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DHA shelter projects manager Steph Carter has a big hug for Major on the day of his official adoption. Photo courtesy of DHA
The White House has been home to a variety of presidential pets, possibly rivaled only by Noah’s Ark. Cats of all stripe; dogs of all spot; plus silkworms, goats and horses; caged birds; raccoons; hamsters and rats; bunnies; squirrels; lizards; chickens and turkeys; a couple of ill-advised choices like grizzly bear cubs, wallabies and tigers, all of which were gifts and were promptly delivered to zoos or “museums”; a cussing parrot; and one trick pony, owned by Zachary Taylor.
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Several sets of statistics indicate that most New Year’s resolutions fail by February, so I’m getting a head start. Two columns ago, I resolved to feature more dogs, and I did, one column ago nothing but dogs. OK, time to bring back the cats, along with a rescuer who spent the past eight years rescuing them and striving to save them from injury and disease.
Aurelie Vanderhoek formed Zoey’s Place Rescue, named in memory of a beloved cat, after pulling a stray momcat and her kittens from a warehouse behind the business where she worked. Since then, her all-volunteer rescue would take cats from the streets, parks and other dumping grounds and provide vaccinations, spay/neuter procedures, parasite medication and other veterinary life-serving processes. A number of them suffered from physical trauma and illness, and the healing process was long and sometimes heartbreakingly unsuccessful. The successes, however, were met with joy, particularly when they were adopt
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The 2020 Word of the Year contenders were more numerous than candidates on the first California gubernatorial ballot in 2006. They spanned sometimes intersecting categories that included politics, technology, Zoom, social movements and, of course, the COVID-19 virus: “dumpster fire,” “Blursday,” “the Rona” and her sisters “Miss Rona” and “Aunt Rona,” “you’re muted,” “kraken.”
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Dictionary lookups and frequency of use rather than creativity power the choice of Word of the Year, and so, a couple of comparatively ordinary choices won the honor. Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com selected “pandemic,” and the Oxford English Dictionary, gobsmacked by the unprecedented cats-and-dogs rain of new words and sudden popularity of common ones, picked “unprecedented.” You can download the report at the link if you regularly attend to couching your words as well as attending to vacuuming the couch after the beagle’s jumped off.
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Many people have learned firsthand some for the first time about the abilities that pets have to heal and comfort their humans. Animal rescuer Markelle Pineda knows full well that many animals need healing and comfort just as much as people do. Nonprofit SAFE (Saving Animals from Euthanasia) Rescue Team, which Pineda founded in 2019, provides these things for animals that have been diagnosed with severe medical issues and injuries. The rescue pulls dogs from shelters and other rescues and regularly takes in owner surrenders, and they pay everyone’s medical bills. They also provide spay and neuter procedures for all the pets.