There has been overwhelming response tothe story of the family who freed the fox, then were threatened with fines and arrest for their act of kindness. The threats were delivered by Nevada Department of Wildlife due to pressure from the trappers. The story went viral and reached compassionate animal-loving hearts everywhere. Many want to donate toward the Vaske family’s defense.
To respond, along with our colleagues from Animal Protection Affiliates, we in Nevada established Nevada Trapping Victim Fund. The Fund will cover expenses for the family’s defense. Any funds left over, or contributed in future, can be used for other victims of trapping – which could include veterinarian bills for injured pets, fines, etc.
We will help people, and we will spotlight cases. After fifteen years of collecting trapping victim stories, the sad truth emerges – trappers fly under the radar – injuring pets and never compensating for veterinarian bills; disregarding laws and regulations; wielding undue influence on government agencies. This needs to be exposed!
Donations to the Fund are not tax deductible at this time. All gratitude for any donations!
Street View. Old growth trees.Front DoorGarage Door to the right of front doorOutside of bay window – at right angle from front door. Excuse the glare.Northwest cornerSouth Side deckUpstairs deckBack of house. Faces westSouthwest CornerFar west backyard shed and RV padSouthwest corner back yard
Interior
EntryStairwayLiving Room. Bay windowDining Area. Doors to upstairs deckKitchen windowKitchen counter tileDishwasher and kitchen floor tileStovetop. OvenUpstairs bedroom windows and door to exteriorBedroom fireplace with insertBedroom facing south. Step between addition and living area of bedroom. Fireplace is in the living area.Upstairs bath off bedroom. Tile floor with rugsUpstairs bathtubWood wall trim throughout bathroom and bedroomGoing downstairsDen. You can see stairs from entry and you can see downstairs fireplace (with insert) but it’s in shadowDenWet bar in den. Hall to bedrooms visible to leftGuest bedroom OfficeCraft RoomDownstairs bathroom with tile shower
Reading through the posts on this website on my 41st day of self-imposed quarantine, I realize I don’t want to feature stories of outrage and injustice and animal cruelty, certainly not right now. This worldwide crisis wakes me up to see things in a new light. I don’t want to add to anybody’s daily dose of sadness or anger. And who better than a pet – current or former – to bring us into the present moment and try to make the best of it.
So I will be adding to this as I go along, starting with the two buddies in my socially distanced house right now:
June 7, 2020 Now it’s about 92 days in quarantine! It’s too comfortable; I dread re-entry. The best way to convey my pet stories, or indeed any story, is video. I’m just learning and finding out it’s easier than mastering this convoluted Word Press site! So the Petolog video is coming soon!
Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still for once on the face of the earth, let’s not speak in any language; let’s stop for a second, and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment without rush, without engines; we would all be together in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales and the man gathering salt would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars, wars with gas, wars with fire, victories with no survivors, would put on clean clothes and walk about with their brothers in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about…
If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death.
Now I’ll count up to twelve and you keep quiet and I will go.
I’ve looked forward to this space to share with you everything that bothers me. There’s plenty. For starters, I remember when words had specific spellings. I even won first prize, which was a pretzel, in a spelling bee – and that was in high school. And it was a good pretzel.
Now in the age of Spellcheck, anything goes. I taught basic English at Truckee Meadows Community College for several years in the late 70’s, and for one semester at University of Nevada, Reno. Even then, before Spellcheck, there was a dramatic contrast between students older than, say, 35, who knew how to spell and could write reasonable sentences, and students fresh from high school. The latter played games about attendance, and were just guessing about writing or spelling. It’s worse these days. I turn Spellcheck off whenever I can because I don’t like squiggly red lines intruding themselves into my work, but evidently most people rely on it. Homophones cause the most trouble, i.e. “grate” for “great”. Soon I will bring you some recent local assaults on the English language, but first, a historical piece from my semester at UNR:
THE TWELVE WEEKS OF MAKE-UP (to the tune of Twelve Weeks of Christmas) On the twelfth week of make-up work my student brought to me: One “his practice of philology made him an outcast from his religious circle”, One “the vicarious king never helped anybody”, One “Douglas’ work has gone through a transgression because of his wife”, One “Lillian enervated her living room”, One “Jeff took a class in autonomy so he could be a mechanic”, One “The dentist used florid to rinse out his teeth”, One “He’s got a lot of nostalgia, walking in here like he owns the place”, One “Your vindictiveness is your best trait, you sly dog you!”, One “Revelry is what the Army wakes up to in the morning”, One “The boy was becoming a nuance to us all”, And a final exam graded with a “D”.
