Wishbone News

Well the summer has come to an end, but we were able to get one last photo session in with the good weather.  It was a special photo session time for us….our youngest son came home from the Marines for a long weekend visit, and we have a new addition to our family - Bronco! 

Bronco joined our clan about a month ago, and is doing very very well.  Although he is deaf, he is still living a very good quality life.  The 3 furry boys have become very good pals.  Bronco loves to run just as much as Chancey - But does seem to run out of steam much quicker then Chancey though!  Like we’ve always said, we can only wish to have that much energy!!  :-)  And I beleive that Bear is very happy to have Bronco around, gives Bear some time to just sleep and rest his hips instead of trying to keep up with Chancey.  And of course Chance just loves to race Bronco to the ball, to the frisbee, to the sticks, you name it, if it can be thrown, those two boys are racing each other for it!!  It’s quite entertaining for us

The summer has been very active for us all….but we just wanted to drop a quick note to introduce our newest member of our family!!

Happy Fall Season to all!!

Bear, Chancey, Bronco & Mom n Dad

We would like to Thank EVERYONE that was so involved in the rescue of Chance, from the Neighbor who made the 911 call, to Wishbone Pet Rescue (Jefff & Karen) for all their help in making sure that Chance got the proper medical attention that he soo badly needed, to our current Vet, Dr. C who makes sure that Chance is still doing well on a monthly basis, and to all the animal lovers out there who have all backed up Fred Anderson on the prosecution of this case.  Thank you all once again!!

Today, Jason Williams was sentenced for his crime to Chance.  And it was a very fair sentence that the judge sentenced him too.

Chancey also says Thanks to all his supporters!!  What a beatiful way to start the holiday weekend off!

Happy Labor Day everyone!!

Best Regards,

Brian, Stacy, Bear, Chance & Bronco

(Allegan, MI) – At 9:00am, on September 04, Jason Allen Williams will be sentenced for the attempted killing

Jason Williams

and torture of Chance a young black laborador retriever.

On July 10, Williams was present for a plea hearing in Allegan County Circuit Court.  With, his hands clasped tightly as he stood before the judge, he plead guilty to the charge of killing or torturing an animal, actions that enraged the community and led to the dog’s high-profile adoption from Wishbone Pet Rescue, a lakeshore rescue group.

The felony is punishable by 4 years in jail and/or $5,000 fine and/or 500 hours

Chance

of community service, cost of veterinary care and other fines.

A Victim Impact Statement has been prepared and submitted to the court by Chance’s new parents and an statement will be read aloud for the court at the time of sentencing by Chance’s foster mother.

Members of Wishbone Pet Rescue Alliance will be present during the sentencing to show support for our beloved Chance who continues to recover in his new home in the Grand Rapids area.

The Kubiak Gallery will be celebrating it’s second season with a fund raiser for Wish Bone Pet Rescue, in support of the Allegan County Animal Shelter.

Gallery artists and local merchants will be donating art and gift certificates for a silent auction and other activities. Christine Elise McCarthy, actress and photographer, will donate her favorite pet photos. Christine is remembered for her role as the edgy love interest of Brandon Walsh on “Beverly Hills 90210.”

Gallery artist Todd Knight will be on site demonstrating how he makes his seemingly magical glass beads. Other artists will also be in attendance for this fun event!

Mark your calendar for the event of the summer. Let’s open our hearts and wallets to help all the little pets that can’t help themselves. For more information call 269.857.3200.

Where:
The Kubiak Gallery
48 Center St.
Douglas, MI 49406

When:
August 08, 2009
8:00-9:00pm

Well after several weeks of starts and stops, the Wishbone Volunteer Blog is live.  Please visit it for up to date postings of news, events, and volunteer activity at the Allegan Shelter, as well as fundraisers, adopt-o-thons, and more. 

You can reach the blog at the link below, but I have also added a permanent link at the bottom right of this blog for future use. See you there !

Wishbone Pet Rescue Volunteer Blog

Hello Friends - It has been a long time coming, but Jason Williams’ plea hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, 11:00am Friday July 10, in Circuit Court, downtown Allegan.  Mr Williams will enter a guilty plea for felony animal abuse before Hon. George R. Corsiglia at which time he may receive his sentence, or a sentencing hearing may be scheduled for a later date.

