Tiger's Story

        As Nazhira walked to school, she saw this little kitten struggling in the street in front of our school. She approached it and noticed something was wrong with the way it was moving. She is an animal lover and knew we were working on animal cruelty. Not wanting to leave the kitten, she called our teacher and told her what she had found. Our teacher asked her to bring the kitten to her classroom and put it in a box.  We, Animal Protectors, were informed of the situation and went to check it out. The school bell rang and it was time to go to class.

        While we were in our first period our teacher called the only vet there is in our town of Juana Díaz and made an emergency appointment to bring the kitten to him and after talking to our other teachers we were granted permission to take the kitten, which we named Tiger, to the vet and off we went.

     When we got to the animal hospital it was full of caring owners waiting for their pets to be vaccinated, spayed and neutered or just to give them a check up. Our case was different, we were trying to save Tiger from injuries done to her by an insensible and heartless person.

     The veterinarian, Dr. Rivera, checked Tiger and it broke our hearts when he gave his prognosis. Tiger would die a slow and painful death if not euthanized.

Today we experienced first hand wanting to help an abused and mistreated kitten and feeling the pain of knowing it would die.



Horses: Take care of Them

Malnourished horse- You can even see his ribs

            On February 27/2011, we, Animal Protectors went to a stable near our school in our town Juana Diaz. We interviewed some people and among them Mr. Rivera one of the caretakers and owner of the horses. It was very interesting to see the horses of movies and the real life ones. Like I say, that day we saw both sides of the story. We acquired some new knowledge that has helped us since that day. And now we can really compare and tell you about the differences about a healthy horse and one that is not.

Mr. Rivera's healthy horse

     

            Mr. Rivera is the owner of a horse that, as he told us, when it arrived it had signs that it had been abused, not treated as supposed and not even well nurtured. He told us that it took him a year for the horse to recover and be healthy as supposed to. He said that it's not easy because it takes a lot of time, money and care but if it's something you love, it doesn't matter any of that because you'll give it and more. He explained that a horse needs to be bathed once a week so that he doesn’t lose his hair. It also needs to be fed accordingly to its size. They need electrolytes, they have to be shod to protect their foot and also need to be walked, but what he said is that most of all they need, love lots of love. His horse is like another son for him he said, and we could obviously see by the way he talked and treated him. 

Unhealthy horse

          In the stable they had a horse that even though the owners went every day and fed him, it wasn't healthy. He was so skinny that you could see his ribs. Mr. Rivera told us that it probably was that he wasn't getting enough food, because obviously when it's a big horse or animal, it eats more. We also learned that you can know when a horse is dehydrated by looking at his neck. You pinch his neck and if it returns instantly he's good but if it takes seconds for the skin to return he's dehydrated, which he was. His conclusion was that for the horse to recover, it would take over 6 to 7 months and near $800.

  

          We asked him what he thought about the kids that have horses in their house or just on the streets. He said that it was really irresponsible because horses are not animals to be on the streets or on the houses. They need care, a measured diet, exercise, etc. He shared with us about an accident that he had not long ago, when he was at 5:00 a.m. driving to his house and hit a horse that was lose on the street. Mr. Rivera checked the horse and saw that he was fine, but his car was total loss.

         We just want to let you know that even though if you like an animal very much and get it as a pet, you have to know how to take care of it. Do some research, ask experts, take him to the vet. Don’t let it be like these horses. Don’t abandon it because it grew. If you make the compromise and love him when he’s little, do it when the animal grows up too. We’re the ones presenting to you the reality, now it’s up to you to defend and be the voice of your pets.

What is animal Cruelty?

Animal cruelty is the abandonment, confinement, negligence, emotional or bodyly harm done to any animal. Just by not giving an animal water,food or taking it to the veterinarian is being abusive. Not to mention to inbreed them or to train them to fight.