We Are Not Alone!

The following article was published in St. Catharines Standard in Ontario Canada (1 hour south of Toronto and 15 minute north of Niagara falls):

Puppy love: Woman brings strays back from Bahamas
By DON FRASER
Posted 4/24/08
Jill Gandza took one look into the row of glistening puppy-dog eyes and was hooked. She knew there was no turning away from these helpless mutts. During the March break, she and her family travelled to the Bahamian island of Great Exuma, where she stayed at a home co-owned by her friend Donna Baer and Baer’s mother, Flora. Great Exuma is known for its stunning Caribbean beauty and mixed-breed dogs called potcakes. Many of those pooches are strays, whose lives are shortened by starvation, disease or run-ins with cars.

“When I was near our house there, I noticed this mother dog running around with all kinds of puppies,” she said. “We stopped our car, saw one run underneath an abandoned van and there were 12 little heads peeking out. Because I’m an animal lover, I was upset and started to cry. It was very disturbing,“ said Gandza, who lives with her family in west St. Catharines.
“I knew there was no life for them.”

Last week, the nurse at St. Catharines General Hospital returned to the island to bring those pups that had stolen her heart back to Niagara for adoption. To her dismay, she learned all but five had been killed by vehicles along Queen’s Highway, which runs the length of the 60-kilometres-long island.

Because of airline restrictions, only four dogs could be brought back. So Gandza decided to take the four females of the litter and leave the male pup, in an effort to help control the breeding of the island strays.

In all, she and her son Greg, 13, took about an hour and a half to round up the dogs. The pup’s mother could not be caught. The puppies were deloused and de-wormed on the island. They will be immunized and will be spayed.

On Thursday, a day after their flight from the Bahamas in two crates, the pups were seen safe in Gandza’s garage, sniffing around their temporary home. A moment later, all four — Flora, Potcake, Santana and Bahama — flopped on top of each other like a canine layer cake.

The four animals are not the only ones to be rescued from the island, thanks to the efforts of Donna Baer and her business partner Dale Halsey. The two co-own the Pet Valu store at the Pendale Plaza in St. Catharines. Aside from the latest animals, two dogs and five kittens have been rescued from the island in the past five years, Baer said. All now have homes.

“It started when I found a stray dog that was so skinny and eating garbage,” said Baer, who has since adopted that pooch, and named her Potcake. “Last year, I went down and found one living under a hut.” That dog’s name is Mango and she also found a home with Baer.

Baer and Gandza say people have asked them why they’re concerned about animals in a foreign country, when others in Canada need adopting. Their answers are the same.

The stray pups are in jeopardy. The women come face-to-face with them. It’s a circumstance that compels them to do something. Baer tells these questioning people, “Well, these animals cross your path, you’re there and see it and you can’t just turn your back.”

Gandza also describes a gut reaction. “I saw the puppies. The image I saw remains, and I have to go back,” she said, as her rescued babies drifted off to sleep inside their cage.

Meanwhile, Gandza said she’s trying to convince her husband, Ron, to let the family keep one of the potcakes. Their house already has four rescued animals.

The other three animals will be adopted through the Pendale Pet Valu, with a charge for each animal to cover the cost of spaying. Donations for further rescues and efforts to spay and neuter stray animals in Great Exuma will also be accepted at the store. A donation from a Pet Valu customer helped defray some of the costs of the Gandza mission.

“We’re all hoping to continue the potcake rescue missions,” Gandza said. “There is a problem on the island, so if we can help, we’ll do it.”

Caption: ST. CATHARINES, APRIL 24, 2008 -- Four puppies, Potcake mix were brought from a Bahamian Island looking for good homes. The puppies were brought over by the Gandza family and will be at the Pendale Plaza Pet Value. Front are Greg and Jill Gandza with Donna Baer and Dale Halsey. Staff photo by Bob Tymczyszyn

P.S. Jill did keep one for herself and calls her Flora!

Hi, my name is Caroline and I was one of the girls that donated the proceeds of our lemonade sale to help your foundation grow and especially to help your dogs. From left to right in the photo are Anya, Myself, Connelly, and Anna. We all are very passionate about animals and all want to do every thing in our power to help them. I was especially fascinated by the fact that you rescue a lot of these dogs from the Carribean islands because one of my dog's names is Flea. We think Flea was the runt of the family and so she couldn't get to her mom's milk and got kicked out of the litter. My mom and I were driving around Grenada, West Indies and she popped out onto the road. We took her home and washed her (she had worms, mange, fleas, ticks, etc.) and took her to the vet. After my brother and I had begged so much my parents said we could take her home, and we did. Now she's a healthy dog with her best friend our lab Sunshine. Thanks to you guys more dogs can have better lives in nice comfy homes in the U.S.

Sincerely, Caroline