Thank you to our Legacy of Love Monthly Donors

LLL volunteer Jenna and foster pup Lake

We would  like to send a heartfelt thanks to our Legacy of Love monthly donors. We currently have 20 recurring donors:

- Marilou, in memory of Ahnung
- Janet W (MN)
- Bobbi G (MN)
- Vicki N (MN)
- Kelli H (CA)
- Karen S (MN)
- Kathy K (NC)
- Terri H (MN)
- Herb C (MN)
- Alisa K (NY)
- Barbara K (MN)
- Craig B (MN)
- Kathleen R (MN)
- Jessica B (MN)
- Janet W (MN)
- Kathleen G (MN)
- Carl and Mary S (MN)
- Thomas S (MN)

2/2/2014 Update - We have 2 new Legacy of Love Monthly Donors!!
- Lori L (MN)
- Nancy and Tom O. (MN)

We have a lot planned for 2014. Our Legacy of Love monthly donors funded our December, 2013 and January 2014 Great Puppy Roundups, where 87 animals were surrendered and transported to partner shelters and rescues. Every week we have transports arriving from northern Minnesota. We transport animals from Leech Lake Reservation and Red Lake Reservation. In 2014, we are also hosting an event every month: 4 spay/neuter and wellness clinics and 8 Great Puppy Roundup. To view our 2014 calendar click here. We are launching the Ituha Animal Care Project and will continue to provide shelter for outside reservation dogs through the Yukon Project.

We need your support. If we could add even just one more monthly donor each month that would go a LONG way in helping the dogs and cats of Leech Lake Reservation. It's easy to sign up. Please help spread the word. We are grateful for any level you are able to afford. All donations are 100% tax-deductible!

Visit the Donate page on the Leech Lake Legacy website to become a Legacy of Love monthly donor.

http://www.leechlakelegacy.org/donate.html

Henrietta after her warm, swirling bath

Your donation and support will help animals like Henrietta who was found on Leech Lake Reservation in early December almost frozen to death with a bad case of demodectic mange. The thermometer wouldn't even register when she was brought in because her body temperature was so low. The clinic staff immediately put her in a warm, swirling bath and brought her temperature back to normal. We call her our "Miracle Girl" because she survived after being so close to death.

Henrietta was brought down to the cities on an emergency mid-week transport and is now in a loving foster home with our partner Pooches United with People.

By becoming a Legacy of Love monthly donor, you will help us continue to help the Henriettas. Consider making a monthly donation in honor, or memory of a loved one ....

Join the Legacy of Love Monthly Circle!

Henrietta shortly after she arrived at her foster home.

Henrietta .. healing nice, and still loving the laundry basket!

Simon (formerly Miigwech) ... a year later!

Simon welcomes the New Year!

A year ago (on January 19th, 2013) a caravan of 3 vehicles drove from the Twin Cities to Leech Lake Reservation. On that trip, we had a special guest, Kelli (who was working for the ASPCA at the time) who was visiting from California and wanted to join us on a transport to experience the work we are doing and to meet Ken Washington (Leech Lake Chief of Police) and Rory Haaland (Leech Lake CSO). It was a bitterly cold morning as we left at dark from the Twin Cities that Saturday morning. On that transport 36 animals (from Leech Lake and Red Lake Reservations) were transported back. Ken Washington took us on a tour of tribal housing, and on that trip Kelli and I saw dogs out in the cold shivering, and a week later were communicating by email with each other, haunted by the images of shivering dogs and asked each "What can we do? I wonder how many igloos we could get donated?" ... and that led to Kelli reaching out to her network and by the following week we had 150 dog barn houses being shipped to the Leech Lake Tribal Police headquarters (a generous grant from PetSmart Charities) and the birth of a The Yukon Project.

Simon/Miigwech on Rory's lap at the Leech Lake Impond

And on that historic transport a year ago, we also asked Kelli to name one of the dogs coming down on transport from Leech Lake. We were on the 'M4' transport so all the animals coming down on transport would have names beginning with the letter 'M'. Kelli picked a sweet pitbull puppy ... and she named him 'Miigwech.'

Miigwech (renamed to Simon) was placed up for adoption through our partner Minnesota Pitbull Rescue. Last week we saw a photo of Simon posted on their facebook page so we commented and shared the updated photo on the Leech Lake Legacy facebook page with photos of Simon from a year ago.

[To read more about the transport a year ago and the birth of The Yukon Project: http://leechlakelegacy.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-yukon-project-150-make-their-way-to.html]

We got more information from Simon's new mom and had to share with you more photos :)

"My husband & I wanted to adopt another dog so our 2 year old pit, Ruby, could have a brother:) We found Simon on the MN pit bull rescue website & fell in love with him. He has now been with us for about three months. In the last month he has really started to come out of his shell. He's goofy, sweet & always hungry! They love to go for walks & play with our dog walker. She is the one who found Ruby stray in North Minneapolis. We had hired her a few years ago to take care of our aging pit, Tesco. He passed away about 2 years ago.