Many of us with Wishbone Pet Rescue will be in attendance.  This event has been a long time coming and we thank all of you for your support.

It is, unfortunately, entirely possible that Mr. Williams will receive little more than a fine and community service.  We are of course hoping for harsher punishment to set an example and to say to the community  “torture and abuse, in any form, to any life, will not be tolerated”.

If you live in the neighboring community and are able to attend, please join us to show your support for Prosecuting Attorney Fred Anderson, as well as your concern for the safety of our community, and the people and animals that call it home.

Well the summer is cruisin along here, we can’t beleive it’s July all ready!  Wow time sure does fly by!  Chance & Bear are doing amazingly together!  Chance has so much energy, we could only wish we all had the same energy levels!  Chance’s health has maintained the same, he is still on and always will be on a low protein diet, he is still monitored on a monthly basis by Dr. C for his BUN levels, which have remained the same too…no better and most importantly no worse. 

We recently (well in April) found out that Chance LOVES water!  We still had the cover on our pool, when he thought it would be fun to toss his ball out there and scramble to get it, allowing his feet to splash on the mesh safety cover.  We quickly ran out and bought him his very own pool!! LOL

He cracks us up, for when he’s playing toss with his tennis balls, when he brings the balls back to us, he must first detour back thru his pool, to drop the ball off for a quick rinse or cool down his feet…were not sure which one it is, probably both!!  He then will preceed to almost play hackey sack with his ball in the water, diving for it, and then brings it back to you to toss back again, and the full routine starts all over!  And if not with the ball, now once he gets bored with the tennis balls, he finds a rock, yup a ROCK!  Brings that to you, and drops that at your feet…….No buddy we keep telling him, we cannot throw rocks, we keep telling him to trust us that he wants to keep his teeth not loose them trying to play catch with a rock……so after a few minutes when he realizes no one wants to play with him and his rock, he drops the rock and comes back with the tennis ball!  He is quite a character

Here are some random pictures of Chancey playing in the yard, playing with his balls, his pool, and at his Big Brother Bear’s 9th Birthday Party…Yup Bear got to have a birthday party and invited over some pals to play with

Chance is doing amazingly well….thank you to all of you who continue to show your concern and support for the little man!  And lets all pray that justice is served next week.  The date for the judge to hear Jason’s plea is next week Friday July 10th at 11AM.

Happy 4th of July to all of you!

Love, Mom, Dad, Bear & Chance

Wishbone Pet Rescue is pleased to announce they will be working with the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck to raise money this summer for both organizations. The fund raising event — dubbed the Meow-zart & Pooch-ini Picnic — will be held on Thursday August 13th at the Timmel Gallery in downtown Saugatuck. The fun kicks off at 6pm, and includes great food, wine and live music.

Founded in 1987, the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck (www.saugatuckmusic.org) is a result of the vision of Elaine Richey, Charles Parrott, and Henning Christiansen. Dedicated to sharing the beauty of chamber music with the lakeshore community, summer festival concerts have become a beloved tradition. Each August at the close of their six-week season, the festival throws its annual fundraiser. This year, for the first time, board members of the Chamber Music Festival have agreed to share their fundraiser with another organization.

Impressed by the many good things Wishbone has accomplished since their inception in October 2008, festival volunteers will join forces with the local pet rescue group. Judy Oberholtzer, president of the Summer Music Festival, also believes “this is a wonderful opportunity to present ourselves to the community in a different way.” In honor of the music and animal organizations working together, the annual fundraiser has been renamed the Meow-zart & Pooch-ini Picnic.

Wishbone Pet Rescue, a local organization based in Saugatuck, MI, became widely known in 2008 for its rescue work involving Chance, a black Lab, who was poisoned, hung and beaten by his owner. The subsequent recovery and adoption of Chance is one of Wishbone’s greatest success stories. Fittingly, Wishbone will use the proceeds from the fundraiser picnic for their Second Chance Fund. As it did with Chance, this Fund helps other rescue animals that have special needs requiring extensive veterinary care.

