News arrived just before Christmas of 2007, and it was not merry. The surviving owner of the land the sanctuary was built on informed the organization they would have to relocate. As she explained it, she was now alone and had no provisions to deal with liability issues or any other issues that could arise. Everyone worked together to formulate a relocation plan for a rapidly approaching move-out deadline of March 15th!

Talk about having an overloaded Task List:

• Find new land to house lions, tigers, wolves, servals, caracal, lynx, leopards, lemurs, and iguana, a variety of birds and other creatures of the wild, plus, of course, the bear.

• In two weeks find enough people to help take down numerous cages and housing the animals were accustomed to.

• Pack up and move box upon box of records and office supplies – not to mention, the office.

• In less than two weeks find enough people to load and move the building materials that were once home to the animals.

• And then what? How do you pack up wildlife and shuffle them off to temporary shelters, not really even knowing for how long? Where will they go? Who will take them in?

I don’t know about you, but I have a million questions to ask Elmira’s Wildlife Sanctuary volunteers as to the how, why, what, and even an “if”. In the next week or two, I will track down some more details and ask a bunch of questions.

Please get back to me with YOUR questions about this mighty adventure. OK?

Pinellas County is home to an estimated 227,000 cats and kittens. Many are strays or become homeless for various reasons. Save Our Strays, Inc. is on a mission – to shelter and find homes for cats and kittens in need in Pinellas County, Florida.

As many as 12,000 cats are euthanized in Pinellas County during the course of a year. More people suffering from tough times leads to more cats joining the homeless population. Euthanasia becomes a necessity when cats suffer from life-threatening injuries or illnesses, when they cannot be socialized, or more simply, when there is just not enough time or space to help them.

Save Our Strays, Inc. is committed to helping as many homeless cats as space permits. They are continually seeking additional foster homes – even on a temporary basis. Since January 1995, they medically assisted and adopted out over 8000 cats and kittens. All this is made possible through volunteers who give their time and love to care for these animals.

Save Our Strays is very proud of their accomplishments, and rightly so. Add up all the hard work, worry, laughter and tears, friendship and dedication, and what do they have to say for themselves?