Simon finished his first round of training at the Canine Coach & did really well! He is not dog to dog aggressive, but Ruby is & we had them in a dog to dog aggression class together. I have him signed up for Obedience one starting in February. I would love one day for him to be a registered therapy dog! He's so sweet & snuggley I think he would do really well!

Cheers, Angie"

Simon/Miigwech arrives in the Twin Cities on 1/19/2013

Simon and Ruby

Simon, Ruby and mom

Simon (with sister Ruby) on his first morning at his new home!

Snuggle buddies

Lake: Porch puppy no more ... transformed by the love of Jenna

Lake -- first night at Jenna's, bath time!

At our last Great Puppy Roundup on 1/4/2014, a puppy (whom we named Lake) was living under a porch in Cass Lake. Jenna was one of several Leech Lake Legacy volunteers who went to try to catch Lake who was very shy and fearful. LLL volunteers spent an hour out in the frigid cold and Jenna was finally able to catch Lake. Because she was so scared, Jenna offered to bring Lake home and give her socialization time. When she first arrived she was terrified. We were told that on the drive back to the cities from Cass Lake, Lake was riding on Jenna's lap :)

The sweet little pup got a bath when she got to Jenna's home and was introduced to Jenna's 4-legged family :) Jenna, as she always does, worked her magic with the shy and fearful ones ...

And it became clear there was a special bond between the two of them. Today, Lake was ready to move onto the next stage of her journey in finding her own forever home, so Jenna brought Lake to the Animal Humane Society where she will be placed up for adoption. We were meeting a transport arriving from Leech Lake today, and while we were waiting I captured some photos of a very bittersweet goodbye between Jenna and Lake. Photos do more justice than words in documenting the amazing power of love ... in one week Jenna gave Lake the love, safety and nurturing she needed to know that it was okay to take the next step. Here is Lake's journey ...

Lake finds Dolly to be a comfy pillow

Looking sweet for Jenna :)

Lake arrives with foster mom Jenna at AHS

Love.

Trust.

Bond.

Feeling safe.

Unconditional love. The bittersweet goodbye.

 Thank you Jenna for all you do, and continue to do, for the hundreds of animals .... You are a gift to the animals, and all of us at Leech Lake Legacy are truly grateful to have you in our team.

Dakota (fka Fabiola) ... update from one of our early transports

Fabiola (now Dakota) when she arrived on 7/16/11

We are truly, truly grateful when we get updates  from families who have adopted a Leech Lake Reservation animal. Fabiola (now Dakota) was one of our early transports. She arrived on our July 16, 2011 transport. As it turns out, one of our board members, Sandra, recently learned that one of her co-workers adopted a Leech Lake pup from the Golden Valley Animal Humane Society in July, 2011. They did some digging around on our flickr site and found the link to the July 16, 2011 transport where Fabiola was one of many arriving on transport (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mchanrasmi/sets/72157627223313520/). We got an update on this sweet girl (now named Dakota) from her new family:

Attached is a picture I took back in July. We were enjoying a beautiful summer day together at Lake Harriet. 

Dakota with her new family - summer, 2013

We adopted Fabiola/Dakota at the end of July 2011. When we went to visit her at the Golden Valley Humane Society she looked depressed, and she was in rough shape. She had some mange and kennel cough. Overall she looked down in the dumps and needed a second chance in life.  A few weeks after adopting her, we could start to see a transformation taking place. She started to feel more comfortable about her surroundings. Her personality soon started to show.

Thank you to all the volunteers who made this possible and brought Dakota into our lives. We are very appreciative!

Chris and Sarah

Thank you Chris and Sarah for giving Dakota such a loving home, and thank you for the update on this precious girl.

Transport from Leech Lake arrives on 7/16/2011

A community comes together to give Lou a second chance

Lou at Animal Care Clinic

On January 2, 2014 Rory (Leech Lake CSO) picked up a dog with a severe case mange. He immediately brought the dog (we named him Lou) to our partner Animal Care Clinic in Bemidji. Karen Good of Red Lake Rosie's Rescue has taken many of our pups and treated them for mange ... we are once again extremely grateful for Karen helping us with dogs who come in with mange. In this case, Lou was one who touched the hearts of many, and was obviously in pain.

We received the following note from Karen this morning:

"This story is one of those heartbreaking ones, when you wonder firstly, how this animal survived so far this winter in his condition.  To imagine the suffering Lou went through is not comprehensible to me.

Lou has been starved for months.  His backbone protrudes and each rib can be counted.  He has no coat, as he is generally covered with demodex mange and bleeding infected sores pretty much all over his frail body.  The only thing large on this boy is his head.  In his eyes you see sadness, misery,  and pain as he seems to look down when you approach him.  But there is a glimmer in his eye now.

