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 ADDITIONAL AND SPECIAL REPORTS In 2006 we completed major updates and additions to the MM website, continued our work with ranchies (see 2006 Pet Homes For Ranchies Project for details/ photos!) and made a landmark update to our History and Mission Statement: "In July of 2006, MM initiated projects to include benefitting pet chinchillas in need of rescue, as indicated by our Achievements. The International Chinchilla Rescue Network (ICRN) program will be launched in January, 2007, and will include: helping the public with rescue related advice and assistance, ICRN Program Grants, educational and informative material (Tools and Resources, Tips) and the annual ICRN Applause Award. "The ICRN program is a continuation and expansion of the work of IPCR (International Placement Coordinators for Chinchilla Rescue and Re-Homing), which ran from 2003 until MM's ICRN Program assumed responsibilities in 2006. IPCR had networked extensively within the international chinchilla rescue community, assisting in scores of cases (in Europe and nearly all 50 U.S. states) that involved everything from routine rehomings to emergency rescue assistance." Since 2004 there has been an alarming increase in the number of cases of pet chinchilla neglect, abuse and homelessness. The scope of the situation and proposed solutions are covered in ChinCare’s “Let’s Home Those In Need Before We Breed” and “The Rescue Report.” In just one month, July 2006, IPCR counted 109 chinchillas in need of rescue and those were just the cases brought to their attention through their network, just one facet of the greater chinchilla rescue crisis, as exemplified by one NJ rescue that took in and placed 180 chinchillas for the year. In 2006 Matilde’s Mission began its rescue outreach by helping several chinchilla rescues across the U.S. We donated supplies, assisted with veterinary care and neutering expenses, transported chinchilla rescue overflow between states in the midwest so that overwhelmed rescues could be relieved and chins could have better adoption opportunities (photo of a pair of rescues lounging and watching TV at the MM webmaster's during transportation layover, carriers set up prior to travel). We networked among the public and the international chinchilla rescue community, advising and coordinating placement for cases of homelessness, hoarding, neglect and abuse. We campaigned for awareness and support for the U.S. chinchilla rescue crisis on a popular pet chinchilla forum and composed a document that was taken under advisement by one New England state as a guide to pet chinchilla needs; this will hopefully be used to institute better care taking law. The entire MM BOD, except our advising DVM, were personally involved with taking in several chinchillas in need of rescue, some will remain with us as permanent residents. One example of MM's rescue outreach in 2006 involved a neglect case with 20 senior chinchillas. The result of a pet owner's careless backyard breeding, it began with two young sisters who each had a pet chin (no pedigrees, these chins should have been regarded as NFB) that they allowed to breed indiscriminately until years later one of the sisters had over thirty chinchillas in her basement at the time she met her future husband. A few years later the couple wanted to start a family and so they rehomed all the young chins on their own, “through newspaper advertisements” before contacting chinchilla rescue for help rehoming the remaining chins that averaged about eight years old or more; this is senior status in the chinchilla lifespan. We were notified of this situation just before one of our interstate trips to relocate MI chinchilla rescue overflow and so the first of two visits was to pick up three bonded female seniors on our way out of state. When we arrived and viewed the seniors' accommodations, we were relieved to see that the cages were clean and they had food and water. But that was all. Anyone with even the most elementary understanding of chinchilla care knows that chins require more: hiding places, ledges or shelves, chew toys, hay, dust, exercise and some entertainment or distraction to alleviate the tedium and stress of confinement. There were small, full bags of both hay and dust in the chinchilla room but there was no trace of either in or around the cages and the chins’ fur was glaringly dirty, greasy and gross; even if those small bags were opened and used there wouldn't have been enough hay or dust to accommodate twenty chins. Less than half the cages had the only chew toy accessible to these chins: what had once been bright gray pumice blocks of about two inches square were now small, brownish stones. The basement room where these chins were kept was cool and that was good but inside those gray, unfinished cement walls there was absolutely nothing happening; no TV, no radio, nothing at all in their cage or external environment to play with, see, hear or do. They simply sat day after day, staring and huddled together. Sensory deprivation to creatures of such an interactive nature and high intelligence is utterly devastating, the degree of stress that years of paralyzing boredom and inactivity produced was evident in the fur biting to be found on nearly every one of these seniors. We made recommendations on this first visit that included suggesting TV or radio but a few months later on our second visit conditions were identical. We learned that the chins hadn’t had out-of-cage exercise time since the owners had moved into the house three years before. Presumably these chins had been given better care before that, to have made it into old age, but at this point they were clearly temperamentally fragile, bunched together anxiously in their cage corners with nothing to relieve the pressure of wire mesh on their little feet. The cages were all small, very rusted, mostly single-level and some weren’t cages at all, they were actually carriers. One carrier with a hard plastic bottom had a huge three-inch chunk gnawed out of the corner that had been duct-taped over. There were no wheels except one that was undersize and unsafe, we were told that the others had been removed after a