News

We now have the Umbrella of CFA Animal Welfare under which we have Breeders Assistance, Breed Rescue and the Food Pantry with Royal Canin. Linda Berg has appointed Sue Gleason as the new chair of Breeders Assistance. Sue has done a wonderful job of setting up the Midwest Region's infrastructure. The new Regional Coordinator for the Midwest is Cathy Dunham..

There is still some confusion about CFA's supported Rescue. The new CFA Breed Rescue program is one that works well in the Regions because it is based on a support system made up of you, the breeders. We realize that not all individuals have the time and space to do this kind of community service. For those of you who can help there are many ways to serve, including: pulling, grooming, fostering, vetting and on to placement. Like the Breeders Assistance Program of breeders helping breeders, we are breeders helping cats in situations of need all across the country.

In most cases the individuals who are involved with the cats are donating whatever monies it takes to get the job done. However, CFA Breed Rescue will still incur some expenses especially in cases of large numbers and they will come to you for financial assistance. If your club can do anything at your shows to help raise funds for situations like this in advance please do so. Any financial assistance is greatly appreciated.

Please get involved in your Region! This program works because of your involvement.

Report to the Board at the CFA Annual Meeting, July 2, 2007.

The Breeders Assistance Program has been in existence for a year. We have done a great deal of work this year to get the program up and running. We have a GREAT group of people, shelters, rescues, and vets who are really dedicated to helping. Confidentiality is what we stress, we are here to help and make the hard decision to ask for help much easier.

We have been asked how/if Animal Welfare fits into this --- that has become the last resort when all else fails. I receive a lot of complaints as the Chair of Animal Welfare and not all of them warrant an investigation but with the new BAP I can offer them assistance. Problems are created because of lack of knowledge or not having a good mentor. We have the head of the Mentor Committee Mary J. Sietsema, on our BAP list and when we can we will try to pair people up with a good mentor to work thru some of the problems before they become issues that warrant Animal Welfare.

We have helped approximately 20 Breeders across the country this year. Breeders that otherwise may have had to shut down have been enabled to recover, re establish good practices, and remain members of the CFA family. A few of the situations we have helped in are:

• An individual broke their back and needed help with the cats. Local breeders went in and cared for the cats until they were able to do it again themselves.
• A cancer victim in the last stages of their fight with the disease. The cats are already in foster care by the breeder and we helped with shipments of food.
• New limit laws in the Breeders hometown, they are given 10 days to comply or animals would be seized. The decision was made which cats were to leave. All the cats leaving were originally bred by other breeders, so breeders in the area fostered the cats until the original breeders could make arrangements to get them home safely.
• Breeder wanted to place some of the older cats they had inherited from a breeder that had died. We helped them by giving them ideas on how to advertise and found a local group who allowed them to put pictures up on their bulletin board. All animals were neutered and spayed by the individual and placed via this group.

You can see how we help is varied which is why nothing is written in stone. We want to be able to help individuals based on all needs, not every problem has a specific solution. However, every solution has the same outcome Breeders helping Breeders.

When Breeders Assistance was only a few months old the Midwest Region started a Food Pantry because there was a need for food in the individuals they were helping. They did food drives at the Midwest Shows. What was started as a regional project became a National Project when Royal Canin began to donate food.

We now not only help breeders who need assistance with food but shelters/rescues across the country. We started out by asking you to make recommendations of groups that you were familiar with and had worked with in conjunction with your shows. To date with Royal Canin we have shipped approximately 18,000 pounds of food around the country and Royal Canin has donated over 25,000 pounds. This does take money to make these shipments so when you are thinking of places to donate for judges gifts etc please put our name on the list.

This program allows us to take care of our own. Not with negativity and disdain but with compassion and caring. We do need volunteers in the Regions so if anyone shares our passion please contact your Regional Coordinators!

Linda Berg
Chair

New information flyers, designed for us by Royal Canin, concerning BAP are available for download. There is also letter to accompany food shipments.

Black & White Flyer | Color Flyer | Letter for Food Shipments