Photo C/O Raina Kirn
For over a decade, Ladybird Animal Sanctuary has rescued abandoned, neglected and abused animals, while hoping to establish their own farmhouse one day
By: Pallavi Mukherjee, Contributor
Melissa McClelland, Janine Stoll and Lisa Winn have been close friends for years. They met through their music and started their own music group, the Ladybird Sideshow in 2001. One evening some 11 years ago, the conversation steered towards animals. It was then they realized how many of them are abandoned or given up to shelter homes, and if these homes could no longer hold onto them, the animals were euthanized.
“[W]e thought, why can't we sort of be stewards for these animals? Why can't we go in and take some of these animals out and work hard and network and see if we can get them adopted?” Stoll explained.
“[W]e thought, why can't we sort of be stewards for these animals? Why can't we go in and take some of these out and work hard and network and see if we can get them adopted?”
Janine Stoll, Co-Founder of Ladybird Animal Sanctuary
The idea for the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary was born. The sanctuary’s mission is to provide a safe haven to abandoned, abused, neglected and “hard-to-adopt” animals, including animals with special needs, animals who have different behavioural patterns and cats with leukemia. For over a decade, the sanctuary operated through a reliable network of volunteers, veterinarians and foster homes wanting to adopt animals.
A cat named Oliver became the group’s first rescue in December 2010. A shelter cat diagnosed with feline leukemia, he was likely going to be euthanized before Winn brought him home. Oliver is now doing well, having been adopted by his foster home in 2012.
The animals brought into Ladybird are first taken for veterinary tests, before being set up for adoption. The sanctuary rescues animals not only from shelter homes in Southern Ontario but also from Central Ontario and Quebec with the help of Freedom Drivers, a community organization of volunteer drivers across the Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario who transport hard-to-adopt animals from pounds to rescues.
Ladybird works immensely hard to find the perfect adopter as their aim is to find a home for them, where the animals receive constant support, where they are loved and appreciated for who they are.
Currently, Ladybird relies heavily on donations from the public. To raise funds and awareness about the sanctuary, they have been hosting concerts, events and festivals. However, the last 18 months of the pandemic made hosting any events extremely difficult as such gatherings would have seen 200 people indoors. To continue their operations, in July 2020 Ladybird initiated a 50/50 charity lottery to help raise money for homeless animals.
“The way 50/50 lottery works is people buy a ticket, all the money goes into the pot and if you win, you get half of the pot. So last month the grand prize winner got $6,000.” Stoll explained. “You just have to be 18 years or older and also need to purchase the tickets in Ontario.”
Ultimately, the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary’s dream is to establish a physical space for the animals and the Ladybird community to live and grow together. McClelland, Stoll and Winn are hoping to create this space in the form of a farm somewhere in Southern Ontario.
Ultimately, the Ladybird Animal Sanctuary’s dream is to establish a physical space for the animals and the Ladybird community to live and grow together.
“For 10 years we’ve been a system of volunteer foster homes. We want to have a home base. Our original vision was to have a sanctuary, but we had to learn what we were doing first, finding out about animal rescue and how to run a charity. Now we feel like we’re ready,” said McClelland in an interview with the Hamilton Spectator in December 2020.
In December 2020, Ladybird hosted a virtual music concert with a number of artists, including Bryan Adams, Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies, among others, to help fundraise for the farm. The concert also featured a special reunion of their own band as well. Almost 3,000 people tuned in to view the concert virtually while 100 monthly donor members signed up that day.
An act of kindness goes a long way. Giving another individual a second chance at life doesn’t only mean the world to them but it can also change the way you see life. Other than volunteering, providing foster homes or adopting animals rescued by Ladybird, students can get involved through many fundraising activities.
Photo courtesy of Animal Show
By: Lauren O'Donnell
Animal Show is playing as part of the Hamilton Fringe Festival, and is in the Staircase Theatre in the Bright Room. It runs until Sunday, July 28th.
