New GEICO Commercial - Piggy

Why Do Canadian Farm Animal Sanctuary’s Struggle?

Americans gave more than $307.65 billion to their favorite causes despite the economic conditions in 2008. Total giving, when adjusted for inflation, was down 5.7 percent, the largest drop recorded since the group began keeping track of America’s charitable contributions. Many had expected a sharper decline in giving with the recession. It’s important to keep in mind that despite the downturn, giving still totaled $307 billion and individual giving continues to be in the 82 percent of total giving range.
USA as of February 2009, the United States has a total resident population of 305 million Areas: 9,161,923 SQ KM

Canadians donated a total of $10.0 billion in 2007, up from $8.9 billion in 2004. In 2007, the average donation was $437, compared with $400 in 2004. These increases were not adjusted for inflation.

As of April 1, 2009, Canada's population was an estimated 33,592,700,
Area: 9,093,507 SQ KM

The area per SQ KM is comparable; however the population base is substantially different therefore the donation base is over whelming compared to ours. This of course means more foundations, more grants , bigger industries and more people giving .
Pigs particularly have a stigma attached to them that they are dirty animals. Consider we say ‘sweat like a pig” or “messy like a pig sty” and ‘dirty or stink like a pig”. Pigs have no sweat glands and require shade or mud wallows to cool of in during the hot seasons. Pigs if given a choice will not relieve themselves where they eat or sleep. All animals are as dirty as there keeper is. And pigs have no scent at all once altered .
Even most ridged animal lovers can’t relate to pigs as companion animals and are prone to give to cat and dog rescues as that is who they can identify with the Spot or Fluffy because they have one laying on there beds. Compared to our USA counterparts and the difference in the population once again more will have pigs as pets so most Sanctuaries do quite well there.
Also Sanctuaries who also have a feline or canine population will draw the public support and quite often funds the farm animals in there care. For those of us specializing in one species such as horse’s , chickens , cows or pigs are struggling to fund there operation and are stagnant in growth and the inability to do more.
At January 1, Canadian hog producers had an estimated 11.6 million hogs on their farms. To the average person a pig is a pig, big or small.
Finally I will share a recent experience with a Brownie Leader who wanted her group the visit the Sanctuary but didn’t want her daughter to refuse pork when she left here. In her words she had enough trouble getting her to eat as it was. I have to also realize that this is not an isolated incident and that many simply do not want to face what they eat.

A Garden Rose

And where else would one find such a beautiful Rose? The last picture is a little movie if you click onto it. ;o)

Cranky Jan

I have become addicted to Face book LOL One of the gals husband i met on there calls it "Crackbook"..he may have something there.

Face book is a flurry of like minded people all doing there part for every walk of life imaginable.. of course the opposite is true too and there much shared and posted not for the sensitive soul. So many videos of under cover investigations of slaughter houses and things done to animals that belong in horror movies not in real life. Our world is a cesspool of evilness and in reality a handful of us against it. Daily posts of dogs with days to live unless a miracle occurs and its usually rescue.. some pictures haunt you.. Like the two pigs at Kern Shelter in California who killed the two pigs we were all working on and then killed another a few days later,how do you go on? You go on for the next one ..

You read articles about a barn housing 2400 pigs in it where the owner stopped feeding them until the stench of death brought the mounties. How this horrific act of cruelty will go unpunished and a petition to gain justice for these souls barley made it to 1000 signatures. I am angry that millions of people saw it and half of them complained about acts of cruelty at some time in there lives and why these scum of the earth go unpunished. Nothing happens to these sickos because we can't even get 1200 people (HALF OF THE PIGS WHO DIED) to sign it. And if everyone got the big picture here it is about ALL acts of cruelty not just about my beloved pigs.

Two more pigs 45 minutes east of me were stopped short of being slaughtered by the family who never intended on keeping them this long. The free ad on Craig List is brought to my attention and I plead with the family to give me two weeks. I ask them to take down the advertisement and I begin working for two pigs i don't know.

