We’ve all seen the horrific images of destruction across Grand Bahama island. The reality is hard to imagine. We can save lives if we act immediately.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee, Fla., flew to the island and rescued 90 dogs. A heart-wrenching story showed three family dogs in need of help. Rescuers were able to coax two of the three to safety. The third dog was so frightened she ran away and had to be left behind — for now. Volunteers will return this week.
Our organization, Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals Humane Society, called Big Dog Ranch Rescue to ask if they owned dog traps. They did not. Having volunteered following Hurricane Katrina, we learned that animals left behind were too traumatized and terrified to come to those trying to save them. A vision we’ll never forget was on the last day of the rescue effort. A Great Dane and a Chihuahua stood together at a distance watching us, too frightened to approach. They were left behind. The orders were to shoot all remaining animals after rescuers left.
But we can help the dogs on Grand Bahama. VVSA purchased three dog traps that should arrive before Big Dog Ranch Rescue departs. Our goal is to send as many traps as they can carry on the plane, and purchase 70-inch long traps (one that VVSA owns that works every time) as soon as possible. Prices range from about $200 to $800. We asked if Big Dog Ranch Rescue needed cat traps. The answer was no. No cats survived, nor did birds.
Buying traps in quantity reduces their cost. Donations are tax deductible. Checks can be mailed to VVSA Humane Society, P.O. Box 100, Bridgewater, Vt. 05034. Please note: “Grand Bahamas Rescue.” Any amount is appreciated, and time is of the essence.
If you would like to contact Big Dog Ranch Rescue directly, the number is 561-529-1424. Ask for Robin Friedman. We send them our most sincere gratitude for their undertaking. Thankfully, these animals, unlike the people, are allowed into the states for sanctuary.
SUE SKASKIW
Bridgewater
The writer is executive director of Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals Humane Society.
In response to the demand by our youth to address the climate crisis — as one articulate kid said, “We need to keep at this from all angles” — I became a plastic fighter and began by packing my own container and fork.
This is another call to arms: Make plastic protest art.
Students and others can collect lots of PLU labels (those little stickers with the “price look-up” code) from veggies and fruits and press them onto wax paper, plastic sheets or some other plastic surfaces from the recycle bin to create mosaics or collages of “plastic-fighting art.”
Ideally, the resulting card or poster would represent something relevant to reducing plastic — such as alternatives to using plastic packaging — or include an informative or inspirational quote or slogan.
Libraries could act as collection sites and could host workshops to make the art. Schools could offer the activity (several Upper Valley schools have already started). The artwork could be displayed in public places and eventually sent to produce suppliers to encourage them to reduce plastic use.
This idea is fun, important and doable. You, too, can become a plastic fighter.
Embrace change though art.
CAROL LANGSTAFF
Sharon
Regarding Dartmouth College’s plan to replace its current heating plant with a biomass heating system, I urge the Nugget Theater, the Hop film department, and any other group that can sponsor and screen films to the public to show New Day Films’ production Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? It is compelling visual journalism, showing community experience with biomass plants around the country and the world.
The justifications from the college supporting its plan are straight from the promotional playbook of the industry — in other words, lies and propaganda. Biomass is the industrial equivalent of burning the Amazon. We don’t want this in our backyard.
ELLEN DesMEULES
North Pomfret
My name is Jason Atwood and I’ll be working in the Upper Valley for the next few months as a field organizer on the Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign. We’ll be trying to raise awareness and build public support around ending oil and gas development in one of our world’s most majestic wild spaces: Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Beginning on Friday, folks across the Upper Valley will take to the streets as part of a global protest to demand climate justice and an end to fossil fuels. But despite this global movement, the Trump administration is still dead set on expanding fossil fuel development in the Refuge.
The Arctic is already ground zero for climate change. Sea ice is melting, permafrost is thawing and temperatures are rising at twice the global rate, according to climate scientists from around the world.
Dangerous oil development will only endanger the pristine life cycles and native communities of the Refuge while compounding the devastating climate impacts that we are already feeling. And yet leases are expected to be sold to oil and gas companies in just a few short months.
We need to act now and make our voices heard. Just because Alaska and the Arctic are out of sight does not mean that they should be out of mind. Email me at jason@greencorps.org for more information on how to get involved in the critical Arctic Refuge Defense Campaign.
JASON ATWOOD
Hanover