletter) and they are great. The door was up and a lot of the tables were too.

To all of you who contributed in any way, shape or form: by shopping (that’s the most fun part), soliciting donations, working a table or donating merchandise: we couldn't have done it without you.! Special thanks also to the bazaar committee: Rena, Carol, Shana, Janis and Denielle, who start working on this event several months beforehand, doing pickups, pricing, cleaning and soliciting donations from stores and businesses.

Way to go everyone!

Although we appreciate the members coming out once a year for our fall bazaar we’d like to remind you that our annual giant garage sale (held at Shana's every spring) is just as big and makes almost as much money as the bazaar. However, because it’s not so well-known, we have only a few volunteers for this garage sale every year. If you like to help at the bazaar, please consider helping at our spring sale too! We are in desperate need of people to do pick-ups, sort, price and sell –– and of course we always need lots of shoppers too!

Please call Shana and tell her you'd love to help at our “spring bazaar”.

905-839-7637

ACTION VOLUNTEERS FOR ANIMALS BAZAAR
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, 2003
ETOBICOKE OLYMPIUM
 
 2003  2002
 
 
Door 628.00  464.00
White Elephant 1,622.00 1,583.00
New Table 377.00  487.00
Boutique 337.00  314.00
Poor Tom 546.00  498.00
Tambouli 1,260.00 1,305.00
Linens 158.00  125.00
Crafts  0.00  273.00
Jewellery 234.00  156.00
Xmas 415.00  490.00
Snack Bar 298.00  170.00
Baking 333.00  313.00
Toonies 280.00  210.00
Psychic Reader 150.00  65.00
Silent Auction  2,243.00 1,664.00
  TOTAL 8,881.00
Rent 462.89
Storage 329.51
Truck Rental 142.12
Misc. Expenses     132.00 
TOTAL EXPENSES  1,166.52  
 GRAND TOTAL 7,714.48

Adoption Centres

A.V.A. now has two adoption centres. One is with Superpet in the west, co-ordinated by Janis Gibbs (905-271-6733) and the other is with Petsmart in the east, co-ordinated by Shana Mortimer Gibson (905-839-7637). We hope to add a 3^rd centre in the near future.

If you have adoptable kittens and cats and you need help with placing them, please call and we will do our best to help. The adoption fee at these stores has been increased to $150 for one cat/kitten and $250 for two felines.

Microchipping

All cats and kittens adopted out through the two stores are now microchipped. Both Shana and Janis are doing the microchipping and we hope to train other A.V.A. members in the near future. More microchips, chippers and scanners are on order and should arrive imminently.

Pet Nutrition and Related Pet Health Issues

Interactive Seminar

Hosted by ORA

Featuring:
Ann Martin, Author of Foods Pets Die For and Protect Your Pet
- and -
Cynthia Harcourt, DVM, Homeopathic Veterinarian

Metro Hall at 55 John St. in Toronto
from 10:00am to 4:30pm on Saturday, February 7^th.

Some items on the agenda:
- The risks of some commercial pet food diets.
- Increased incidence of cancer and other degenerative disorders.
- Vaccines and over vaccination.
- The raw diet controversy.
- Holistic veterinarian versus traditional veterinarian.
- Vitamins and supplements for your pets – necessity for fad?

Don’t miss this event! Get useful information that can save you thousands of dollars in vet bills and help your pets live a longer and healthier life! 

Tickets are $45.00 plus G.S.T. - Lunch and refreshments are included!
***Tickets MUST be purchased in advance***
For tickets and info call 416-726-8895 or 905-727 6375,
Or email info@ora-animalsrescue.org

Claudia Vecchio
Founder of ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals
info@ora-animalsrescue.org
http://www.ora-animalsrescue.org

ANTI-FUR-DAY

If you live in or near Toronto, please turn out on Sat., Feb. 14th (St. Valentine's Day) to ask shoppers to have a heart and not buy fur.

ARK II and Freedom for Animals have organized a protest that will start at The Bay at Yonge and Queen (from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.),  march along Queen , and end with another protest at Queen and Spadina, in the heart of the fur district (2:30 to 3:00 p.m.). Participants are asked to start gathering at 12:30 pm to prepare for the protest.

There will be a preparatory meeting on February 5^th, 2004 starting at 6 pm and ending at approximately 8 pm at the 519 Church St. Community Centre.