There as cute as a dickens and almost carbon copies of the pigs we found a home for in Kelowna last month. Thankfully Pam and Dave opened there hearts and there home to another pair of needy souls. Transport to Sorrento is being firmed up and hopefully will go down smoothly on Tuesday.

I don't think anyone is coming to help tomorrow and i have been kept busy all week with keeping the pigs cool. Wallows and pools filled with fresh water just about every day , the rain was refreshing last night. And having a truck again and getting caught up with what one needs to do to feed , bed and hay all the animals here. Every load in, is a load to the dump with empty boxes and feed bags...

The night before while watching Roscoe it occurred to me that i have built one hell of a personal petting zoo for myself here and perhaps i should throw in the towel by trying to stay righteous and start selling tickets at the gates and get some money in here. I get some really awesome surprise donations here and sponsorship is key. But i have already spent everything i have and so much still needs to be done before winter sets in . This place must be set up so i can manage it threw winter while working full time.

Cries of the Rooster

Morning arrives and the sun reaches threw the curtains of evergreens here. I hear the Roosters song, his calls fade off in the distance and his cries are haunting. Is he mourning the loss of one of his hens or is he grieving the birth of his sons whose golden presence will be removed when discovered ? He stands tall with the gentle breeze passing threw his feathers , is it our God who touches him now? He cocks his head and listens until he can hear no more and from deep within him he cries towards the sky. janice louise Gillett

George's Story

George arrived in a wire crate in the back of a van a few years ago. The women who contacted me told me a co worker needed him looked after for a few weeks when she lost her job. Story is, she never came back for him. Now this women was reaching out to me to take George and we corresponded by email a few times.

According to this women George was neutered and his house had three sides made up of pieces of leaning plywood with hay inside. My thought was "only three sides?" How did he keep warm in the winter?

To my surprise at about 5 one night a van was outside my driveway. I looked in the back of the van and saw a little pig peering up at me from his confines. I immediatly assured him he would be safe here and knowing he would smell the others I added for him not to worry that i would not let the others get him. I assured him , there was good food here. This would be very important for any pig arriving at my gates to know.

And all the while doing this i was evaluating his condition. He had the distinctive look of a boar , a pig who is not neutered doesn't have that rounded look a neutered male would have in the face. And as I blurted out "he's not neutered" his tusks caught my eyes. Anger swelling up in me i asked her if the tusk on the other side of his face was going threw his cheek too.

Mad now all i wanted to do was get that pig unloaded and crate carried to the empty paddock, and her off my property. She was not as strong as i was and this helped reach my boiling point inside as had of she let me know she was coming and couldn't do this i might of been able to have help here. I wanted that pig out of that crate and all this stop and starting was wasted energy on lifting him and setting him down and adding more stress to this pig.

Once out of the crate her added hay for his comfort must of come out of his old house and its filthy dusty condition would of provided no warmth from where he lived. A dried up french loaf of bread was tossed to him by this women and promises to send some financial support for his care. The offer of a rotten wet bale of hay was declined and i could barley speak to her at this point as she walked up my driveway and back into her van and out of our lives forever.

The following morning volunteers arrived and George rolled over for a belly rub immediately. Giving himself to us this way only hours after arriving showed such trust in his new caregivers. While laying down i fed the wire between his cheek and his tusk and ended his torment in 8 seconds. Blood gushed from his wound and the release of that pressure, the tusk was in threw his mouth almost 1 1/2 inches.

Tusks do not grow over night, this growth took between 1 and 2 years. It would of started rubbing on his cheek when he laid down. Then within a few months it would of started to put pressure on his face causing a white scuff mark up and down his cheeks as he opened and closed his mouth to eat. The pain of it pushing into his face would of started a few months later and as it grew the tusk would tear into his flesh opening the wound wider as he chewed. By the time he arrived this little pig was not able to naturally open his mouth to eat as those tusks and the pain prevented him from being able to do so.

For the first few days with me he refused carrots, every pig loves carrots! Poor George suffering from the inability to eat them , refused them because of the pain it would cause him to eat . It took 3 days for him to realized he could chew and open his mouth all the way without searing pain.

