The Water Cooler

October 13, 2009

Welcome to our new employees: animal care manager - Joy Yacoub and animal caretaker - Mindy Krauser. We look forward to getting to know you and working with you over the next several months!

1:04 pm

October 1, 2009

The unfortunate110 animal hoarder case continues.... Unfortunately the decision of the original judge in late June was split. The six dogs and eighteen horses were to be returned to the owner and the cats and fowl were granted custody to MHF. The owner failed to pick up his dogs from the Fauiquier SPCA for over a month after the judges decision and as of September 21st, he still had not picked up his horses from MHF! MHF made many many attempts to arrange for him to pick up his horses with over thirty calls, emails and faxes to the owner and his attorney so.....on September 21st, MHF re-seized the horses for abandonment. We went to the general district court and preesented our case. The judge ruled in our favor and granted full custody of the now twenty horses (two foals were born this summer) to MHF with a $25,000 appeal bond. Unfortunately the owner appealed and posted bond so now we have many months of caring for his horses ahead of us during the appeal process. These expenses are really hurting and it will only get worse with the winter coming up... lots of hay and lots of grain..... But, we will stay strong and will try as hard as we can to obtain custody and provide great homes and life long protection for these horses.

11:55 am

September 27, 2009

Most of the animals at MHF come from cruelty or neglect cases. When we have room, we try to help in other situations such as taking animals from county shelters when they are scheduled for euthanasia. On this Sunday morning, Sabrina and Hilleary made a trip to the Warren County shelter. We figured out that we had room to take in six dogs but when we went to the shelter there were over thrity dogs that needed our help! It was really hard to decide who to take and who to leave behind. We spent over an hour walking through the kennels and making notes. Finally we decided and brought back ten lucky puppies and adult dogs! This group has proven to be very adoptable. They just needed more time to find their forever homes.

10:25 am

September 23, 2009

A MHF employee, Michaela, lives near the Rappahannock Dump. On a recent visit she saw a TON of cats lurking around the dumpsters. She talked with a man that works there and he said that a few of the cats had been spayed and neutered but that there were many that were having kittens and many that were dying. The Rappahannock shelter does not care for cats, only dogs, so this colony of cats had not been provided with TNR (Trap/ Neuter/ Return). Michaela began trapping the colony and within one week, MHF was able to successfully TNR thirteen cats. MHF kept six baby kittens with the hopes of finding them adoptive homes. We recently received a very nice/ apprecaitive letter from the County Administrator for helping them with this situation. We are always happy to help!

9:32 am

July 10th, 2009

Hilleary visited a property where she found 2 starving chained dogs, a little dog covered in fleas and three emaciated and very sickly kittens. The people were very uncooperative and would not accept any help, so a search warrant was obtained and the animals were seized and removed. No criminal charges were filed but full custody of the animals was awarded to MHF.

2:08 pm

June 4, 2009

Hilleary accompied Fauquier County Animal Control Officers to a propery outside of Warrenton where there was a large number of animals locked inside a filthy house. We obtained a search warrant and found 27 cats, 6 dogs, 38 fowl, 1 turtle and 1 fish in horrific conditions. We removed all of the animals inside and returned the following day to remove the 18 horses, ponies & donkeys that were in 2 pastures on the property. We found out that the owner was an animal control officer who had been relieved of his duties a year ago and he now operates a private dog and cat sitting service- how frightful! This is a messy case. Unfortunately we had a sub judge from Loudoun county who had never sat for an animal case before so he took over one week to come to a decision. He ordered that the dogs and horses be returned but the cats and fowl were given to Middleburg Humane and the Fauquier SPCA. The criminal cruelty and unfit owner end of this is still pending. We will go back to court on September 23rd. The owner JUST picked up his dogs after leaving them for over a month at the FSPCA and has not yet picked up the now 20 horses( we have had 2 foals born). We will keep you posted.

1:52 pm

May 2009

This is a HUGE month for our shelter! We have 2 fundraisers: The Bow Wow Meow Garden Tour during monthers Day weekend and then Stable Tour during Memorial day weekend. May is also the beginning of the explosive puppy kitten season every year so BUSY with lots of new babies. On top of all of that, we are also in FULL swing with our big annual June event planning- Wish us luck- we will need it!

1:14 pm

April 10, 2009

Birth Announcement! 2 foals were born at the MHF shelter. Lucero was born on March 22nd and Trish was born on April 5th. Their moms are Mustang mares that were rescued last July. We had no idea of when they were bred - so this was much to our surpise as we witnessed their increasingly rotund tummies! See recent rescues for pictures and more info.

11:36 am

March 17, 2009

Oliver the pig went to his new home at the Goodstone Inn. He has an important job to do as mascot to the Inn. He currently resides with 2 piglet friends!

11:12 am

March 13, 2009

MHF is happy to announce that we are able to share some of our donated cat and dog food to a local community food bank in Bealeton. Due to the great volume of food received from our supporters over the holidays, we thought it would be a great idea to share it with those that are really in need during these tough economic times.

12:31 pm

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Middleburg Humane Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. All donations are 100% tax deductible. MHF continues to be entirely funded by private donations with no state or county funding. Please donate via paypal or make your check payable to: MHF and mail to MHF, PO Box 1238, Middleburg, VA 20118. Click here for other ways you can help.