"Uno?" Lorraine asked our vet, Heather O'Leary, when she examined Andy to see if his second testicle had dropped.

When Heather's response was "dos," Lorraine did a happy dance, and the little survivor was IMMEDIATELY scheduled for surgery.

To track his wonderful progress, see the following entries (chronologically from earliest to most recent):

Welcome, Andy!
Andy Awaits His First Adventure
Hey, Fresh Boy
You Go Boy!!

A little guy whom we didn't know would survive DID survive, a little guy whom we didn't know could have a full life WILL have a full life. Andy is being gelded. He may be the homeliest horse that ever lived, but he doesn't know that. He's The Little Horse that Could.

Come meet him. He'll make you smile.

Today, I spoke to the Kauai Vegetarian Society, a newly-formed group that meets monthly at the Neighborhood Center in Kapa'a, located right on the beach and just a half-mile or so from Blossoming Lotus, Kauai's wonderful vegan restaurant.

How impressed I was!! First, that over forty people attended on Super Bowl Sunday when rain pelted the island relentlessly was impressive enough. Second, the group was an informed and sophisticated bunch--well aware of the health aspects of the veggie lifestyle--comprised of a everyone from young families to retirees. I met John, fresh out of his Bikram yoga class (held just above Blossoming Lotus), Gordon and Diane, a vibrant and enthusiastic West Side couple, and plenty of others who've enthusiastically embraced this compassionate lifestyle.

The audience asked wonderful questions about the work of Catskill Animal Sanctuary, and laughed warmly when I read chapters from Where the Blind Horse Sings that show how animals -- sheep and pigs and chickens -- can evolve when they're loved...when they're in situations that allow them to thrive. One particulary good question was about how we handle people who show indifference to animals.

Most interestingly, though, according to organizer Jim Brown, at least a quarter of the group were newcomers -- and this happens at each meeting of the fledging group (just a year old). How different that is from our local vegetarian group that struggles to get its members to attend its monthly meetings.

What is there to learn, I wonder? Naturally, the "Garden Island" attracts people interested in a healthy, active lifestyle. But there must be some way for our good group to draw more people, because its message is obviously one that everyone can benefit from.

Meanwhile, the weather is not on my side this year--one stormy day follows the next--so I'm reading, writing, and working out with my partner David's friend Whitey the Goose. I'm on my way there now. Whitey and I have got to work on our abs today. In all this rain, I need a good sweat and could use a workout coach!!

When a film crew from NBC Nightly News came to Catskill Animal Sanctuary a couple weeks ago, producer Hilary Guy warned us, "We'll let you know when your piece is schedule to air, but keep in mind that stories get bumped by breaking news..."

First we got bumped by the Wall Street freefall.

Then, we got bumped by a Las Vegas casino fire.

Last week, Hilary told us that the piece wouldn't air until after Super Tuesday.

So, while vacationing in a stormy Hawaii--no sun or surf for this paleface, I'm afraid--I'm hoping for a good day for Obama, and also hoping that in addition to campaigning politicians, NBC will air the story of Catskill Animal Sanctuary by the end of the week.

In the meantime, the requests to take animals--mostly horses--that people can no longer afford keep coming at the rate of one or two a day.

Stay tuned!

Giving up meat isn't easy for many of us, particularly if we have a traditional diet and just aren't convinced that a meat-free diet can taste as good.

But the reasons to go veg are SO VERY IMPORTANT, and there are thousands of websites, restaurants, healthy-lifestyle coaches, cookbooks, cooking classes, and more to provide all the help you need!!

Here's an article to inspire you to take the leap--or at least the first step--toward an animal free-diet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?_r=1&oref=slog

Sorry to be absent!!

My trip halfway around the world to idyllic Hawaii turned out to be...um...a bit of a challenge. First, rain pelted the gorgeous North Shore of Kauai for virtually my entire stay. It was heavy; it was relentless. Second, I got sick--don't think I've been sick in over a decade, but bone-weary when I got on the plane and surrounded by coughing, sniffling children, I succumbed. Third: I came home with a SERIOUS case of "jungle funk." Four doctors, including two tropical disease specialists in Manhattan, are raising their eyebrows and saying "you got me."

What started as a freckle-sized red dot on the palm of my right hand became within two weeks a silver-dollar sized oozing blistery mass that itched like mad. It felt much like poison ivy but was UNDER the surface of the skin. As soon as I arrived back at CAS, it began spreading up my arm.

SHIT!! I must have had a tiny tear in my skin--a splinter? too much playtime with my boyfriend's pet goose--who loves sitting in one's lap for hours at a time, but who'll also peck and pinch one's palm....hmmm? a little tear when I slipped on a muddy hill and went backwards onto my hands? However it happened, there was an opening, and something VERY unwelcome entered and announced itself with flair.

I'll spare you the drama. Whatever it was could have been deadly. But while four doctors have no idea what it is, they all agree on what it isn't. And what it isn't are all the scary things -- you know, the stuff that can cause liver and kidney damage, loss of the affected limb, even, potentially, loss of life.

