World Pet Memorial Day

[MartyT]

This announcement comes to us from Terry Hickey, founder of the Halton-Peel Pet Loss Support Group in Ontario, Canada:

World Pet Memorial Day, Sunday June 8, 2008

All over the world, people come together on the second Sunday of June to remember the furry, feathered and scaly, to remember the way our pets made us laugh, the way they helped to dry our tears and the way they worked their ways into our hearts for the rest of our lives. Visit www.worldpetmemorialdaycanada.com to learn more about Canada's first-ever World Pet Memorial Day event!

We will be celebrating this day on Sunday, June 8th in Toronto, Ontario. Please keep checking back to the website as more event details will be posted as they become confirmed (including time and exact location). For now, please hold the day in your calendar!

Interested in becoming involved? Able to donate to this volunteer-driven initiative? Visit our website to find out how!

Let's work together to make this day one that honours our departed furbabies.

-Angie Rupra and Laura Miller

[Maylissa]

This is a very mixed reply, but I hope you'll (all) bear with me...

I'm ever so thankful you posted this news, Marty. Naturally, out where I live, there's been no talk of this so far, despite it being a Cdn. news item...I'm not surprised, though. Of course I'll be donating to the cause/event, in order to uplift the status of animals overall in Canada. Wish I was going to be in Toronto on June 8, so I could pitch in, too!...don't know if there'll be any events being held in other provinces. I might be closer to the "East" at that time, but not quite far enough. It's going to be tough, being around other people on a day I'd rather spend thinking quietly about my kids, but perhaps I'll be able to go and visit the shelter (although it's a new one, new location now) from whence our life together began....but maybe not, as I don't know if I could take the pain of all that being gone now...

But I'm equally thankful for this post because it led me to certain links from the Mississauga Pets (loss) site, where I've discovered a WEALTH of good information, some of which I'd LOVE to pass on here.

Firstly, there's the site for the Pet Pastor, where I noticed some animal videos I was already familiar with, and some good articles, the most important one (to me) being "Do Animals Have Souls?" by Deborah Jones. I imagine you might have already listed this on your own Grief Healing site, but if not, I'd give it a "thumbs up."

I also visited "Pets Weekly" and man-oh-man, what a wonderful resource that is!!! I'm in love with Stacy Mantle, the author/reviewer of some of THE best cat products I've seen in all my years (know about some already, have one or two, keeping in mind the rest &/or passing the page on to other cat parents) - On The Prowl cat products/reviews, although I DO have to write her about the fur-covered toy mice she has listed....it's most likely dead cat, dog &/or rabbit fur, probably from China where they do abominable, barbaric things to animals, especially cats and dogs. (I've been on a letter-writing campaign of late involving the massive cat cullings in China for the summer '08 Beijing Olympics....sick to my soul's 'stomach', I am....and I hope all animal lovers here, too, will do everything they can to address these atrocities - try Googling "cat slaughter in China" to find much info. and related petitions)

But I digress. As well as her product reviews (hilarious in and of themselves, whether you're intending on buying anything or not!), she's done at least one (haven't read them all yet) fabulous article....her own piece about "Do Animals Have Souls" is absolutely the BEST one by far that I've seen yet. Incredibly powerful and to the point!! Forget trying to justify their souls' existence to those who would deny it, with proof from the Bible....if THIS doesn't get to the heart of the matter with those kinds of people, NOTHING ever will! If you could get permission to reprint it directly here, that would be wonderful! But if not, for those interested, here's the direct link: Do Animals Have Souls? - by Stacy Mantle. She's another woman who knows exactly what REALLY goes on in (at least) North America regarding animal abuse. She reminds me of my no-kill shelter friend, but with a wonderful & humorous writing skill, to boot.

I also noticed one of my animal communicators, Lynn McKenzie, who's originally from Toronto, was also listed on the site. She lives in AZ now, probably permanently.

But I'm horribly sad to say, while events such as Canada's first Pet Memorial Day are finally garnering more awareness, and I'm SO glad for that....in my area, going backwards, our 'town' is striving, once again, to not only shut down my friend's no-kill shelter (and entertaining the thought of a full KILL shelter instead), but our Council is also likely introducing, in tandem, a "police state" here, by giving lowly Bylaw Officers (!!) the right to enter your very home, on whatever premise they might concoct (supposedly related to animal matters, but there are no stated restrictions, and we'll live in fear, regardless) and with no more notice than a voicemail required beforehand, rather than an actual warrant. This would give them more power than the RCMP (or city police) have, for heaven's sake!! They are breaking the Cdn. Freedom of Rights Charter (federal law) in order to implement this, but they don't care as someone would have to take them to court over it. I cannot believe their arrogance, nor the apparent apathy of our populace about such a ground-breaking and stupid move!! The media didn't even COVER this story. In light of this, I can't even ENTERTAIN the thought of EVER having any more furkids (mine, reincarnated, or someone new) HERE. For all its other progressions, this stinking place is turning into the most backwater hell-hole I've ever had the misfortune to live in! I'm REALLY hating the world right now, from all four corners, and that's making my grief even more pronounced....and no one save one friend way out east understands.

And a (now former ) colleague of mine, whom I'd thought was also a friend, just recently called my love for animals "extreme" as well. Nice. She doesn't understand a whit, either, and in fact, gave me an 'edict' to no longer even TALK about such matters with her.....as part of her pseudo-apology, no less! I'm more than a little sick of people in general and I'm not having a good month at all. This coming wknd. I'll be involved in an alternative-type health expo out here, and after all this, I'm not looking forward any longer to dealing with a public at large that sees animals only as commodities. So much for the animal-oriented focus of my healing business HERE. If these things are any indication, I can only look forward to more emotional abuse and upheaval. After all this work, I feel totally shut down, shut off, defeated on my chosen path.

I can only hope by June 8 I'll be feeling a bit better somehow, by some incredible miracle. More than ever now, I just want to go Home to be with my kids, instead of being stuck here and surrounded by insensitive, wastes of perfectly good space.

Edited April 15, 2008 by Maylissa

[MartyT]

Maylissa, dear ~

As always, I thank you for all the good information you've shared with us, and yes, I have added these links to the resources listed on my GH Web site.

I'm so pleased that you found such good reading through the Mississauga Pet Loss site ~ its founder Terry Hickey is a dear soul, and it is because of her dedication and commitment to bereaved animal lovers that for years I have served as the pet loss consultant to the Halton-Peel Pet Loss Support Group.

I'm so sorry to learn of the events going on in your town. I don't know what animal welfare organizations are available to you in Canada, but if you have the energy to do so, you might try contacting one such as the Best Friends Animal Society (www.bestfriends.org) here in the States.

On the other hand, maybe the Universe is sending you a very strong message that you just don't belong in that particular place anymore . . .