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Critteraid presents their Fourth Annual "I HEART ANIMALS" BANQUET on Friday, February 24, 2012 at 6pm in the ballroom of the Penticton Lakeside Resort. Well-mannered doggies are invited to attend this one-of-a-kind event, and are welcome to bring their well-mannered humans along with them. All proceeds from the banquet will benefit specific Critteraid projects.

Guests will have plenty of chances to bid on a fabulous silent auction and take part in all kinds of other fundraising activities. Joy Caravello of Petography (www.jcpetography.ca) is back doing pet portraits by donation. Sign up early to reserve your daytime appointment. Guests will enjoy a delicious vegetarian dinner and dessert followed by a presentation by Rob Laidlaw, founder of Zoocheck and author of several books: “Wild Animals In Captivity”, “On Parade”, and his most recent work, “No Shelter Here”. Rob was the guest speaker at the 1st Annual "I Heart Animals" Banquet and his presence at this year’s event is highly anticipated.

The evening will be hosted by Dennis Walker of Giant FM. Guests will be treated to the amazing talents of Ryan Schick on the grand piano, as well there will be prizes for the dogs with the most chic attire. We are currently collecting donations for our silent auction as well as cash donations to cover some of the event costs, so if you are able to contribute please call 250-493-9752 for pickup.

Tickets are $35 per human (dogs are free), and are available for purchase at Pet Pantry in Penticton, Country Corner in Summerland, or by calling Deb Silk at 250-493-9752. Discounted hotel rates are available for out-of-town guests.

December 2011

A Very Mooey Christmas

Watch the videos and read more...

September 6, 2011

Critteraid has received an Award of Excellence from SimplyCatBreeds.org.

Here is what they had to say:

Dear Critteraid,

We at SimplyCatBreeds.org are pleased to present you with a Cat Rescue Award for excellence in helping needy cats who just need a warm home and some love. We take pride in acknowledging the best organizations around the country with our special award emblem, recognizing them for their outstanding work – Critteraid is absolutely an organization we place among those that need recognition.

Thank you for all the work you and your organization provides for cats in need. We know exactly how difficult and thankless a task it can be, so we hope this little token helps even a little bit.

Thanks again for all you do!

Best Regards,

Evan
Senior Editor
SimplyCatBreeds.org

Click here for more information

Congratulations to Our Raffle Winners

The draw was held June 30th, 2011.

The Cirque du Soleil Experience - DRALION:  Nelson Swoboda
Incredible Child's Basket:  Dawne Campbell
Entertainment Basket:  Quin Davidson
Garden Basket:  Reg McBride
Large Dog Kennel:  Petra Leinemann

Thank-you to everyone who supported the raffle by purchasing tickets, by taking volunteer shifts to sell tickets, and by putting together and donating the prizes!  All funds raised go to veterinary expenses for animals in residence.

"Know your limit, play within it."

Asking for Arden
Special Fundraiser - Auction Update

Critteraid has recently embarked on a campaign to help raise funds for the cost of veterinary surgery for a petite, declawed cat, named Arden.

When Arden came to us last summer, we took her to the vet and found out she was blind from some kind of trauma. She was found in the middle of South Victoria Road in Summerland, a very busy thoroughfare.  It is also an area that coyotes frequent.  How she escaped all the odds and ended up in our care, is even beyond our imagination!

The ensuing months saw Arden's sight partially return, but her body started to fail.  After several examinations and radiographs, we learned that Arden had a hernia, which was repaired immediately.  Still, she wasn't recovering as we had hoped.  Finally, a CAT scan showed us that, not only did she have another hernia on her spinal side, but her stomach and spleen had protruded through the opening into the abdominal cavity.  One of her lung lobes had twisted and filled with fluid, likely as a result of the trauma of the hernia.

The estimate for the surgery and related costs was in excess of $8,000.   The surgery would have to be performed by a Veterinary Specialist, Dr. Smith, from the TriLake Animal Hospital in Winfield.  After numerous discussions, the veterinarians provided us with a quote for all of Arden's costs at just over $4,000.  Her prognosis was, in fact, good, with the surgery.  But our problem at Critteraid was that we simply did not have the extra funds for this.   

In all the 20 years that we have been operating, Critteraid has only been faced with a situation like this once before... for a dog.  In that case, we decided to do some special fundraising to pay for the cost of the surgery.  And that is what we decided to do in Arden's case, too, and thus, the special Silent Auction "Asking for Arden" was developed.

Arden has had her two surgeries, both extremely successful.  She is back home at Critteraid now, in a room she is sharing with caged Guinea Pigs that purr and whoot-whoot and chirp and cause her great distraction.  All we have to do now is pay the bill.