In the meantime, while we're anxiously awaiting the results of bacterial and viral cultures, I'm trying not to scratch, taking STEROIDS--which freaks me out--and antibiotics, and trying to dry this grossness on my hand with a topical powder diluted in water.

Anyone know a good liver and kidney cleanse? I want to be good to my poor organs once I get off this damned prednisone.

All this, by the way, is merely a long-winded apology for tuning out for the last ten days. I'm back, guys, festering hand and all, with lots of news!!

Wouldn't you know that the NBC piece aired while I was in Hawaii? I got a cell phone call, but not in time to contact more than just a few of my peeps. If you want to see it, go to our website: http://www.casanctuary.org, and click on "What's new at CAS" for their video. Also, be sure to check out all the great TV and radio coverage of the last couple months by clicking the "In the News" button.

Hmmm...the piece on Catskill Animal Sanctuary was a quick one. Would we hear from people?I wondered. Well, let me say to anyone who runs a nonprofit that if you have a story with national implications, three minutes on national news will do more for your organization than all your previous efforts combined!!

We've heard, to date, from over 200 people from at least thirty states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, California, Washington, and Oregon. Volunteer offers have flooded in, as have adoption applications, warm e-mails and letters of support and encouragement...and one marriage proposal.

Mostly, though, what's come are donations: $5, $10, $50, $500, $2,000--and one check for $25,000.

Thanks, NBC, from all of us at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. A new barn--our third this season in response to the foreclosure crisis--goes up beginning Wednesday.

I don't envy Custom Forest Products.

It's 15 degrees outside. Temperature's not expected to rise above freezing, and three lightly-dressed men are positioned at the site of our newest barn, ready to go with their generators and 2 x 4s and 6 x 6s and a pallet's worth of shingles.

Of the 27 (GOOD LORD!!) buildings we've erected since we moved to Fortune Valley (22 shelters, 2 hay storage buildings, one office, one house, and one "Welcome Hut"), eight of them have been put up by Custom Forest Products. They do sustainable, ecological logging, have their own sawmill, and build a solid building for a fair price--in the dead of winter.

Our newest barn, one of four being built in response to the foreclosure crisis that's forcing people to give up their animals, will be a 1,200 sq. foot pole barn. No stalls...they can be added later if necessary. Instead, lots of open space, front and back doors, 9' head clearance, and 12 windows.

We didn't budget for this crisis--how could one anticipate something like this? It's been the reach of the NBC Nightly News piece that is enabling us to build not three as originally planned, but four new shelters. Donations from $5 to $25,000 have poured in from around the country -- and all of them are needed, as the shelters will total just over $50,000.

Thank you to those of you who've extended yourselves so generously during a time of hardship for so many sad human beings....and a few animals fortunate enough to find love at Catskill Animal Sanctuary.

For those of you who've been reading this blog from the beginning, you'll recognize the names of the animals here: Buddy the blind horse; Abby, who arrived from a Saratoga starvation case unable to walk; Andy, the nearly-dead young Appaloosa; and our newest equines, Cas and Noah, removed from filthy, tiny stalls in a dark barn on a derelict property.

For those of you new to our blog, it's worth tracking the history of these five animals in order to fully appreciate the good news--the gloriously good news--that I'm about to share.

The Wild Ones
No more panic attacks for our blind boy. That would be victory enough. But Buddy's healing has gone way beyond the self-assurance and calm that were eight months in the making. As for Abby, we'd have been happy if she could manage to walk. I certainly never thought I'd witness what I did today.

Buddy is the lone gelding turned out in a field with the mares Abby, Henny, and Lex. The girls stay out with access to a spacious new run-in (Abby having long gained both weight and soundness); Buddy is turned out each morning and brought into the main barn just before his 3 pm dinner.

The snowfall was gorgeous this morning as I strolled the farm to check the animals. As Murphy and I began down the lane to Buddy's pasture, Buddy suddenly reared in the air, whirled around and took off in Abby's direction, bumped into her, nipped her fanny and then whipped around again in a playful kick before taking off in the opposite direction. Abby kicked back but gently chased him--seeming to fully understand that her pal is blind--and then the jostling and shoving, the nicking and squealing, the tail flicking and head tossing that FOALS love continued for a couple minutes. The old mare who could not walk when she arrived and the blind horse too frightened to be left in a field were sound enough and confident enough and energetic enough to act like a couple of kids.

The Spotted One
Little Andy is gaining weight and strength. Floating his teeth has improved his appetite, and as his health has been consistently good, he is finally--FINALLY--putting on significant weight. We knew the healing process would be long and complicated with our "gazelle." While we still wonder what his quality of life will ultimately be, for now he's happy and strong, and as full of piss and vinegar as he was WITH his testicles.

The Lame Ones
Cas and Noah, meanwhile, are recovering in ways that seem nothing short of miraculous. Farrier Korey Hedderman has seen each of them twice since they arrived four weeks ago, working wonders on their tangled, knotted hooves. The boys have gained nearly 100 pounds each, their coats are beginning to shine, and despite weak and unsteady limbs resulting from years of confinement without any farrier care, they're standing soundly. Their eyes alert and trusting. Cas has the temperament one might expect of a thoroughbred stallion--flighty and high strung. Noah, with his kind, liquidy eyes, seems an old soul to me. He's going to win a lot of hearts.

