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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Riviera Rescue Dog Sees Himself in Mirror



This (below) is Charlie before when he was on death row, before he was rescued by the Santa Cruz ASPCA and CAPS.  The video above shows him enjoying his new life in France.
Charlie is a puppy mill survivor and lived his entire life in a cage. Like millions of other dogs living in puppy mills, he was abused. Now he lives the high  life in the loving home of Jacques and Jocelyne Dechaume in Nice.

Friday, July 23, 2010




Shelter dogs who were on the euthanasia list, or "red list" in California shelters welcomed by a team of rescuers for the Companion Animal Protection Society and the Santa Cruz SPCA. In video, Carole Raphaelle Davis, Mireile Rudeau and Jocelyne Dechaume of CAPS.

The rescued dogs were held up at the Nice airport for over three hours because of administrative complications having to do with micro-chips. The dogs had been each micro-chipped twice, once per regulations in CA shelters and again, for entry into the E.U.. This is the first rescue of its kind done in France.

The Companion Animal Protection Society, the Santa Cruz SPCA , the Société Défense des Animaux and Air France airlifted little death row dogs from Los Angeles shelters to Nice, France, where they were welcomed like stars on the famous Promenade des Anglais.

These dogs were to be killed because of the pet overpopulation crisis we are experiencing in the United States. In France, they do have a dog abandonment problem but there is a dearth of small, young adoptable dogs. In the U.S. we kill 5 million companion animals in our shelter system every year.

These dogs were vaccinated, sterilized, micro-chipped and quarantined 21 days before their departure for Nice, France. This effort is an attempt to educate the public about  spay/neuter, about the concept of adoption and about puppy mills.

The pet stores of the Côte D'Azur are supplied by puppy mills and the people who could not find small adoptable dogs are buying puppy mill dog in these stores. There is a significant puppy trafficking business in the EU and CAPS is currently investigating the breeders and the pet stores they are supplying on the Riviera.

Riviera Rescue marks the internationalization of the Companion Animal Protection Society, which plans to expand its investigation of puppy mills and pet stores in the EU by working with lawmakers, law enforcement and local animal welfare organizations.

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Sunday, July 11, 2010

Adoption news from Rescue Riviera!

Barbie, the little black Chihuahua who was red-listed at the Baldwin Park shelter  has been adopted by Claire Maury and renamed Cali, short for California. This adorable little Riviera Rescue girl has lucked out and is loving her new French life. She'll always be safe, her new mom is a nurse! Here she is, soaking up love in the arms of her new family instead of getting the needle in an Los Angeles shelter. She sends a big thank you tail wag to the Santa Cruz SPCA and to Ric Browde for getting her out of there.  Welcome to Nice, Cali!



Mickey (below, center)  has been adopted by Marcy Laturno and her boyfriend Bon! Check him out in his French bed, with his French ménage à trois (the 2 lucky Yorkies in the bed with him) in his new French digs! 

Mickey celebrated last night at a special Riviera Rescue champagne cocktail. He ran around like a happy madman. We are all so pleased for him!


Marcy and Bon have given little Micky the jet-set life on the Riviera. Marcy is in the yacht business and Mickey is going to be stylin' on the Côte D'Azur. 
His new family lives one block from the Parc Mozart, in the heart of Nice, where he goes every evening to hang out with his other Riviera Rescue buds. Welcome to Nice, Mickey!


HoneyBee (below), the little Lahsa Apso who was on death row in an L.A. shelter has been adopted into the loving home of Madame Collado. HoneyBee was the supermodel of Riviera Rescue and she has been pouncing and trotting and skipping down the Riviera garden path since her adoption. She lives with Madame Collado and her new sister, a King Charles Spaniel. The two of them play all day together in their private garden, sleep in bed with their mom  and come to the Parc Mozart every evening to catch up of their Rescue Riviera buddies.  "She's pure joy, she's the joy of my life," says Madame Collado, with tears in her eyes. 




Gumdrop has dropped into the artistic and loving home of Julia Martinez and her daughter. Julia, a native of Mexico who moved to France when she was a young girl, is a local painter. She has renamed Gumdrop Guimauve, which means marshmallow. "He never leaves my side--I've never been so happy," says Julia. "He sleeps on the pillow above my head at night and he is the most loving dog. I'm happy, happy, happy." We're happy for you, Guimauve. We have a feeling he will be sitting for his portrait soon enough and will not only be hanging around Nice but his portrait will be in galleries. This weekend, he went with his new mom to Avignon and will be going to the theater. When he comes home from his Provencal holiday, he'll be meeting us for tea in Nice.