chin broke his leg on it and required amputation. The chinchilla room door was kept shut to keep out the couple’s two high-strung dogs, which occasionally “got in and terrorized” the chins; the owners attributed the chronic fur biting to this although that would have been secondary to the more immediate stress of unrelenting boredom and inactivity. On this first visit we pointed out an obvious maloccluder; the chin was emaciated, drooling heavily and clinging to her cagemate for comfort and warmth. When we emphasized the urgency of getting this chin in to be examined by a vet, the owner didn't seem particularly concerned about the chin’s pain and distress and in fact seemed oblivious to the seriousness of the situation, she then flippantly remarked that if she took the chin in she'd just have her put down. Thankfully, by our second visit this poor chin had been put out of her misery but who knows how long she’d have lingered in that condition if we hadn't arrived and insisted she receive immediate vet care. The real kicker of the first senior pickup was yet to come, because despite being specifically told that these senior chins were being kept separate by gender, one of the three bonded females later gave birth at the rescue; apparently she'd been put with the other two females for the outgoing trip but had previously been with a male. This female and one of her two kits died in the birthing process, the chinchilla rescue worker who was caring for them picked up the vet bills for the surviving kit who eventually had to be euthanized as a result of an undeveloped intestinal tract. Allowing senior animals to become pregnant goes beyond mere ethical irresponsibility, it’s downright sadistic when one considers the risks imposed on the mother's frail body. It was only out of concern for the remaining chins that we maintained contact with the owners and made plans to remove more, as many as we could get out of there.  Of the twenty seniors we had seen on our first visit, one had been euthanized for malocclusion, three had been removed and by the time of our second and last visit, three months after the first, we were able to remove only eleven more because the wife refused to part with the last five despite urging and reassuring on our part that they would be given good homes. The entire time that we worked to remove these neglected chinchillas the owners' attitudes were haughty and antagonistic; while the husband clearly saw the need to rehome them in anticipation of starting a family, the wife regarded us with seething animosity. Both demonstrated the attitude that their pets were regarded as objects or possessions and at one point the wife attempted to harass the chinchilla rescue worker who took in the seniors from the first visit. This reflects the hoarder mentality, which occurs with people who accumulate more animals than they can adequately care for and who then become obsessive, possessive and adversarial at the prospect of "losing" them. This fact of rescue work in general underscores the necessity for using a surrender form before accepting relinquished pets. The MM webmasters don't negotiate with hoarders unless they’re willing to relinquish all their chinchillas or at least agree to keep only same-sex chins. In this case we thought we were doing the latter, it was only after we’d loaded the eleven into our car that we discovered that one of the remaining five that was being called “Louie” was actually a female. At that point we didn't have the heart to strike an ultimatum and bargain with the lives of the eleven who'd been removed from their purgatory; hopefully since the couple is expecting their first child they’ll have a reason to start exercising common decency and will refrain from allowing their remaining senior chinchillas to breed. We documented the second visit with pictures, these photos (in bold and hyperlinked) show the chins' wretched, fur-chewed condition despite the dust we put in their carriers to offer some immediate relief during the ride back to the MM webmaster's: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5, photo 6. Notice the many frightened faces at this point; one female was an anti-social biter and the former cagemate of the drooling maloccluder had huge mats covering her back that the owners had tried to cut out but which still remained. We ended up giving wet bath to all but a few of these chins and the water ran dark and gritty as they were soaped and rinsed. Here are photos from one bathing beauty session: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3. There was caked filth on the ears (photo 1, photo 2) of most of them that had to be cleaned and we clipped more mats off the maloccluder’s former cagemate. One chin actually changed color after her bath, she went from yellow to white (see photo above). The eleven seniors recuperated with the MM webmasters for a few days before being transported to another chinchilla rescue, their final destination. We provided all the hay, dustbath, chew toys and TV they could want during their stay with us: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3 and watching movies on the laptop. We did behavioral rehabilitation work with all of them, most were just timid and scared but even the anti-social biter made great progress with only a few days of loving care. One little beige boy especially needed cuddling, we spent a long time holding and kissing him because he cried for long periods at night. He was tiny, scrawny and severely fur-chewed along his sides and back, it was just heartbreaking. A happy ending: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5. Those photos were taken after all eleven were settled in at the chinchilla rescue that gave them truly wonderful care and lots of attention before they were placed into forever homes that had been screened for responsible ownership and charged the necessary adoption fee. Today, the thirteen seniors that we were able to save are all experiencing a brand new life, a life worth living thanks to the kindness of people in the chinchilla rescue community and MM's donators who show they care! |
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2006 ACHIEVEMENT REPORT 
2006 PROJECTS