So, we have started a special fundraising initiative Silent Auction, called "Asking for Arden".  Donated items will be placed throughout a variety of business establishments for a limited amount of time OR until a specific dollar value is reached.  Anybody can bump themselves to the top, simply by meeting the value and indicating their desire to have the item by bidding.
 
We have prepared a list of businesses who are helping with Critteraid's "Asking for Arden" Silent Auction.  If you know of anyone who would allow us to place an "Asking for Arden" Silent Auction, please contact Deborah at 250.493.9752 or email info@critteraid.org.

Media Release March 9, 2011

YARD SALES: NOT JUST FOR YARDS ANYMORE

Critteraid is proud to announce the opening of Penticton’s very first Indoor Yard Sale in their new retail location at 109 - 2203 Dartmouth Drive in Penticton.  Yard salers will no longer have to limit their deal-seeking excitement to spring and summer, as not even the harshest of elements can stop this one.  The doors will be open every Saturday starting March 19th from 7am–2pm and the Grand Opening is slated for Saturday, April   2.  Shoppers and looky-loo’s alike are invited to come on down, check out the store and make some of those much needed purchases.

For those people getting ready to start their Spring Cleaning – we want your stuff!  The dropoff location for your gently used items is at 3099 Coleman Street where the famous twice-a-year Critteraid Yard Sales used to take place.  Please no dropoffs at the Dartmouth Drive location. 

Do you have good sales skills and love dealing with people?  We want you!  Great volunteers are crucial to our success so please call Jean Bowden at 250-770-8068 if you’d like to help out.

100% of proceeds from the Critteraid Indoor Yard Sale will benefit the many projects and critters of Critteraid.

For more information please contact Jean Bowden at 250-770-8068.

Critteraid, the Summerland Cat Sanctuary, was established in 1992 to provide refuge for unwanted, abused, and abandoned animals. The sanctuary currently hosts 93 cats, 17 guinea pigs, a donkey, an alpaca, and a beautiful horse called ‘Faith’ who was found frozen to someone’s driveway. Critteraid is a registered charity that operates entirely on donations, grants, and the generosity of its many volunteers.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
December Foster
Director – Feral Kitten Rescue Program
250-488-2223

Deborah Silk
President
250-493-9752

Meet the Wee Pigs!

These neutered males are ready for adoption:

• Meet the boys
• Learn more about them

View more pictures from our previous sale

Good Companions Enhance
Their Humans' Health

The Calgary Herald posted an article on the important health benefits of caring for a pet.

Click Here

Critteraid T-Shirts - Order Yours Now
Please email us your preferred logo style, colour and size. $20-$25.

Critteraid is assisting one of our members, Theresa Nolet, in a project regarding the Native horses.  A very courageous and organized woman, Theresa Nolet has been feeding a herd of 17 horses at her property on the West Bench.  She has been in touch with the Band, her MLA and the Regional District on the management and care of the horses.  She has a few in her herd that are in foal and a few that are on the thin side but for the most part they are in fairly good shape.  She only feeds them a bale or two a day as she wants them to keep foraging and she does have a large trough now for them for water.  Her goal is to work with the owners of these horses (Native or non native) and start using a contraceptive vaccine to control the ever growing population of them.  Then she wants to see if the young ones can be captured and trained using non violent methods (parelli type) and adopted out to good homes or donated to therapy riding centres.

Donations for this project are appreciated.  Hay is the most important item to start distributing throughout the herds.  Grass hay would be the best as these horses are not used to a high end feed that may cause intestinal upset to them.  We will be distributing the hay to the horses that are in the poorest condition and of course, we will be contacting the Penticton Indian Band in advance of distributing the hay as the majority of the horses are residing on Reserve Lands.

Those wishing to make financial donations can be assured that their contribution will stay within the Project Equis and be used to make the difference that everyone is looking for.  Tax receipts will be issued from Critteraid.

All those involved want to do what is best for the horses now and in the long term.  The Penticton Indian Band wants to take the steps to resolve this public safety issue and to help alleviate the suffering of these horses and give them a secure future and we want to help in any way we can to make it a reality.  There are many options in resolving this problem and we want to work together to explore them all and find the one or ones that work for the horses here.  Critteraid is great at fundraising and we have some promising information on a contraceptive vaccine that is safe and effective at keeping horse populations in check.  Perhaps this is an option.  Time will tell and our group is committed to keep working on this until a practical and effective solution can be found.

Read the Penticton Western News article of February 8, 2009 for more information.