Laurie Mustard / Winnipeg Free Press
Jeandeau, a feral rescue who Laurie Mustard has adopted and taken in.
Happy, loving, and so grateful. That describes every animal my family has ever rescued over many years, and nothing is more heartwarming or rewarding than living that joy with them.
A tad ironic that in today’s Homes section, Mustard on Everything! shines a light on homelessness. But this is the time of year when homeless people and animals alike begin to seek shelter and brace themselves against the cold, loneliness and hunger of the long winter to come.
Fortunately for these homeless, hopeless and often helpless people and animals, their fate is not carved in stone — if the rest of us who have help to offer in this "have" country simply step up and do our part.
We are the difference makers in this sad scenario. We have to seek out what we can do and then act on the huge list of life-saving options available to us.
Taking the opportunity to support organizations including United Way, Siloam Mission, Salvation Army, Winnipeg Harvest and other human need-focused help groups — by donating funds, food, clothing and doing other things such as volunteering time — is an excellent way to step up for local people needing help.
It’s a different challenge to provide life-saving assistance to homeless animals. Yes, you can support local shelters with donations and adopt (please do!), but those animals living homeless and shelterless throughout the cities, towns and countryside have no way of knowing that help exists, nor will they allow you near them to direct them to that help.
So we animal lovers have to do our best to keep an eye out for animals in need, catch them if possible and take them to an appropriate organization for help, or just provide whatever shelter and food we can put in place for them till some other form of help becomes available.
I know there are a lot of kind-hearted people doing what they can, but unfortunately not enough to prevent so many of those homeless and often sick animals from freezing or starving to death over the winter.
But I’ll cut to the chase on what I do to help as many local homeless animals as possible — including feeding the deer in a bad year.
For dogs, I put out food and provide some sort of shelter where possible, but the best result is always achieved by catching them and turning them over to some organization that specializes in such rescues.
My main focus, however, is feral cats. My first priority is to provide shelter and food. Secondly, I gain their trust enough to capture them, get them spayed or neutered and then dedicate myself to finding a home for them. I managed to gain the trust of and find homes for two feral cats that warred constantly and one of them — Buddy — is still living with me here, along with three rescued cats and a pair of dogs.
Another feral cat — my next project — is a white cat I call Casper, who lives out of a shelter I provide for homeless cats in a shed in my backyard. It’s quite the penthouse and includes a friend’s wolf fur coat she donated to help keep the cats warm.
One adopted cat, whose name I changed from John Doe to Jeandeau, actually kept jumping at the cage wall where he was being held till I said, "I hear ya. I’m supposed to take you home."
I did. And he is a total love — such a treasure.
So, when you encounter a feral dog or cat, please — just do what you can.
lmustard1948@gmail.com
