The Simpsons Co-Creator Was an Angel to the Animals

A CARE (Colorado Animal Rescue Express) rescue dog

Did you know that Sam Simon, the co-creator of "The Simpsons" spent millions of dollars each year to save the lives of dogs through his establishment of the Sam Simon Foundation? His non-profit organization for dogs was also created to enrich people's lives.

Simon passed away on March 8, 2015 after a battle with colon cancer that was diagnosed in 2012. After learning of his prognosis of only several months to live, Simon decided give his millions to animal charities and the hungry. Not that he wasn't already spending millions to help animals even before his late stage cancer diagnosis. On  a wonderful piece of real estate in Malibu, his Foundation gave stray and abandoned dogs a new chance at life. In 2007, 60 Minutes called the Sam Simon Foundation “the grandest dog shelter in the country."

Some of the ways Simon has used his millions to help animals and the animal rights cause include:

• a mobile veterinary clinic that travels throughout Los Angeles to assist low-income folks and their pets.
• a hearing dog program where the Foundation rescues dogs from shelters and humane societies and trains them to become Certified Hearing Dogs.
• service dogs for veterans where the foundation trains shelter dogs to assist veterans with PTSD, or trained to help veterans with hearing loss, traumatic brain injury or moderate physical limitations.
• visitation at assisted living facilities where dogs regularly visit and brighten the days of residents of Los Angeles assisted living facilities.
• adoption program for shelter and rescue dogs where those rescued dogs who don't quite have what it takes to be service dogs can still make amazing companions. 

Markie, rescued in Texas by my husband and me

Simon has also made large donations to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The latter was able to add a fourth ship to its fleet (since Simon bought it for them), and this ship is now defending whales from Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

Simon also created the Feeding Families program in 2011 to respond to families and individuals in economic crisis who are unable to provide food for their children and pets, feeding about 200 families per day. As though all of this is not enough of an amazing legacy, Simon, along with Ingrid Newkirk and PETA began buying zoos and circuses in order to send the animals, those he referred to as "the most abused animals in the country," to a sanctuary.

Thank you, Mr. Simon, for your legacy of love to the animals. And thanks to the Care 2 Causes Blog for the full story on Sam Simon and his wonderful animal philanthropy.

Posted by Dawn Kairns
Author of Maggie the Dog Who Changed My Life

Assisting the Animals of Japan: PETA update

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of  MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

I received this update yesterday from Ingrid Newkirk, president of PETA.

"PETA Asia-Pacific senior campaigner Ashley Fruno has just flown out of the devastated region but wanted me to share with you her account of her last few days in Sendai and the work still to be done for Japan's animals:"

    'I have now left Japan, but my heart is still there. The smell of decaying flesh was strong and undeniable in the disaster areas. We have a wonderful group of helpers in Japan who care about the animals caught up in this horror. We are so happy to support Isabella Gallaon-Aoki from Animal Friends Niigata. She has nerves of steel, and while others were afraid of a second tsunami, radiation damage, and earthquakes, Isabella drove with me into the worst-hit areas and, despite constant aftershocks, stepped into the shaky ruins with me, searching for animals. We spent day after day searching for animal survivors in the hardest-hit areas, taking in animals who couldn't evacuate with their owners and delivering dog and cat food and medicines to the evacuation centers that were allowing animals.

    We met up with a kind and wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Sasaki, who heard we were working nearby and who had been desperate to go out into the affected areas but couldn't as he didn't have any gas. He called us for help, and now he has visited several evacuation centers and is going to each of them one by one to provide treatment to injured animals and to deliver food. Isabella continues to supply Dr. Sasaki with fuel and veterinary supplies, and we are helping with that effort.

    There is still an enormous amount of work to be done in Japan, and a PETA Asia-Pacific volunteer, Ulara Nakagawa, is helping in Tokyo. I am staying in touch with my new friends in Sendai, and PETA is helping them with additional food and supplies as needed.

Since the day after the disaster, PETA has been working with our Asia-Pacific affiliate and Japanese animal groups in the hardest-hit regions. While there have been some heartwarming rescue stories, the situation for animals in Sendai and other parts of the country will take months—or even years—to return to anywhere near what it was before that fateful day two weeks ago.'

Please also see NY Daily News article from 2011-03-19/, and Global Animal, 2011/03/22 for How to help japan pets.

Kyoto News/AP

If you wish to help PETA help the animals of Japan and animals in other disasters you can contribute to PETA's Animal Emergency Fund. And remember to prepare for emergencies in your own home and community. PETA's Animal Emergency Guide can assist you. Another great resource is The Not Without My Dog Resource and Record Book by Jenny Pavlovic.

U.S. Department of State Refusing to Allow Evacuating U.S. Nationals in Japan to Take Their Animals

AGAIN ... Didn't We Learn from Katrina??