The Panning Family are the featured performers at the picnic fundraiser. Their repertoire embraces traditions as diverse as classical, Celtic and Appalachian folk music. Expect a rousing good time, and to hear tunes played by fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer, guitar and percussion. One of the Pannings may even dance an Irish jig or two.

The Meow-zart & Pooch-ini Picnic will be held outdoors at the Timmel Gallery, which is located at 133 Main Street at the corner of Main and Butler. Festivities will move inside in case of rain. The gallery is across the street from the Saugatuck Woman’s Club, where the Society’s All That Jazz concert will be held that night at 8pm. Since the picnic ends at 7:30, ticket holders for the All That Jazz concert should easily be able to attend both functions.

“We are grateful for this community collaboration with the Chamber Music Festival folks,” says Wishbone board member Karen Kazyak. “This fundraiser allows us to raise awareness about both organizations, and to shine the light on our work with the Allegan Animal Shelter, which most people do not even know exists.” Wishbone volunteers are currently instrumental in the daily operation of the animal shelter.

One hundred tickets – priced at forty dollars each – will be sold for the picnic. For more information about purchasing tickets, contact Wishbone at 800-475-0776, or the Saugatuck Chamber Music Festival at 269-857-1424.

For both animal lovers and music lovers, the Meow-zart & Pooch-ini Picnic is a perfect opportunity to enjoy good food, good music, and help two worthy organizations. Please join us August 13th at the Timmel Gallery in Saugatuck.

Meowzart/Poochini Original Illustration:

Thank you to Julie Jankowski for her donation and amazing talent in capturing the essence of our joint event. She has conveyed with humor, two completely different passionate organizations.

Julie Jankowski is a painter, printmaker and visual designer. Lake Michigan, and the southwestern Michigan area is her first love. She was a professional artist in residence in 1995 at Ox Bow, Summer School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, Michigan. She has exhibited her work in national and regional venues in New York; Boston; Chicago; Baltimore; Alexandria, Virginia; Wasington D.C.; and throughout the Michiana region. She is a BFA graduate of Ball State University, Muncie, IN, and an MFA graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD.

You may contact her at juliejart@hotmail.com

Allie’s digging her new life, literally ! Now that spring has arrived in Saugatuck, it’s time to hit the beach. Allie’s dad sent us pictures of her first day at the beach.  Enoy !

At long last, Scooter, a two year old black lab mix, has found a permanent loving home. His long and winding road to a family began last fall when a joint effort by several animal rights groups, including Wishbone, rescued a number of shelter animals in Montcalm County just before a Class B dealer arrived to confiscate them for medical research.

Scooter

Scooter was one of those lucky animals saved from a horrific fate at the medical labs. After an animal organization from the county physically removed him from the shelter, Scooter was handed over to Wishbone where we provided him with a new lease on life and cared for him until the right family came along.

An intelligent, energetic dog, we knew that Scooter would be ideal for a home where he could play and be active. Luckily this young lab found the perfect family this April.  Scooter now spends his time sleeping on the family beds, playing with the household’s children or waiting eagerly for his two favorite things:  a ride in the car or a nice long walk outside. A lovable goofball, Scooter keeps his new family entertained with his endless attempts to ‘talk’ and an endearing manner of lying down with paws going every which way.

His new dad’s previous animal companion was a trained therapeutic dog who brightened the lives of cancer patients at Children’s Hospital in Detroit, but sadly he passed away. Scooter will also be trained as a therapy dog and someday soon should also be helping the young cancer patients at the hospital.

This is one of WB’s happiest success stories. Just one day later, Scooter would have been lost to a research lab. Instead he has come full circle. Rescued from experimentation at a medical facility, his future now includes bettering the lives of sick children. Meanwhile he has quickly become the newest member of a loving family.

“He has brought laughter and joy to our family,” his new dad claims. His ten year old daughter agrees, adding, “I’m so glad that Scooter didn’t get used for a science experiment.” Now Scooter’s life — and the lives of many others — will be all the richer for his timely rescue