Over the course of its 55 minutes showtime, Katie Hood’s one-woman play takes you through the daring rescues and harrowing tales of her time as an animal rescuer on the West coast. It is a roller coaster of emotions; by turns hilarious, gut-wrenching, and uplifting. I laughed so hard that I cried, and then I just plain old cried.
Hood breathes life into every character and every situation. We’re right there with her as she saves bald eagles, seagulls, and cats alike.* We are taken through several different rescues, interspersed with Hood’s stories and dialogues with others. Each character is memorable and interesting, with unique and funny personalities and quirks. It’s hard to say what is more compelling: the daring rescue of a bald eagle stranded at sea, or speed dating gone disastrously wrong.
This show is a masterclass in storytelling, chock full of memorable tails and delightfully funny jokes. Provided free of context, my favourite line from the show is: “Cat urine is like the British Empire; nothing is gonna stand in its way.”
You should see this show if you like laughing uproariously, hearing stories about animals, and questioning your existence.
10/10, would cackle maniacally again.
For more information, visit http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/animal-show/
*And, of course, she’s never held a cat before.
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“I thought in your lease, there’s supposed to be no pets,” says Enid Pagnini, an 87-year-old Westdale resident, surrounded by her five adopted cats.
Pagnini contacted us not long ago about the stray problem she’s noticed in the city. The former teacher, cat rescuer and 42-year-strong Hamiltonian finds it difficult to understand how so many students have pets to take care of, when they already seem to have enough of a challenge taking care of themselves.
Hamilton is not immune to the issue of stray animals, a growing problem across North America. Cats and dogs alike are known to wander neighbourhoods and forested areas, causing alarm to local residents and forcing these same residents to jump to conclusions about where these animals are coming from — in particular, irresponsible student pet owners.
Students have been known to abandon pets in the neighbourhood, but they are not the only group contributing to the problem. Stray animals have been an issue in the city for years, and its citizens across the board contribute equally to the matter. According to a 2013 study by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, shelters across the country brought in a total of 103,000 stray cats and 46,000 stray dogs in one calendar year.
While students may not be at the root of the issue, we are still contributing to it. Should certain precautions be taken by students and the university to ensure that we are not adding to this growing municipal issue?
In regards to Pagnini’s earlier comment about having pet clauses in leases, according to the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, it is illegal for a landlord to stipulate that pets are not allowed. While animals may seem like something forcefully preventable for student house renters, a landlord can only request for the removal of a pet if they are a danger to other tenants. With this in mind, it then becomes solely the responsibility of the student tenant to ensure that they are responsibly taking care of their animal.
Pagnini, along with other longtime Westdale-Ainsliewood residents, has seen numerous students over the years acquire animals and mysteriously part with them before graduation.
“They get their pet, while they’re still living at home, and the parent really takes care of the cat or dog. And then the child goes to university and the parents say, ‘take the cat!’” said Pagnini. “And then they dump them. And that bugs me, that really, really bugs me.”
According to an independent survey conducted by The Silhouette, only three percent of survey respondents admitting to “dumping” their pet outside, whereas a majority 82 percent of respondents claimed to have hung onto their pets long-term.
“It’s not nice to see a starving cat. It’s a very, very sad picture.”
While Pagnini’s anger towards the abandonment of animals is justified, there is no way to identify where these strays are directly coming from and who is to blame for the animals she sees in her neighbourhood.
Who takes in the strays?
Karen Reichheld, the manager of Animal Care and Adoption at the Hamilton/Burlington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has been working with strays for the last six years and has seen a pattern in the types of situations that lead to the surrendering of animals to the HBSPCA, as well as the situations that lead to adoption.
“Typically we’ll see people bringing animals in if their animal is having issues or they may not be able to take care of them, and then they would surrender,” said Reichheld.
“We bring in 1,000 animals from Hamilton animal services each year.”
As of the end of October this year, the HBSCPA took in 651 surrendered animals, and found homes for 1,738 of their animals.
“We have many different people come and adopt from us. It could be younger people with their first place, it could be families, it could be a single person in the community just looking for a companion…. Definitely it would include students,” said Reichheld.
