Fig Tree Raffle for Bruno (Rescue Dog)

[HarveyC]

Last week I drove out the back road of my farm across my neighbor's place towards the highway, a route I rarely take. I don't even remember why I was driving that way but I noticed a black dog along the road that ran away as I approached. I immediately noticed he was injured. I talked to my neighbor about it and he recalled seeing a pickup stopped in his orchard and we suspected the dog was dropped off. I went back home and got some food for the dog (he had ready access to water so that was not an issue) and then returned home and called Animal Control after hours and explained the situation. I fed the dog again the next morning and he continued to devour the food. I called Animal Control again and they confirmed they had my call in as "urgent" and that they would get out when they could. I'm in a remote part of the county and they just don't have the staffing to serve our area effectively. By mid-day I decided to post the dog's photo on Facebook in case anybody local recognized the dog. I had assumed the dog had some recent surgery based on being shaved on the left hip but that apparently is not the case, just some mystery. After my Facebook post, things happened pretty quickly through a number of friends contacting friends, etc. I became friends with Jamie who works as a volunteer as at a rescue operation and is a local resident here and we have several mutual friends. She arranged for another volunteer to meet me and pick up the dog and later took possession and took him to a vet. The dog was chipped and it was discovered his name is Bruno. Bruno's owner was contacted and provided clear evidence that he is a dispicable person, changing his story and expressing no concern for Bruno. The owner is from Oakland which is over an hour from here.

Bruno's story was on the Sacramento news last night and it can be read/watched at http://www.news10.net/story/news/loc...-dog/29064979/

Jamie has had a GoFundMe fundraiser established prior to taking on Bruno and is still in need of funds to pay for Bruno's surgery (amputation) and recovery. She works as a volunteer at this non-profit organization but is still talking of putting the rest of the surgery charges on her personal credit card so that she can get him taken care of. I've already donated but would like to do more and would like to try a fig tree raffle. I don't know how this will work out but want to give it a try. Here is how it will work:

1. Open to ConUSA addresses only.
2. Winner to have choice of one of the following: Black Madeira grafted onto Brown Turkey, ready to ship now; Planera (a favorite of M. Pons) ready to ship in August; De la Reina (another M. Pons favorite) ready to ship in August. Shipping by USPS Priority Mail paid by me. The Black Madeira is in a pot that is 4" square x 10" tall while the other trees are in pots 3" square x 8" tall.
3. Each "ticket" to the raffle requires a donation of $10 to http://www.gofundme.com/kritterkamprescue and donor to email copy of confirmation to me at [email protected] Donors can make multiple "ticket" purchases (i.e., $50 donation result sin 5 tickets).
4. No formal tickets will be sent. I will not make list of donor's public except that I will announce the winner here. You must trust me for being impartial. I will assign a number to each "ticket" purchased and then print out a piece of paper with each ticket number on it and then have my son draw once of these pieces of paper from a hat, bowl, or bag, or whatever fits me mood at the moment (maybe a 1 gallon blow mold pot?). Ticket will probably be drawn June 24th at 7:30PM (Pacific) but may be extended by up to 4 days if ticket sales are continuing at a good pace.
5. I reserve the right to modify this raffle but without lessening the benefit to ticket buyers (i.e., if you really surprise me, maybe I'll add prizes).

I have never been involved in any sort of animal rescue before but this has been a very heart-breaking and touching event for me and truly appreciate your support. It's been great to see how Bruno's life is already improving a lot. He loves his foster care provider and follows her everywhere she goes.

Thanks,

Harvey

[Taverna78]

Very nice Harvey and good heart. I will buy some raffle ticket for Bruno. Great job to help a stranger.

[Whiterk]

Awesome story. Your big hearted.

[fitzski]

You're a good man Harvey. Keep us posted on Bruno's progress.

[COGardener]

Real awesome, I've had nothing but rescue animals my whole life.

[Taverna78]

I send you email Harvey. Great luck and health to you puppy.

