Post by Josh on Sept 15, 2005 4:08:23 GMT -5
"Some folks say, 'Why save chickens when there are people and dogs and cats to save?' '' says the birds' savior, Vacaville resident Kim Sturla, who traveled to Mississippi to rescue the chickens after learning about their plight on television.
"I'm looking at it from the perspective of their lives,'' she said. "The life of the chicken is as important to him as the life of the dog or cat is to them."
And so 1,000 chickens at a Mississippi slaughterhouse damaged by Hurricane Katrina got a free ticket to heaven. At this moment, the birds are on their way to spend the rest of their lives in animal sanctuaries and backyards.
Who is this woman. Her name is Sturla, and she runs an animal sanctuary in Vacaville. Joined by employees from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and an animal sanctuary volunteer from New York, she set out to save these chickens from drowning and starvation.
Perhaps the hardest part was actually finding the slaughterhouse. Asking around, they finally located it. "I'm sure it was a strange request, but no one made light of it,'' said Sturla. "There was no rudeness. They didn't mock us. They just said you came out from California to do what?"
By the time the rescuers got there, it was already too late for most of the victims. "There were thousands dead -- they were scattered around like trash,'' she said. "The odor is indescribable. It's just of death and of rotting bodies.''
The complete story can be found at
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/13/BAGP6EMQ951.DTL
"I'm looking at it from the perspective of their lives,'' she said. "The life of the chicken is as important to him as the life of the dog or cat is to them."
And so 1,000 chickens at a Mississippi slaughterhouse damaged by Hurricane Katrina got a free ticket to heaven. At this moment, the birds are on their way to spend the rest of their lives in animal sanctuaries and backyards.
Who is this woman. Her name is Sturla, and she runs an animal sanctuary in Vacaville. Joined by employees from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and an animal sanctuary volunteer from New York, she set out to save these chickens from drowning and starvation.
Perhaps the hardest part was actually finding the slaughterhouse. Asking around, they finally located it. "I'm sure it was a strange request, but no one made light of it,'' said Sturla. "There was no rudeness. They didn't mock us. They just said you came out from California to do what?"
By the time the rescuers got there, it was already too late for most of the victims. "There were thousands dead -- they were scattered around like trash,'' she said. "The odor is indescribable. It's just of death and of rotting bodies.''
The complete story can be found at
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/13/BAGP6EMQ951.DTL