If you click on the picture in the blog it opens the size. You can see how the tusk has rubbed his cheek white from simple opening and then chewing his food. That was the better of the two sides, the other one was right threw his cheek and into his mouth. Basically speared by his own tusk. He has two deep dimples from where they penetrated his flesh. Not all tusks will grow into the cheek, you see it happen a lot with over fed pigs as well as the ones growing inward . (I keep tusks trimmed to prevent them being hung up in wire fencing . And remember when you do trim , trim so the tusks are still poking just outside of the lips and NOT to the gum line. Tusk trimmed incorrectly can cause them to grow into the face or upward into the roof of the mouth. Also NEVER EVER let anyone use breaking pliers to do tusks either. The lower tusks are part of the jaw and more pigs have died this way from hairline fractures. Infection is almost immediate and then death. Jiggley Wire saw only.)

George who comes into the house and manages the stairs only as a pig who was used to doing this at some point in his life. He likes to be covered with blankets, takes his treats so very gently and all of this again is learned from his past experiences. Someone at some point was very good to this pig , but why did they not care about his tomorrows??

Gorgeous George has been threw many experience in his life before arriving here and ones that might of left any one of us with some severe emotional baggage. George however did not loose the goodness within him and is not bitter or angry with humans who betrayed him so terribly. He was able to hold onto his gentle soul and he has flourished.

When your approach George he looks up into your heart with an innocence from his deep brown eyes. They twinkle back at you, and a soft touch to his bristles will have him almost fall over as he lays on his side for a good belly rub. He sings in a rhythmic piggy chant as he oof oof oof's in delight. As he lays all stretched out from deep inside of him a little heavenly whine every now and then in response to shear pleasure that has arrived in his life.

I am so happy your here George so the love in you is free and received with as much pleasure as it is to give it back to you.

Pictures Speak A thousand Words

There Is Much Good

An amazing donation was handed to me by both Clare and Jenn who travel a long ways to get here and help when they can. Young and beautiful girls who look like a million bucks in rubber boots. They work at a trendy bar down town Vancouver and cashed in there tips for the animals here. How cool is that!!!!!!!

Lee continues to pick up produce for the pigs weekly and her donations are really helping keeping our costs down. She arrives with a smile on her face and ready to listen to my woes and always bring apples when i need them the most. Last night she brought ten water melons, some bread treats and kiwi. On top of her offerings she too left me a generous donation last night.

Saturday mornings as you all know is designated clean up for the animals here and once again i hope some one beside my sister will arrive to help. Yesterday she offered to pick up 230 lbs apples for me and 50 lbs of carrots so now we have enough produce here to keep the pigs in produce for the week.

The motor on my truck has packed it in again. I bought that truck with a new rebuilt just put in, replaced it a few years later and now this one is gone. Must be a factory reject as now they can't find one to put in the darn thing and if they do I am looking at another 3000.00. I simply can't be without a truck here so i am pushed into the market to look for another used one.

I have been with out transportation all week here but that has made me deal with the office work inside and i feel a weight lifted somewhat from getting caught up again.

I also spend about 3-4 hours every morning here returning emails. I get approx 65 emails a day here and many require a great deal of thought to reply. Questions ranging everywhere from how do you trim a pigs hooves to what should i feed. I suppose if my website was more up to date and addressed some of these questions it would save me a ton of time. And most information is on the net but if you don't know what to look for your not going to find the help there. And it is for the pigs everywhere that i do this , it is what i do.

I also keep Hearts On Noses out there any way that i can and down loading a movie onto utube last week netted a surprise sponsor for Tuskers!! A kind person saw our movie and went to the website and is sending us 25.00 a month! All the way from Texas. I told Tusker's some one saw his picture and picked him from all the pigs in the world to choose from to support. I am sure he smiled at me when he wagged his tail in response.

Yesterday while laying in the sun with Penny I saw her beautiful brown eye look at me. I didn't need to pull the fat folds away, she opened her eyes and looked at me. "I told you" i exclaimed and she "oofed" in agreement. Meaning once she lost some weight and took off that old suit she would feel so much better and see the blue sky's of summer again. Little things i whispered into her ears at night when i tuck her in.