[HarveyC]

Bruno was supposed to have surgery mid-day today but the vet discovered that his blood level was critically low. Apparently he had lost too much blood before I discovered him and he got picked up. The plans now are to take him to UC Davis which has a top veterinary school/hospital where he can get a blood transfusion. They do not have any discount program for rescue operations so this is going to be a big bill, something like $4-6,000 (I believe that may include the prior medical costs). Earlier today it looked like we may have had everything covered including a wheelchair but is not the case, unfortunately.

We have close to $1,000 in donations and raffle entries (some fig collector folks have made donations even though they are in a location I can't ship to). As such, I've decided to add a second place drawing. I only have one grafted Black Madeira for the 1st or 2nd place bidder to chose from but will make two of the other choices available and am also adding one Red Lebanese (Marius selection).

UC Davis did not have an opening this afternoon so the rescue organization is now waiting for a call for an opening. Bruno still seems to have pretty good energy and is getting along great with his foster care provider, Dottie. I've chatted with Dottie some and she sent me a photo of his wound this afternoon and it looks pretty bad. Still, Bruno follows her everywhere and she joked that Bruno thinks he's her shadow. There's a good chance that Dottie will adopt Bruno even though she is already caring for quite a few other animals.

If you're up for it, any donations you're willing to make are greatly appreciated. These animal rescue folks have hearts of gold but no gold in their pockets. You can go to http://www.gofundme.com/brunos2ndchance and make your donation there and, if you wish to enter the raffle, please forward the email confirmation to [email protected] Note: you can also use the rescue's general fundraiser account but they just started this one since some folks were confused about how much had been raised for Bruno (the other account includes funds raised for other animals) and it was decided a targeted effort was needed.

Bruno is a bit of a celebrity. The KXTV video has been viewed over 10,000 times and he now has his own Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bruno2ndchance?fref=ts where he's got over 400 followers in less than a day. There might be a follow-up news story tonight.

[Taverna78]

Harvey I no have Facebook. But if you agree please make post for me in the site that they have raised enough money for the dog operations and that the dog doctor should be generous and caring as everyone else that has been involve and take care of the dog vs waiting for a bigger paycheck.

[HarveyC]

Sorry, but I'm not going to get into that argument. The hospital charges what they decide and they aren't going to change their rates because we think it's too high.

Last year my son dropped his end of a heavy pipe, forcing me to lose grip on my end and splitting my forehead. Went to urgent care and they charged me $1,700 for 10 stitches, nothing more. I complained and they said those are the approved charges.

Three years ago I picked up a small seemingly nice dog (MinPin) and looked for owners and on the second or third day it snapped at me and bit my middle finger. I called Animal Control so they could check it out for rabies and they told me to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital since dog bites are highly infectious. I spent 4 hours at that circus for x-ray, saline rinse, antibiotic injection, and a bandage. Plus I had to give instructions to numerous employees on what the prior one said they were supposed to do. My charge for that was $2,500. Not fair, but those were the approved charges.

These are not fair, but this is the crazy world we live in.

UC Davis does have a fund for hardship cases and it takes about six months to be approved for that. Bruno does not have that much time. Bruno will be cared for even if the rescue volunteers have to pay with their credit card. My fund-raising effort is to help so the volunteers don't have to do that.

I can't imagine spending this much on a dog myself but people do every day. This is an unusual case...people helping a dog because some other jerk abused him, giving Bruno a second chance.

[Taverna78]

I understand. I just thought maybe because he on news and all that they would help them self because he will be in their care and is free advertisement for them. But you right.

[HarveyC]

UC Davis didn't have an opening and the original vet decided to sew up his wound up today and treat him with antibiotics and wait until next week for him to get stronger and by then he hopes his blood count will be good enough for him to perform the surgery. Bruno seems to be getting around great so he should be getting stronger. There are still more expenses than originally estimated because of the additional treatments but it should be less than what was estimated with treatment at UC Davis. The TV reporter that did the story on Saturday is off until Thursday and she plans to do a follow-up story so that may bring some more donations that would cover the rest of the expenses.

[Taverna78]

Wonderful Harvey ! Great thing you doing!

[HarveyC]

Our Yellow Lab, "Yella" supervised the drawing this evening while my dad was enjoying dessert. #1008 belongs to Soni!

We collected $1,060 in donations thus far and I decided to throw in a second drawing which will be held Sunday at 7:30pm.

Thanks everybody for your support!