You will be joining people in about 20 cities, coast to coast, who are marking Canada's 15th National Anti-Fur Day.

For further information please contact:

Helen Prancic Suzanne Lahaie

ARK II Freedom for Animals

416-536-2308 416-591-5120

www.ark-ii.com www.freeanimals.org

Upcoming Events

Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 21 & 22, 2004: Fundraising table at the Cat Show, 9 am thru to 5 pm, at the Etobicoke Olympium on Rathburn Road.

Sunday, April 4:

General Meeting starting at 1 pm. at 110 The Esplanade.

Saturday & Sunday, May 15 & 16

or May 29 & 30:

Giant Garage Sale, Pickering

Storage Unit

We now have a storage unit available in the Eglinton & Victoria Park area.  We encourage members to collect bazaar and garage sale items all year round. Please call Shana at 905-839-7637 (east), Carol at 416-738-1295 (central) and Janis at 905-271-6733 (west) to arrange for pick up or delivery at a mutually agreeable time. All items must be in saleable condition.  No clothes and only coffee table or animal related books in good condition should be accepted.

Food Donation

A.V.A. has picked up three 53 foot tractor trailer loads of dry cat food, amounting to a total of 148,000 pounds, in the past two months. The first two loads were distributed to members of various animal charities. Many thanks must go to Marilyn Cole for allowing us to park these 2 tractor trailer loads on her property during November and December. The last truck load has just arrived and had to be parked elsewhere in Pickering due to snow conditions. Please call Shana if you or anyone you know needs cat food for feeding feral cat colonies and/or multicat households. There is a small charge per bag to offset the cost of trucking and storage. Also if anyone knows of a location where a 45 foot tractor trailer could be parked on a permanent basis please let Shana know.

Internet User Requirements

People wishing to have their cats shown on

www.petfinder.com

and

www.actionvolunteersforanimals.com

must adhere to the following principles:

1) Effective immediately, all people wishing to add their animals to the internet must be members of A.V.A. Those whose animals are already on the internet must become members by March 1, 2004.

2) A.V.A. adoption forms are to be used. They are to be filled in in triplicate, one copy to be retained by the adopter, one retained by the A.V.A. representative and one to be submitted to the treasurer along with the adoption fee.

3) The A.V.A. adoption fee standards are to be followed:

$120 for one kitten/cat

$200 for a pair of kittens/cats

$150 for one microchipped kitten/cat

$250 for a pair of microchipped kittens/cats.

4) In all cases the cost of the initial vaccinations and the neutering/spaying is included in the adoption fee. In the case of kittens that were deemed too young or a cat considered too ill to spay/neuter, once the animal(s) is/are considered ready for spaying/neutering it is the responsibility of the A.V.A. representative to coordinate with the treasurer to ensure that the procedure(s) is/are performed.

POOR TOM’S PAGE

Dear Friends of My Friends,

At the time of writing this (Jan. 8) our dear friend Ruby Welbourne left us. She was 106, and as you may recall from the Reflections page in the last newsletter this means she had lived through six reigns of the British monarchy, from Queen Victoria (imagine!) to the present Queen.

A lifelong Vegetarian (“Animals are my friends, and I don’t eat my friends”) and a founding member of AVA, she loved all creatures and worked tirelessly, as long as she was able, for their wellbeing.

Past her 100^th year, she still lived alone except for her cat Bella, the last of her feline companions. She visited regularly with Our Family as you see from the accompanying photo taken in our garden. She was a good friend to Ursula Hart of the Palgrave animal sanctuary, and MY Human and Ruby would ‘make a day of it’ there, walking the dogs and feeding the hens which, being Ursula’s birds, would follow after, stopping occasionally to be petted and stroked, quite without fear of Humans or dogs. Cats were there too, but such gatherings were conducted away from the dogs (which meant no harm but which were prone to pounce). Ruby loved the fact that so many animals were outside, enjoying nature as they were meant to – dogs, cats, horses, ducks, geese and a turkey, cats of course and a few other species, once even a tiger visited.

These short memories of a dear friend are not to suggest that she was an ‘animal person’ only. Indeed, her interests and concerns were many and varied, but since I myself am “just a cat” I cannot speak of her other commitments, the ‘people’ ones. If you wish to know of these, speak to My Human.

I don’t want to write any more just now.

My love,

The cats on Ruby are Lily and Purdey.

Your own Poor Tom