Sex Trafficking... do you want happy endings?

A tough life, even after being rescued it is still a long road to 'freedom'...



Visit Love146.org for more information and how you can help.

M x

8 Years Old and Married - The Secret World of Child Brides

The secret world of child brides, happens in many countries and cultures.
It's terrible and the true, this is outright criminal and barbaric but still happening in this day and age.

An eight year old is raped in 'marriage', a 14 year old is pregnant and scared she will die at birth...

Watch the short video for an insight.
(Please do not watch this with young children nearby, there is nothing graphic but sex is mentioned and the video is not appropriate for young ears.)

Stephanie Sinclair's investigation compiled over 8 yrs for the National Geographic.



HOW TO HELP!
National Geographic has compiled a list of organizations that encourage families to delay marriage and give girls an opportunity to reach their full potential.

M x

Emma Stone & Andrew Garfield: Celebrities doing it in style

You think I am thinking about fashion? No this is waaaay better.

Celebrities get 'papped' doing absolutely anything and nothing, glad to see this couple, Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield, using their 'powers' to do some good instead of just showing off the latest fashion!

Their sign, written on what looks like paper bags from a restaurant, otherwise known as 'doggy bags' says: "We just found out that there are paparazzi outside the restaurant we were eating in. So...why not take this opportunity to bring attention to organizations that need and deserve it? www.wwo.org www.gildasclubnyc.org. Have a great day!"

Now that is something! The websites they are directing us to are...

Worldwide Orphans Program http://www.wwo.org/  - To transform the lives of orphaned children to help them become healthy, independent, productive members of their communities and the world.

Gilda's Club New York City http://www.gildasclubnyc.org/ - Support for people living with Cancer

Now that is publicity with a good heart!

M x          

Julia waiting to come over to the UK!

I am sure you have heard about Julia by now!

I haven't stopped going on about her, if you still don't know the whole story, you really need to go read it here.

This is a lovely update, I should have already written it but it's been hectic around here. Julia is waiting to come over to the UK and while she is waiting a very kind lady called Harriet is taking care of her!

So instead of being in the shelter with over 200 other dogs, she is now in a small family run kennel and is getting some love and attention. This is a massive improvement and helps a lot as Julia is taking antibiotics so needs help with those.

I was so pleased to hear when this happened, she even had a bath and everything! She must have felt so pampered. For those of you that don't know, Julia was very sad and depressed living in the shelter, in those cramped conditions for approximately a year and a half, so this is a massive help for her.

Julia at Harriet's after a bath :)

Look how nice and clean she looks! She still sleeps in a kennel outside the house but there are only a few dogs, and the lady has children which help taking the dogs out for walks too. Compared to the shelter she was in this is amazing for her, the lady is very caring and has even got her a little jacket as she gets very cold in the kennel at night.

Julia on a walk

So here she is, very soon she will be coming over to the UK!
All we need is a little bit more help, we are running around £90 under our target fundraising amount for Spanish Stray Dogs, so please do give us a hand to get there... there is no minimum donation and you can even donate by paypal!

Donations help Spanish Stray Dogs UK continue their life saving work.

Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeazy! Just pop on over to http://www.justgiving.com/SavingJulia

If just 90 people donated £1 each we would reach our target easily!

Monica x

Would you do such a disgusting act?

Ronald is Julia's friend, he came in just recently. I want to share Spanish Stray Dogs' Letter to him with you as it's so sincere and moving.

"Dear Ronald, We are so sorry that life has been so cruel to you. 

Ronald please understand you are safe now nobody will hurt you now. 

We want you to know that not all humans are wicked and that there are many humans in the world who love dogs like you and would be so disgusted to know what has happened to you. 

We know that you were living on a street as a stray and that somebody kind was feeding you. We know that an argument broke out between the residents on the street and that some people that lived there disagreed that you should be fed. So they decided to burn you didn't they. It wasn't your fault Ronald. They burned you because they are evil wicked people, not because you are a bad dog. 

Ronald you are a very good dog you always have been. 

We know now you are in great pain yet still you show no hatred towards humans. Ronald please trust us when we say we want to help you and that we will find you a family to love you. 