At the SPCA, there is a standard adoption process that ensures animals are going into homes that will adequately care for them.
“When students arrive at our doorsteps, we do want to counsel them,” said Reichheld. “Anyone who adopts needs to have a plan.”
The counseling service offered by the SPCA is part of their “Meet Your Match” program, which gives future pet owners the option to learn about an animal’s personality before deciding on which one they will take home.
According to our survey, only 36 percent of student pet owners acquired their pets from family homes, whereas a larger 44 percent made the choice to adopt their pets after moving into their student houses. It seems that students are consciously making the choice to care for these animals, and with the SPCA’s precautions and training in place, these adoptions should theoretically be long-term solutions for these formerly stray animals.
In addition to their adoption service, the SPCA also offers foster care programs for people who are interested in taking care of an animal, but may not be prepared for a lifetime commitment. The foster program is a great alternative for students who want to have an animal, but are worried they won’t be able to take care of the animal after they vacate their student house.
“You have to become a registered volunteer of the HBSPCA. You come to an information session, you tell us what you’re interested in, we counsel you, provide food, medical care,” said Reichheld. “All you have to do is provide the space and the love.”
Where the wild things are
If students are doing a good job taking care of animals, and the SPCA is helping those who aren’t, what’s the problem?
The issue with stray animals is that they are not a problem that will simply be solved overnight, and even those of us who do not have pets already in our student houses should be taking precautions to reduce the impact we have on wildlife and stray animals.
“If somebody finds a cat, and believes it has an owner, don’t feed it, don’t let it come in. Even just petting it and encouraging it to come by, don’t do that, it’ll likely go home,” said Karen Edwards, the Animal Services Advisor for the City of Hamilton.
35 percent of student respondents from our survey confessed to having fed stray animals that they found outside their homes. While caring for stray animals may seem like a good idea at the time, allowing them to become dependent on you can prevent previously owned animals from returning to their homes.
The SPCA sheds a more positive light on animal adoption, but the City of Hamilton knows that it is simply not feasible for all stray pets to find homes or live a safe life.
“We deal with stray animals. So with regards to dogs, we will go out pick them up on the road. We don’t pick up cats anymore, because there are a lot of unowned cats roaming, and we are ending up with far more than we can handle. So in order to lower our euthanasia rates, we stopped picking them up on the road. We will pick up anything that’s injured, ill or deceased, but alive and healthy, we don’t want to have them coming here,” said Edwards.
“We do also take owner surrenders, they pay us a fee and we will take the animal. We do not promise adoptions. Because we don’t even have an adoption program, we rely on our partners. We work with them as much as we can, but there’s no guarantee because we aren’t responsible for their program.”
In an effort to reduce the number of stray animals, especially cats that are found in Hamilton, the city is working to develop a cat-licensing program that will require owners have the same responsibilities they would with a dog. They also passed a bylaw that makes “outdoor cats” illegal, to avoid owned cats from mixing in with strays.
“We’ve reduced our intake so it may seem like there are more out there. It’s not an easy, measurable thing. It’s not an uncommon thing, it happens all across North America, it’s not just a Hamilton thing, even though a lot of people think it is just a Hamilton thing,” said Edwards.
A number of the stray animals we see in our community are tacked onto the issue of an ongoing wildlife crisis across the country. That is in part true, but many strays are still found sporting signs of previous ownership like declawing and neutering.
As student residents of this city, it is just as much our responsibility to ensure that we take care of the animals we own and do what is best for strays.
We may not all be able to take in five cats or care for a foster, but efforts should be made to ensure we are able to care for our animals. Regardless of whether it’s in our leases or not, committing to a pet is a contract.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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Super Bowl XLIX may have been a tight game, and Missy Elliot might have outshone Katy Perry and the shark backup dancer on her left, but the real story of Super Bowl weekend was Puppy Bowl XI. At 73-45 to Team Ruff, this year’s game was the highest scoring one in its prestigious 11-year history. Surge the hamster got the workout of his life, as he had to run overtime to power the scoreboard.