Pam reports Daphne is settling in and taking over the place, fat blind or not. This over fed unwanted pig in Kamloops found a great home after repeatably posting her picture on face book trying to find her a home. Pam is like us and couldn't turn away from the sad picture of this pig and even though this pig is far from perfect,to Pam and Dave she is . Fed hog grower all her life she is about 300 lbs and totally over weight and huge besides all the extra fat she is wearing. But she has landed in pig paradise and is blooming now as she learns what it is like to be loved.

Muddy Waters

Every time i go to sit down its late and I still need to feed the kids inside like my dog Buddy and the cats, Luke and Patou.

The last few weeks have been exhausting with the garage sale Mom and my sister and I put on to start. We made 350.00 and that is including the 1.35 in the donation tin. We were supported by two friends who drove a hell of a long way to come, Marion and Donna thank you so much. Donna also brought along 30 bags of popcorn and the pigs had there party with it last night.

The first day of the sale a Mission Brownie Team leader stopped in to tell me 14 kids were loaded with apples standing at the gates of the Sanctuary. I did need to go back and check on the animals anyhow so i raced back here to give them a tour and then raced back again. Pigs had breakfast before i left and lucky them they had lunch too ;o)

The rain is brutal and some of the pigs areas are so muddy you can't tell where the poop or the mud ended. To muddy too push filled wheel barrows threw i simply park it outside the paddocks and then heave over a 54" fence. Tonight my shoulders are killing me.

Thankfully Carolyne and Alex joined my sister and I with the work here today as i wasn't at my strongest.

CDART which stands for Canadian Disaster Animal Rescue Team arrived at around lunch time to go over our itinerary for an October Pig Handling Course.
Deb, Heather and Cheryl and I ate lunch, belly rubbed pigs and went over our rescue plans if and when needed. It feels good to have a team like this in your corner as they have been for many years now. If we ever have to be evacuated they are ready for us in Kelowna , but will have an immediate plan to get us out of here and somewhere temporarily if needed.

My truck has been giving me trouble and i did make to buy hay on that one sunny day we had last week. After picking it up yesterday from the shop, today it sounds worse then ever. I need to make a dump run and more critical is i am out of everything for the pigs. No produce , no breakfast and maybe one night of dinner and we need shavings.

The guys from B.C. Regional Corrections were here three times this week and the perimeter fencing is done. As some of the guys were finishing that up the rest of the crew was cleaning up bush and trimming low branches. Tons of work done and we have been discussing the mud issues and where to start digging ditches. The place is really coming together with the help of this crew and it is really looking good. My dog Buddy loves these guys and awakes early in the morning to go look out the window. He wants out so excited and returns to the house disappointed a few minutes later when there not out there.

My friend Jean lost two of her dog kids a week apart , i can't imagine the sorrow .. Oliver lost his life after a sitter let him off leash at the beach and that 16 year old dog never recovered after the shock of almost drowning. Belle after emergency vet care came home and drifted away in Jeans arms the day after. Another friend prepares to help her senior cross over in the next few days.. all loved tremendously.

My unemployment insurance ran out so the search for work is on me..i do have an idea here lets hope it sells once completed.

Well my eyes are ready to close and i better get the rest of us fed , have a good night everyone.

GARAGE SALE JUNE 5 AND 6

GARAGE SALE FUND RAISER FOR HEARTS ON NOSES

NOTE : THIS IS NOT AT THE SANCTUARY

Where: 33470 -12th Ave., Mission

When : Saturday 9-4 June 5
Sunday 9-1 June 6




We have been collecting for a year again friends. Assorted vintage books , paintings , lamps, china and glass ware. Craft stuff , pet stuff including horses tack and pony winter blankets.

We are also asking for donations of quality stuff we can re sell but ask that clothes, computer stuff incl books, foot ware, ski stuff , magazines and plastics be left behind.

Contact Janice if you have some good stuff and hope to see you there!!