Their big news? Their quarantine ends tomorrow, and I can't wait to try a simple stroll down the long barn aisle with each of them (more would be way too much for them), -- to see how -- to see if -- they can walk.

The undercover video by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) of cows at the Westland/Hallmark slaughterhouse shows downed animals--too sick to stand on their own--being poked in the eye, beaten, sprayed in the face, lifted and shoved with forklifts, and ultimately dragged by chains to their deaths.

By this point, the video has been viewed by millions of Americans. Millions have been introduced to the concept of downed animals, and to the enormity of their suffering. Millions can no longer say "but food animals are protected by law," and must also now acknowledge that animals deemed unfit for consumption are entering the human food supply chain.

I am so grateful for this video, for the attention it has received, and for HSUS's renewed demands that Congress enact pending farm animal welfare legislation -- the Downed Animal and Food Safety Protection Act and the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act – without further delay.

I also applaud the efforts of HSUS and other big guns -- Compassion Over Killing, Farm Sanctuary, PETA, , etc. -- to shine a spotlight on the most egregious abuses -- downed animals among them -- in a system designed to maximize efficiency and profit despite the costs to the "product" (in this case, living animals) and the consumer.

Gestation crates. Veal crates. Tens of thousands of chickens raised in a single building (9 billion each year grown and killed in this country alone), sitting in their own filth, the ammonia from their excretions damaging eyes, lungs and throats. Grown so quickly that the chicken industry now knows the percentage of birds that will die of "flip-over syndrome" -- i.e. violent heart attacks -- because their organs can't handle the stress of being forced to grow to slaughter weight in just six weeks. We chop off animals' tails, we chop off their toes, we chop off their beaks, all without anesthesia, because on these factory farms, in these chambers of horror, animals packed together peck and claw and bite each other...and god forbid the meat be damaged. I'm grateful for the courage and commitment that it has taken to gather this footage, and I encourage those of you who've heretofore turned a blind eye to look at it.

Within the animal rights community, the debate will continue over whether lobbying for slow, strategic, and incremental change (the HSUS approach) is preferable to demanding the absolute and immediate end of all uses of animals by human beings. But when we're talking about shifting sociocultural attitudes (if there is such a word!), all change happens incrementally. Sudden seismic shifts of attitude are rare in us humans, and I applaud HSUS, Farm Sanctuary and others for their strategic, long-term approach to changing policy as they also encourage individual animal lovers to adopt a vegan lifestyle.

But I've got to be honest. I just don't feel excited about lobbying for laws that would outlaw mind-numbing cruelty and replace it with a little less cruelty. Through our e-updates and our quarterly newsletter, we encourage Catskill Animal Sanctuary members to make the phone calls that will encourage their respective lawmakers to vote for these incremental changes--in that way, we do our part. But in my role as director of a sanctuary that rescues these animals,the only approach that rings true for me is to say to every single human soul who comes our way: PLEASE DON'T EAT THEM. If you've read my blog from the beginning, you'll know that this hasn't always been my approach. But seven years into this work, it's the only message I feel we can offer.

Of course, how we offer it varies depending on the visitor's predisposition and level of awareness. For those who clearly feel threatened or judged, it can be as simple as encouraging them to lie in the shavings pile with a happy pig, read our signage about the lives of animals, take home the literature to read on their own. For others, it can mean emphasizing the environmental devastation wrought by agribusiness. In other words, no single formula works. What works, I believe, is to be grounded in the "rightness" of this choice, to understand that we're all in different places in our journey, to know that if meat eaters have come to Catskill Animal Sanctuary, somehow the question of diet is one they're already wrestling with...or one with which they're ready to. It's incumbent on us to help them along that path.

It's part of our job that I believe we do well; it's a job we must do better.

How wonderful to receive a phone call from Susan Barnett, WAMC's Hudson Valley Bureau Chief, on Monday.

"I want to do a story on the impact of the foreclosure crisis on CAS," she said on the phone.

Susan and I met in the barn at 10:30 am, and let me be the first to say that while I've met many attractive radio personalities, Susan may be the best candidate I've EVER met to quash the "you've got a great face for radio" stereotype. She's absolutely beautiful.

Here is her piece. While she ostensibly came to address the economic crisis and how it's impacting people with animals, animals themselves, and nonprofits being asked to care for increasing numbers of aniomals, I think her piece could have a far bigger impact.

Thank you, Susan, for letting the animals write your story:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1235030

It's been a long winter.

The first e-mail in my inbox this morning was from a woman who needs to place her 42 horses immediately because she's losing her farm to foreclosure. Go George Bush. Thanks for these last eight years.

Eight horses of various breeds--draft cross, Arab...and 35 miniature horses. The woman had 200 animals; fortunately the dogs, cats, and goat have been placed. She's reaching out to us because her farm is going into foreclosure in April.

We're thinking. We'd love your thoughts.