Lou was found on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation last week.  He went to the Animal Care Clinic in Bemidji and Saturday was transferred to the Red Lake Rosie’s Shelter where he is kept in the heated cathouse.  Lou is being fed small meals at regular intervals and is on ivermectin, antibiotics, and vitamins.  Lou loves his food

and is so happy when he gets a bowl.

The rest of the day Lou rests peacefully and seems to know that he will be cared for now.  Hopefully the memory of the months of freezing bitter cold and the gnawing pain of hunger will pass and he will have a speedy recovery and a home where he will be loved and never have to suffer again.

Lou reluctantly goes outdoors to do his business and has not had an accident in the cathouse yet.  Lou is indifferent to the other dogs at the shelter and mainly just wants to toilet and hurry back in to the warm comforts of his favorite easy chair.

We are so thankful that the Leech Lake companion animals have the Leech Lake Legacy program without which Lou would not have this second chance.  A big thank you to Rory for finding Lou, to Jenny and Marilou for getting him help at the Animal Care Clinic and transferring him to our care at Red Lake Rosie’s.  Thank you to all the supporters of our cooperative rescues.  We are expecting Lou to have a full recovery and live the life he was meant to live.

We are hopeful that one of the rescues will consider taking Lou in the future to find him a forever home. I have discovered that there is no better feeling than to feed a hungry animal. 

Sincerely, Karen"

Update from tonight:

We learned that Minnesota Pitbull Rescue will be taking Lou into their program and that Dr. Vickie of Act V Rescue will be providing medical care and a special feeding program for starved animals.

This has truly been another collaborative effort of so many organizations (Leech Lake Tribal Police, Animal Care Clinic, Leech Lake Legacy, Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue, MN Pitbull Rescue, Act V Rescue) coming together to help Lou … chi miigwech to all for giving Lou the second chance he so deserves!

2013 - A Year in Review

2013 has been an amazing year for Leech Lake Legacy. We have continued to expand our programs and services and build on our partnerships with so many amazing organizations. It is only with the support of our volunteers, our donors, and our partners that we have been able to  positively impact the lives of 3,296 animals since Leech Lake Legacy began in May, 2011.

As we begin 2014, I thought I would share some highlights and some statistics from 2013 and to take a moment to thank you for walking with us in this journey and sharing our vision:

"Envisioning a world where every reservation dog and cat is well cared for."

Leech Lake Legacy: 2013 - Year in Review

- We transported 858 (520 dogs, 333 cats, 1 duck and 4 bunnies) to our partner shelters and rescues who were then placed up for adoption.

-       - 74 transports and 37,000 miles were driven to transport these precious 858 animals to the next stage of their journey

-      -  We hosted 5 spay/neuter clinics, 6 wellness clinics and 3 Great Puppy Roundups

-       - We offered an educational session on responsible pet ownership, reading pet body language and a demo of rallying at our August, 2013 clinic

-       - We expanded our reach to a new community (Onigum) on Leech Lake Reservation and offered a wellness clinic in October, 2013. All of our clinics in the past have been in Cass Lake.

-       - We collected and transported thousands of pounds of donated supplies including doghouses, dog food, cat food, cat litter, clinic supplies, vaccines, blankets, pee pads and many, many other items

Garfield

-       At our 2013 clinics:

o   432 animals were spayed/neutered and vaccinated

o   287 received wellness checks and vaccinations only

o   20 specialty surgeries

o   202 animals were surrendered at our clinics

o   152 animals were surrendered at the Great Puppy Roundups

o   We had 157 volunteers at our clinics and Puppy Roundups, including 12 veterinarians

o   Our euthanasia rate for 2013 was 1.40% (down from 5.98% in 2012 and 8.46% in our first year).

o   Where did our animals go?

§  71% of our animals are transported and placed up for adoption through the Animal Humane Society

§  11% of our animals are transported and placed up for adoption through Animal Allies Humane Society

§  The remaining 17% are transferred to approximately 35 other partner shelters/rescues

o   We distributed 165 dog houses in 2013 as a part of the Yukon Project.

o   In memory of Ituha, a young shepherd mix who crossed over into the spirit world on December 12, 2013, we announced plans to develop and launch in early 2014 the Ituha Animal Care Project

o   Ahnung, the fire and inspiration of Leech Lake Legacy, crossed over to the spirit world on August 25, 2013 and continues to be our guiding star

o   We held our first annual Lagers for Legacy event

o   We launched our first e-newsletter in the fall of 2013

o   We added 2 new board members.

 Since Leech Lake Legacy began in May, 2011, here is a summary:

Transports: # of animals placed with partner shelters/rescues:

2011: 201

2012: 937

2013: 858

# of spay/neuter clinics (# of spay/neuter surgeries):

2011: 0 (0)

2012: 2 (184)

2013: 5 (432)

# of specialty surgeries:

2012: 1

2013: 20

# of pets receiving wellness checks and vaccinations:

2012: 126

2013: 287

Ahnung
Oct.11, 2008 - August 25, 2013
Our guiding star.