Dinky, renamed Charlie, was the saddest of the Riviera Rescue dogs. He was covered in matts and ticks, according to an email we received from a volunteer who works with the Santa Cruz SPCA. He was skinny and had lived a very hard life in a puppy mill. We discovered that he had been debarked by the cruel people who abused him and dumped him at Kern animal control. After being in foster care with our friend Richard Drevon, Jocelyne Dechaume and her husband Jacques decided they wanted to adopt him. Jocelyne is one of the heroes of Riviera Rescue. She was the first one in Nice to offer help and even came to the airport to clean cages and smooth out the administrative problems we had to deal with.  Charlie sleeps in bed with the Dechaumes and their little Yorkie, Angie, and he has blossomed into a happy, bouncy little dog. "He's a smart little dog," says Jacques Dechaume. "I'm going to take him to work with me. He's discovering everything for the first time." It should be an interesting life for little Charlie, because his new dad is a maritime insurance investigator. He'll be yacht hopping on the Riviera. His new mom can't stop holding and kissing him. "His life is going to be all kisses and love from now on," says Jocelyne.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Riviera Rescue on the News, France 3



France 3 Reportage sur Riviera Rescue

Death Row Dogs of Riviera Rescue Arrive in Nice


The Riviera Rescue Team--France

Photos: Clémence Razeau

Nice, France---July 1, 2010--Last night, after a long flight, the little dogs of Riviera Rescue made their appearance on the famous Promenade Des Anglais, in the heart of Nice. They had a very long flight, were stuck in their crates the entire time, while they went through transit in Paris on the way to the South of France. When they arrived, the sun was setting over the Bay of Angels and local animal welfare advocates were there to greet them. These are a few photos of their arrival. Everyone was so very happy. The dogs are sleeping off their jet lag today in foster homes. 

A huge thank you to Lisa Carter of the Santa Cruz SPCA, Dr. Jen Hendee, who stayed up so late on many nights figuring out the incredibly difficult administrative madness, Mireille Rudeau, the CAPS assistant who did some big heavy lifting, smoothing over the rough patches, Patrick Villardry, the fireman and disaster response president of the SDA (this was just a little less difficult than his recent efforts in Haiti), Jocelyne Dechaume, who smoothed the perenially ruffled feathers of our local administration, Zouina Belkhami, who helped organize, Robert van Voorthuysen of KLM/Air France, Christine Lascaux of Air France, Clémence Razeau, Fred Markarian, Richard Drevon...the list goes on and on but I just wanted to post a few pics for everyone to see that the dogs are safe, happy, in perfect health, in good hands and resting.


They are ALIVE! 


Thank you Deborah Howard, for believing in this rescue effort from the beginning and Lisa Carter, what can I say? Other than to give you a huge intercontinental hug! 



To all those of you who said it couldn't be done: YES WE CAN!

To all of you who think this was a lousy idea: THEY ARE ALIVE!

To all of those who said this is a waste of money: What price tag can you put on educating an entire country about adoption, puppy mills and spay/neuter? Education is priceless. 

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Six chiens américains sauvés d'une mort annoncée

Publié le jeudi 01 juillet 2010 à 00H00 - 19
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Six chiens américains sauvés d'une mort annoncée_1Le sauvetage de ces six chiens a été organisé grâce à des donateurs privés. D'autres transferts devraient intervenir prochainement. Ci-contre, Carole Davis, une des responsables de l'association américaine.Patrice LAPOIRIE
Arrivés hier soir à Nice, les toutous étaient en passe d'être euthanasiés aux Etats-Unis en Californie
21 heures hier sur la promenade des Anglais. Six petits chiens descendent en apparente bonne forme d'une camionnette. Bloqués plus longtemps que prévu à l'aéroport de Nice en raison de problèmes administratifs, ils ont atterri cinq heures plus tôt en provenance de Los Angeles. Et aux yeux de la trentaine de personnes venues à leur rencontre, ils font figure de miraculés.
Gumdrop, Dinky, Chester et les autres étaient promis à la mort. Comme cinq millions de chiens par an aux États-Unis, selon les chiffres fournis par une association américaine, ils devaient être euthanasiés à l'issue de trois jours passés dans une fourrière municipale.
Ils y ont échappé grâce à l'association « Companion animal protection society » qui, avec l'aide de donateurs privés, a organisé leur transfert en France.
Tout le monde ne s'en félicite pas
Sur quel critère s'est opérée la sélection ? « Ce fut très difficile, on a dû constituer une sorte de liste de Schindler, explique Carole Davis, une des responsables de l'association US. On a privilégié les chiens les plus faciles à adopter, ceux de race, âgés de moins de trois ans et pesant moins de six kilos. »
Placés dans un premier temps en quarantaine sur le sol américain, mesure destinée à s'assurer de l'absence de maladies, les six chiens ont été stérilisés et vaccinés.
Avant de prendre un vol de la compagnie Air France qui a consenti, pour l'occasion, un tarif préférentiel. Pris en charge à l'arrivée par plusieurs associations, dont la Société de défense des animaux de Patrick Villardry, certains vont être placés en famille d'accueil, d'autres directement adoptés.
Également soutenue par l'adjointe au maire déléguée à la protection animale, Andrée Alziari-Nègre, l'opération ne fait pas que des heureux. Sur le trottoir de la Prom', plusieurs personnes la dénoncent bruyamment. « On amène des chiens de l'étranger alors qu'il y en a déjà trop sur la Côte d'Azur », s'insurge ainsi Monie Schilling, médecin à la retraite. « Comme s'il n'y avait pas assez de déjections », renchérit, à ses côtés, Geneviève Rey qui habite le quartier du Parc Impérial.
D'autres transferts devraient pourtant intervenir. « En temps normal, avance Carole Davis,500 000 Californiens se séparent chaque année de leur animal de compagnie dès lors qu'ils s'en lassent et le jugent encombrant. Si cette triste réalité n'épargne pas la France, elle y atteint une moindre ampleur. Avec la crise frappant durement les États-Unis, le nombre d'abandons devrait, là-bas, doubler. Nous avons l'obligation morale d'intervenir... »
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