This year brought many new additions to the Olympics of canine sport. The penguins of yesteryear from Happy Feet have danced their way off the Geico field, to be replaced this year by a new squad of cheerleaders – dwarf goats! They didn’t disappoint as they went baaaaatshit crazy for all the plays.
It’s also the first year the dogs were placed into separate teams, the yellow Team Fluff and the green Team Ruff, because someone finally saw through the cuteness of it all and realized that previous years have just been pups chasing their tails. Teamwork does indeed make the team work, because this year’s dogs played harder than any bone thrown at them.
The half time show was played by Katy Furry, but last Friday night must have taken a toll on her, because she couldn’t manage to purr through her hits in her blue wig. The dogs in the barking lot were not pleased, and Twitter exploded with so many memes that Grumpy Cat must be a bit nervous on top of her giant mountain of cash.
Speaking of Twitter, the game was live tweeted by Meep the bird, but a human had to step in because Meep got distracted by all the bird related emojis on the phone. Looks like someone’s wings are getting clipped.
Cara, the 14-week old Shih Tzu from Team Fluff, emerged from a roster packed with talented pups to be named the Puppy Bowl XI. In her rookie year, just like everyone else, Cara scored double-dog TDs, with a particular highlight when she recovered from a stumble at the 10 and pushed Bubba and the toy noodle in her mouth into the end zone. That bitch didn’t even see it coming.
While Cara carried Team Fluff in the first quarter, Team Ruff made a strong comeback early in the second. Labrador Retriever mix Bryan Adams somehow managed to paw a ball through the uprights, and in the process scored the second Field Goal in Puppy Bowl history. Unfortunately, it was downhill from there for Team Fluff.
One memorable play involved a fight for a noodle toy. The two dogs were pulling so hard that everyone wondered why the referee didn’t make a call. The camera panned out to show that he was too busy kissing all the other pups. In a moment of glorious payback, Bubba grabs another toy and trots her way past the two feuding pups and into the end zone, because no one was watching it.
Overall, Puppy Bowl XI was one to remember, though not as memorable as the livecam where this reporter saw a mother repeatedly eat her puppy’s poop. Talk about taking one for the team.
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By: Olivia Monadro
It has recently come to my attention that there is a terrible infestation in the McMaster hallways. A mob of them lurks in the shadows, scanning the crowds of students, patiently awaiting it’s next hurried victim. What kind of creature is this, you ask? Its blood thirst rivals that of a shark; it’s more ruthless than an anaconda, and sneakier than a raccoon. It’s the slow walker. This horrid creature tends only to reveal itself when you’re in a rush and already late for your next class. There are many of these creatures disguised as regular-speed students, and they choose to inhabit the parts of campus with the most traffic.
My most recent encounter with a slow walker happened two days ago while I was unsuccessfully trying to get to tutorial on time. I was zipping through the student center, doing my best to weave my way through the throngs of students, when all of a sudden I was stopped dead in my tracks by a group of three girls walking slower than slugs. I tried to dip left, then tried to veer right, but there was no getting past these zombie walkers. My urgent stress about being late for class didn’t seem to cross their minds as they took their delicate stroll through the student center that day as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
Some of these monsters are separated from the pack, but these are even more dangerous. They pull out their phones, trying to find their way back to their pack. In their desperation, they abandon any pretense of a reasonable field of vision. They’ll walk into you, stop, or pull a 180-degree turn. Individually, these creepers are even more unpredictable. What Mac needs is a slow walker lane, just like the ones that have recently popped up in Shanghai.
These slow walkers who have taken up residence within the walls of our school need to be stopped. Don’t let their apparent innocence trick you, and never let your guard down. The only way to anticipate a slow-walker attack is to keep your eyes peeled and your pace brisk. Go to a parkour lesson and take notes from the chase scenes in the Bourne movies. Get pumped listening to Ludacris’ Move B**ch. The chase is on.
Get outta the way!
People with actual things to do
