ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, CHRISTMAS 2007

Right up the street from WHKP, there are about 650 homeless,abused, injured, neglected, unwanted animals...as ost of us know they've been cared for, for years, by volunteers....with volunteer money and donations...at the no-kill shelter, All Creatures Great and Small.  Because of problems at All Creatures, and we don't deny there have been problems, and because of mis-handling by the state and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture...the shelter, and most of all the animals there, have been placed in an impossible position.

Those  650 animals at All Creatures are NOT going to be accepted by other shelters, except those ready to kill them.  Yet due to a decree from the state, who is involved in the whole hing only because of allegations made by competing shelters...each with their OWN interests....All Creatures is no longer permitted to ask for VOLUNTARY donations...the very LIFE BLOOD of any shelter like that...donations that pay for food, veterinarians, medicine, warmth and shelter for those animals.

Drive by All Creatures some cold night this winter...you'll see the big lights are ON, on the hill where the outside shelters are...which means the HEAT and life-saving WARMTH is there for the animals outside.  But the STATE says they can't ASK for elp....to keep the lights and the heat ON and something in the food bowls.

At All Creatures, they can't ask for help...but at least the state doesn't say, not YET anyway, that they have to turn you AWAY if you OFFER help or donations.  The 650 dogs and cats have no where else to go, except to be euthanized by the county.  However you feel about All Creatures, or the business judgement of the people who've run it, or the wisdom of keeping unwanted animals alive....All Creatures Vice President Bob Dunn made a good point on the radio last week when he aid, "It's not about All Creatures....it's about the ANIMALS."

We think there needs to be some supervision OF and restrictions ON All Creatures....650 is WAY too many homeless animals in a private shelter, on the edge of town.  and the whole shelter needs to be somewhere else....AWAY from town.  But we also know it's the BIG HEARTS, the tireless work, and the unending "real" love and generosity of the folks there that's SAVED the lives of hundreds....of good dogs and cats....two of which are healthy, happy, and well...at OUR house as we speak.We've seen those dedicated people amost drown in flood waters from hurricanes, SAVINGS THOSE ANIMALS.  We've answered their calls for help at 5 in-the-morning at this radio station..."Please.....help us get these animals to DRY ground...and we've seen YOU and other good people and the whole community respond.  We've seen some of those "All Creatures people" give everything they had personally...to save those animals.  The smart thing to do?  We can debate that all day.

But ...NOW the "rubber hits the road"....it's time for us to put ur money, our bags of pet food, our old warm blankets, our volunteer time, our hearts, and our homes...to GOOD use for these animals...it's the RIGHT thing to do, especially in this season of "giving", and especially since the typically MIS-GUIDED State of North Carolina won't permit that shelter to ASK for our help...again...it's not about All Creatures...it's about the ANIMALS....and these 650 ARE the neediest of the needy.

It's no coincidence that when our Savior was born, his tiny body was laid in the animals trough, we call it a "manger"....the ultimate example of "humility"...with gentle animals there to itness, to verify, and to CELEBRATE the birth of Jesus Christ.  It's no coincidence indeed.  For when King Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes, he proclaimed in the third chapter...."they all have ONE breath...so that man hath NO PREEMINENCE above a beast."

However you feel about All Creatures Great and Small, and trying to save the lives of hundreds of unwanted animals, please remember this holiday season...the intentions behind it all are simple and good...and were SET BY EXAMPLE...almost 2100 years ago....at the birth of our Lord and Savior in a table.

PLEASE....don't be bashful about offering your help or donations...or better yet, ADOPT one or more of those animals...and give them more than just life...give them a HOME and your LOVE this Christmas.  We're absolutely SURE that's what All Creatures has been about...from its beginning.

There can be no better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus than to CARE for those who were there, looking into that manger, in attendance, to WITNESS with belief, faith, sincerity and simple, gentle, unquestioned LOVE.....our Savior's humble birth.