I have never posted twice in the same day, but this is important!!

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of  MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

I received this message from Daphna Nachminovitch, Vice President of Cruelty Investigations for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals):

Once again, the U.S. Department of State is refusing to allow U.S. nationals evacuating a disaster zone, this time in Japan, to take their animal companions to safety. The official policy of the Department of State is that it does not evacuate pets. Please contact Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and ask that the State Department allow Americans, without exception, to evacuate all their family members from Japan and from every future disaster area.

PETA agrees with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health veterinarians and others that "… a lack of plans and resources to evacuate 'incidental' pets with their owners has been known for decades to be a primary reason why citizens will refuse to evacuate in the face of imminent life-threatening danger." Unfortunately, when it comes to disasters, people who love their animals often pay with their own lives.

In response to PETA's February requests to Secretary Clinton to allow animals on U.S. government–chartered evacuation flights during the coup in Egypt, some animals were finally allowed on the last flight out of that country. While a promising, and temporary, start, PETA asks that all companion animals, regardless of size, be allowed safe transport out of Japan and any future disaster zone.

Please contact Secretary of State Clinton by e-mail or fax (202-647-1579) and ask that:

1. People evacuating Japan be allowed to take their companion animals, regardless of size, with them.
2. The State Department permanently change its official policy to allow pets to be evacuated, simultaneously with their families, from disaster areas.

Thank you for your willingness to act and for your compassion for animals! For more information on how you can help PETA help animals affected by disasters in Japan and elsewhere, please click here.

How You Can Help Japan's Animals Today: PETA Update

Posted By Dawn Kairns, Author of  MAGGIE the dog who changed my life A Story of Love

 I received the following message/update yesterday evening from Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals):

Animals in Japan URGENTLY Need Your Help

I wanted to share with you the following update from Ashley Fruno, a senior campaigner with PETA Asia—who, along with Isabella Gallaon-Aoki of Animal Friends Niigata, was the first responder from any international animal rights group to reach the disaster area in Japan after taking the first flight to Tokyo after the airport reopened Saturday night—and to ask for your URGENT support for our relief efforts in disasters like this one:

   "At first glance, my team and I didn't realize how devastated the area that we were driving into really was. It was only when we started seeing cars with their windows broken from the force of the water in the middle of rice fields that we realized we were in one of the hardest hit areas. There appears to be no animal survivors in these areas.

    At the first possible opportunity, after queuing for gas, we visited Sendai's city animal shelter and offered assistance. There had been an influx of animals at the shelter since the earthquake, as well as many reports of missing animals. The facility is not yet full, however, and will continue taking in lost and abandoned animals. Workers said that the shelter's phone line was just restored today, so they know that the worst is yet to come—many people with animals simply may have not been able to get through.

    We spent the rest of the day today at evacuation centers handing out pet food and asking for any leads on abandoned animals. One of the center coordinators told us a very touching story about his Akita, named Shane. After notifying his neighbors, he tried to get back to his house after the earthquake to get Shane, but the tsunami was rapidly approaching, and he was forced to go to the local school on higher ground. He said that he had given up hope of ever seeing Shane alive again. However, six hours later, one of the people staying in the center mentioned seeing a dog outside. Shane had never been to the school before, but somehow he managed to swim through chest-high water before being reunited with his guardian. We instructed the guardian on how to clean Shane's wounds and provided some ointment to help ward off infection. We were able to leave fuel with the local veterinarian; he will return to check on Shane and provide antibiotics to ensure that the dog's wounds heal.

    The local veterinarian we had contact with will serve as the "mobile vet" for Sendai. He is working on obtaining a list of local evacuation centers and will visit all of them, distributing food and administering veterinary care to animals who need it."

The situation for animals in Japan is desperate. Right now, Ashley and her team are on the ground providing food, water, and care to animals in some of the country's most devastated areas. They are helping Japan's animal survivors however they can—and linking desperate guardians throughout the region with urgently needed veterinary care and pet supplies.

We need your help TODAY to support Ashley's team in Japan and prevent the needless suffering and deaths of animals whose lives are at risk because of calamities such as last week's earthquake and tsunami. Please take a moment to make a special gift to PETA's Animal Emergency Fund.

The Animal Emergency Fund was created to support lifesaving efforts for animals both before and after disaster strikes. It has saved countless animals by providing guardians and media outlets with vital information to keep companion animals safe from nature's worst. This fund not only helps teams such as Ashley's but also supports the rescue of animals in other crises throughout the world, from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to last year's massive earthquake in Haiti.

Efforts such as these are funded through the generosity of individual donations from people like you, and animals in danger—in Japan and around the world—need your support now more than ever.

Please make a special donation right now to support our Animal Emergency Fund and our urgent work to help animals who are in harm's way.

For everything that you do to help animals in need, thank you.