Photos of Charlie taken by
Shepherd Spring Animal Hospital
After the ends of the 3 ft. arrow had been carefully cut off on both ends
Waiting calmly with the arrow still in him for Dr. Griggs to finish prepping for surgery
Eating breakfast the next day after the arrow was successfully removed by Dr. Griggs
Photos of Charlie taken by Aksum Abyssinians 
Charlie at home
The TICA cat show in Fort Walton Beach, Florida January 23-24, 2010 , was Second Chance Charlie's first public appearance on his nationwide tour. Charlie and I met for the first time in person at the show, and I finally brought him home to stay.
Help us fight animal cruelty one case at a time! Let's make a difference together!
Charlie's and my first project together will be to raise funds for a reward to the person who gives information and/or evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot Charlie with a bow and arrow. I'm in contact with Dr. Griggs and local officials to make sure it's handled exactly right so that person comes to justice. The funds will be held by Wakulla Bank, a local bank, and the local police will give the reward money to the appropriate people who come forward. We are still setting up the account, making sure it will be handled correctly.
You can help by telling people about Charlie's story and donating to the reward fund for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction at Wakulla Bank. (We will have information soon on the reward fund. We are making sure it is set up properly.) Meanwhile, please also donate to the C.H.A.T. shelter so they can help more pets like Charlie find their forever homes. Please help Charlie and me and the wonderful people helping us, to stop these people now, and bring them to justice!
Contact Information:
Norm Griggs, DVM
Email: normgriggs@gmail.com
Shepherd Spring Animal Hospital
850-926-1475 (w) 850-766-5047 (c)
Petra Shuff,
President of C.H.A.T.
Email: pmshuff@yahoo.com
http://www.chatofwakulla.org
Randy Bieniek
Email: srsjrj@charter.net
770-232-1070 --
http://petcrazyportraits.com
Gerald & Heather Adams
Email: gerald@heavenlyspots.com
http://photographybygerald.com
Susan L. Graham
Email: susanlgraham@gmail.com
http://aksumabyssinians.com
678-521-5833 Second Chance Charlie
Email: secondchancecharlie@gmail.com
http://aksumabyssinians.com/charlie.html
678-521-5833 |
Second Chance Charlie
Second Chance Charlie was brought into Shepherd Springs Animal Hospital in Crawfordville, Florida for surgical help from Dr. Norm Griggs, DVM at the start of bow season last fall, October 25, 2009. Animal Control officers had been called to rescue a cat. He had been used for target practice. Here is his story:
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Still recovering from surgery
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Sweet boy Charlie
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When Dr. Norm Griggs first heard his faithful receptionist Alison saying the cat had an arrow sticking all the way through him, he thought he would simply be giving an opinion to aid a criminal investigation, and the cat was already dead.
"An arrow?" he asked, focusing on the work in front of him.
But Alison added, "Yes, and the cat appears to be in a lot of pain."
Dr. Griggs put the work aside and turned around to look at her. She plainly had that look of "I'm not kidding" on her face, so the seasoned vet and his expert technician got to work to save this truly exceptional cat.
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After the surgery, healing up |
http://shepherdspringanimalhospital.com/2010/01/04/a-tail-of-two-kitties-ii/
(Photos on Dr. Griggs' blog, paraphrasing and excerpting from his blog for this introduction to explain Second Chance Charlie's story. PLEASE READ IT. Dr. Griggs is an excellent writer and he has photos of Charlie with his story.)
Dr. Griggs has a wonderful follow-up on Charlie and my friend and I commented as well:
http://shepherdspringanimalhospital.com/2010/01/22/just-because/
Dr. Griggs followed up on what happened to Charlie (who he had named Lucky and the shelter had renamed Arrow) a few weeks later, hoping to hear that he had found a good home. Instead, he was still patiently waiting at the small local shelter. So he wrote a blog about Charlie and added that he still hadn't found a home and he really hoped someone would read his blog and give him the home he deserved.
A friend of mine is a client of Dr. Griggs and sent me a link to the blog story. She was in tears over it, and soon so was I.
I wrote back without hesitation, "If Lucky still needs a home, I'll give him one and show him as a Household Pet." This was shorthand between us cat breeders for "I'll take him as a forever pet, love him, and help him, and make sure he and I go to shows and other events nationwide to help other victims of animal cruelty, raise awareness, and raise funds to catch the criminals responsible." We hear stories like this way too often, unfortunately, and we have both worked for years to help humane societies and other shelters wherever we have lived, and spoken out against animal cruelty many times.
My friend and I breed and show purebred cats in TICA (The International Cat Association). All good cat breeders lose money while keeping these beautiful and special cat breeds from going extinct and working to improve their health as a breed, and consider it strictly a hobby. My friend and I also have always helped Humane Societies and shelters and personally rescued cats, like most people who show in TICA.
My friend helps the only native breed of domestic cats in the U.S. (Maine Coons) and I work with the oldest breed of cats from ancient Egyptian times 3,000 years ago (Abyssinians).
Although I hadn't shown a Household Pet before (which is a cat of unknown pedigree and usually a rescued cat with a special story), I had been looking for one for months to help champion the cause against animal cruelty. This special cat would come to me at the right time, I thought, and eventually stopped actively looking for him. Shortly after that, Charlie found me.
When my friend told me Charlie's story I knew without a doubt this was the cat I had been looking for, the one who would help me spread the word nationwide at shows and fundraisers to directly fight animal cruelty.
The other cause we are asking help for is the small, underfunded local shelter that took care of Charlie for two months until I found him. We are asking that donations be made directly to the shelter, C.H.A.T., in Crawfordville, Florida.
A famous artist in Atlanta, Randy of Pet Crazy Portraits, has joined the cause and named him. Randy's contest entry for Georgia's Dept. Of Agriculture's Feline Friend car license plate was recently selected from over 200 submissions. Her painting of a black and white cat, Hope, from her local SPCA shelter, is now seen on specialty tags all over Georgia. Thanks to Randy's efforts, Hope and many other humane society cats now have good homes. Randy is Charlie's official portrait artist.
Pet Crazy Portraits
Another breeder friend of mine who is an amazingly talented new cat photographer, Gerald Adams, is Charlie's official photographer and helps bring his story to life in printed photos and on his web page (see photo below). Photography By Gerald
We hope you will help us fight animal cruelty directly, case by case, as we tour the nation. If the criminal gets away with it, they'll do it again and again, and that behavior is well proven to escalate to abusing and killing people, too.
Thanks for coming to visit Charlie at the Destiny show in Ft. Walton Beach, FL January 23-24, 2010 and at the Field of Dreams Cat Show in Raleigh, NC February 20-21, 2010!
Thanks for coming to visit Charlie at the CFA Rebel Rousers show May 1st! Help us fight animal cruelty one case at a time! Let's make a difference together!
Charlie and his best buddy Linus at home
on the cat tree from Furwood Forest bought just for Charlie
at the show where we finally got Charlie and took him home!
You can help by telling people about Charlie's story and donating to the reward fund for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction at Wakulla Bank. (We will have information soon on the reward fund. We are making sure it is set up properly.)
Meanwhile, please also donate to the C.H.A.T. shelter so they can help more pets like Charlie find their forever homes. Also please help Noah's Ark Animal Rehabilitation Shelter in south metro Atlanta, GA.
Please help Charlie and me and the wonderful people helping us, to stop these people now, and bring them to justice!
Sincerely,
Susan L. Graham
Aksum Abyssinians
Atlanta, GA |
