Furry Friday
Story: Thanks to a message from bitterlawngnome, I've arranged for my organization to send unused fur down to the Gulf of Mexico for use in helping cope with the oil spill. Several people at work have heard the same call for hair/fur and proposed helping out. Most of our healthy fur comes from spay surgeries, and I've arranged from sites that want to participate to deliver their fur to our main garage. I will pick it up and mail it off to the Gulf. The address changes every few weeks, as the managing organization updates destinations for these donations. They want material delivered close to the volunteers who will use it to build mats and booms for oil cleanup.
I see this project as another kind of volunteer recycling effort at work, like we do with used aluminum cans or plastic bottles. I volunteered to do the shipping "on my dime" and "off the clock". Other employees who knew about my effort volunteered to donate money to the shipping costs. I discovered yesterday that the organization will find money to cover the postage, so hopefully I won't have to end up spending much (if any) of my own money on this project after all. :)
Animals: I featured Norbert two months ago, but zhey is still waiting in a cage for a home. I find it very disappointing that this thoroughly lovable fellow is still looking for an adopter. Earlier this week, I took zhem into a meeting room for a chance to play with ping pong balls and colored feathers. Norbert took little interest in them, instead taking the first opportunity to jump back up into my arms for more loving. Not much of a lap cat, Norbert is instead a shoulder cat. Why has zhey not found a home already?
Lola has some of the softest fur that I've ever found on a cat. This 2-year-old spayed female is a Siamese mix. I spent many minutes with Lola, but I couldn't convince zhem to come out of hiding. Very affectionate, zhey would stretch zheir neck out really far to solicit more petting, but no amount of coaxing could convince zhem to put a single paw outside the safe zone of the litterbox hood. I think maybe a quiet home would offer just the encouragement that Lola needs to become an inquisitive and friendly companion for a human of any age.
Morpheus, although similar, might do better just with an adult owner. Zhey is a 1-year-old neutered male sporting grey fur mixed with some white and some darker stripes. Morpheus was also very affectionate, throwing zheir body against my hand to enjoy the petting. Like Lola, however, it was difficult to convince zhem to step away from the protective shelter of a wire shelf to investigate the world a bit more. Morpheus seemed nervous about every noise and movement in the room, so I think zhey will need an owner with an amount of patience to instill some confidence in this otherwise friendly cat.
As of this writing, Norbert, Lola, and Morpheus are all available for visitation and adoption at our Golden Valley facility.
How You Can Help: Why do you wash your hair? Because it's too good at absorbing oil from your scalp! That quality is useful when trying to clean up damage from an oil spill.
Share this website with other organizations that you visit. They need hair from human haircuts. They need fur from pet groomings. They accept international donations too. BP (the owner of the failed oil well) has contacted this group directly to learn more about the mats and booms that they are creating.
http://www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html
Every little bit of effort will help to minimize the environmental cost of this developing tragedy.
I see this project as another kind of volunteer recycling effort at work, like we do with used aluminum cans or plastic bottles. I volunteered to do the shipping "on my dime" and "off the clock". Other employees who knew about my effort volunteered to donate money to the shipping costs. I discovered yesterday that the organization will find money to cover the postage, so hopefully I won't have to end up spending much (if any) of my own money on this project after all. :)
Animals: I featured Norbert two months ago, but zhey is still waiting in a cage for a home. I find it very disappointing that this thoroughly lovable fellow is still looking for an adopter. Earlier this week, I took zhem into a meeting room for a chance to play with ping pong balls and colored feathers. Norbert took little interest in them, instead taking the first opportunity to jump back up into my arms for more loving. Not much of a lap cat, Norbert is instead a shoulder cat. Why has zhey not found a home already?
Lola has some of the softest fur that I've ever found on a cat. This 2-year-old spayed female is a Siamese mix. I spent many minutes with Lola, but I couldn't convince zhem to come out of hiding. Very affectionate, zhey would stretch zheir neck out really far to solicit more petting, but no amount of coaxing could convince zhem to put a single paw outside the safe zone of the litterbox hood. I think maybe a quiet home would offer just the encouragement that Lola needs to become an inquisitive and friendly companion for a human of any age.
Morpheus, although similar, might do better just with an adult owner. Zhey is a 1-year-old neutered male sporting grey fur mixed with some white and some darker stripes. Morpheus was also very affectionate, throwing zheir body against my hand to enjoy the petting. Like Lola, however, it was difficult to convince zhem to step away from the protective shelter of a wire shelf to investigate the world a bit more. Morpheus seemed nervous about every noise and movement in the room, so I think zhey will need an owner with an amount of patience to instill some confidence in this otherwise friendly cat.
As of this writing, Norbert, Lola, and Morpheus are all available for visitation and adoption at our Golden Valley facility.
How You Can Help: Why do you wash your hair? Because it's too good at absorbing oil from your scalp! That quality is useful when trying to clean up damage from an oil spill.
Share this website with other organizations that you visit. They need hair from human haircuts. They need fur from pet groomings. They accept international donations too. BP (the owner of the failed oil well) has contacted this group directly to learn more about the mats and booms that they are creating.
http://www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html
Every little bit of effort will help to minimize the environmental cost of this developing tragedy.