Please don't die yet Ronald because we want to show you that you can have a happy life. Ronald we love you so much. Love from all the volunteers at Spanish Stray Dogs."

This is terrible, how could someone be so cruel as to not want someone else feed a poor dog that is on the streets fending for itself, let alone set fire to it? I wish I lived near this person, I would terrorised them and taunt them that they would think they were going crazy with their guilt. I know if my grandfather had seen this happening he would have knocked out the person who did this.

How can people be so heartless?

This is why I am raising funds for Spanish Stray Dogs to save Julia and dogs like her and Ronald.

Dogs have feelings just like you and me, you wouldn't like to be and feel abandoned and abused would you?

Monica x

If you feel disgusted by these terrible person's actions please share this post, your small action could help save a defenceless animal like Ronald or even Ronald himself!

Dad gives toddler cannabis

A super controversial topic, should marijuana be legalized?

A father in desperation gave his 2 year old son medical cannabis. An example of the risks parents take to save their children's lives: Their son Cash Hyde was diagnosed with a stage 4 brain tumour, he nearly died more times that they could count, doctors said he wouldn't make it past the night many times and then look what happened...

Because of the wonderful success with Cashy,  the whole family set up

http://www.cashhydefoundation.com

After writing this article I found out that

unfortunately little Cashy's tumour came back two years later, for full story please visit the foundation website above, but what you will read will be upsetting.

 Cashy's family soldier on helping other children with Cancer.

M x

Grabbing a Bargain to save Julia!

http://www.justgiving.com/SavingJulia

My Funny Bunny is doing various auctions on facebook to raise funds for saving Julia, the funds go straight to Spanish Stray Dogs which help many other dogs like Julia, so every penny goes to saving these helpless creatures like Rea, Rasha and Ronald.

Here are some of the auctions as of today, please do donate as much as possible!

If you want to donate just out of the goodness of your heart to save Julia and for nothing in return then please do so on her Just Giving page here or TEXT JULI60 £your amount to 70070.

 

Thank you so much M x

WIN an A4 Hand Drawn Portrait of your Pet!!

Win an A4 Hand Drawn Portrait of your Pet, worth a whopping £55!

We are raising funds for Spanish Stray Dogs' Julia! Read the full story here

To buy a raffle ticket please donate £3 directly to the charity on our Just Giving page here or click below

On your comment with your donation please say "PET PORTRAIT" & make sure you tick where it says to disclose your email to Monica (so I can email the winner!).

If you want to buy more than one ticket, just donate the total amount for the tickets you want and say how many entries eg. you donate £9 say "3 x PET PORTRAIT".
Thank you for your help and please share!

Monica x

Prize is kindly donated by www.petportraitsonline.co.uk ( https://www.facebook.com/CraftyLittleSewAndSo ) and it is their responsibility to provide the prize to the winner.

LETS SAVE JULIA THE PODENCO!

Julia is a Podenco who was found roaming the streets of Spain, having to fend for herself and eating scraps where she could find them. She has now been in the Spanish Stray Dogs shelter for almost 1 year & a half, which is longer than most.

Julia is a very shy dog, feels alone & sad at the shelter.

But she is one of the luckier ones, having no family and feeling alone isn't exactly lucky, but read further and you will find out why...

The Canary Islanders who hunt with podencos often treat their dogs terribly, keeping as many as fifteen in a small cage and feeding them irregularly and infrequently.

Hunting Dogs Squashed Into Cage www.occupyforanimals.org

At the end of hunting season many hunters abandon their animals, some even breaking their legs or gouging their eyes so they don't go back; some kill them outright, often in by hanging them. Females are not spayed and unwanted pups are usually killed via drowning, gunshots or just abandoned!

If you would like to ready more, please visit this page at occupyforanimals.org as some of the images I wanted to show you are too strong for children so I felt I couldn't put them on here, when you visit the link above please make sure that young children are not present.

A Starving Podenco Stray - www.occupyforanimals.org

What would a podenco choose? A life in Spain in a short chain,  existing in the burning sun,  with hardly any food or water and abused, or a forever home abroad?
He only hunts for 12 to 25 days...whereas adopted to a life with love, care and attention, food every day, nice walks and its own soft and warm bed.

I am looking to raise £350 to save Julia from the shelter and let her blossom into her real self by being in a loving home as part of the family :) 

The whole family is waiting for her... we just need to raise the funds for her so she can be on her way to her new and better life!

The £350 includes transport by road from Spain to the UK, the cost of castration/spay, passport, blood tests to screen for diseases, all vaccinations, microchip, de worm and de flea treatment.
I have just called my local vets and they quoted me £114 for spaying a bitch her size! So £350 for all that for Julia is well worth to save her! 

Please help us getting Julia to her new loving home.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now!



RAFFLES & AUCTIONS TO HELP RAISE FUNDS:

WIN an A4 Hand Drawn Portrait of your Pet here!

AUCTIONS by My Funny Bunny of children's and adults items!

If we are able to raise more than the £350 Julia needs then it will go towards the care of the other animals at the shelter, so nothing will be wasted.

Thank you for reading and please share.

Monica xx

PS. My grandad used to feed so many strays in Portugal. I miss him so much. x

A text for Action for the Wild

 In recent years, Action for the Wild has donated over £650,000 to conservation projects around the world. Some of these projects include an elephant orphanage, Free the Bears Foundation, Orangutan Foundation and Wildlife Vets International. Funds have also helped with the set up and continued running of the charity’s UmPhafa Nature Reserve in South Africa.

 Now donating to Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for the Wild couldn’t be easier thanks to a new fund raising campaign which has just been launched and now a new text campaign will help to make a difference to endangered species!

Released Orangutan

Anyone with a mobile can help by sending a text stating “AFTW01” and then the amount you wish to donate such as £1 / £2 / £5 or any other amount to 70070.  There is no charge to send the text and proceeds go directly to the Action for the Wild charity.

£10 could pay for Pepper Spray which is a non-lethal enforcement tool for field rangers protecting rhinos in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. 

£25 will help cover the wages of a game guard on the UmPhafa reserve for half a week, helping to protect the wildlife. 

£50 will buy daily food (coconuts, sweet potato, melons) for released orangutans in the Lamandau River Wildlife Reserve

£100 will pay for a one day training course on artificial incubation for the Gyps Vulture Project

Action for the Wild cannot raise the funds for projects such as these alone. Text your donation to Action for the Wild today, and you can help support the future for animals in the wild.
Charity No 1105621

Hope you can help :)

M x

Extra £22k needed for FSID & GOSH!

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, FSID funds research into sudden infant death syndrome and recently took part in The Big Give, a charitable event in which nominated charities were able to have all funds raised in a one week period, matched by The Big Give donors.

This year, FSID are requesting donations towards a ground-breaking research project to be carried out by a specialist team at Great Ormond Street Hospital, studying the causes of cot deaths.

During The Big Give week, a staggering £40,000 was generously donated and this has been doubled to £80,000. Despite this, another £44,000 is still needed to fund this piece of vital research.

To ensure the research can go ahead, The Gro Company has stepped forward and pledged to match up to £22,000 worth of donations made to FSID via their website, www.fsid.org.uk. If this extra £44,000 is raised, the vital research into investigating the causes of sudden infant death can go ahead.

Each year in the UK, 300 families are left without a reason for the sudden and unexpected death of their baby. Professor Sebire and his team at Great Ormond Street Hospital will use a new lab technique known as proteomics to see if infection may actually be a cause of some deaths. It has already been established that bacteria play a part in cot death but they are also found in babies who died of other causes.

The team will look at changes in the pattern of proteins found in tissue samples, which could identify those babies who did die as the result of infection. If they are successful, then it would be possible to develop a cheap and fast post-mortem test so that more families can have the answer to why their baby died. It would also suggest a genetic susceptibility in those babies that die as a result of infection.

To donate, please go to www.fsid.org.uk and help FSID fund research in to cot death.

Thank you for reading, hope you can help and have a fantastic Christmas!

M xx