Nine times a year, cohorts of young people from San Jose and San Francisco pile into vans and head out for the fresh air and redwood-dotted forests of nearby Half Moon Bay. These are city kids, bonded by a shared experience of growing up in urban centers. But something much darker that bonds them, too. Each child has been affected by abuse, neglect or some other traumatic experience. Their destination: an animal sanctuary called Wildmind, where they’ll begin the healing process by learning and developing coping skills.
But on this three-acre sanctuary, humans aren’t the teachers. Animals are.
A homeless boy might be empowered by Luna, a one-eyed great horned owl that was hit by a car. Or a girl who’s spent time in the juvenile justice system might learn lessons about trust through the tales of a red fox named Inali, found abandoned after a storm.
It’s all part of the at-risk youth program at Wildmind, which houses more than 50 non-releasable wild animals that were rescued after being abused, injured or abandoned. Founded in 1980, the nonprofit has a singular focus on educating people of all stripes on environmental issues and the benefits of connecting with nature through animals. But for the marginalized youth who walk through its doors, it’s also a place to build social, emotional and life skills rooted in the animals’ stories.
Many of the teens who take part in the program come from the foster care and juvenile justice systems. They’re referred to Wildmind by shelters, youth agencies or their schools. Once a month for nine months, groups of 10 to 15 teens with troubled pasts meet at Wildmind’s sprawling Half Moon Bay facility. They start their day outside with a healing circle, where they’ll reflect on their feelings and soak up the nature around them.
Next come the animals — or as they’re called here, “wild teachers.” Lola, a red-tailed boa, might “share” why she sheds her skin every month, driving home the point that it’s important to shed negative memories in order to grow. Luna, the great horned owl, might “tell” a story about losing her mother but gaining support from others. There’s also Suka, an Arctic fox; George, a tamandua; Penny, a porcupine; Tundra, a snowy owl; and dozens of other animals, all of which have stories to share that mirror the kids’ experiences.
“The animals provide examples of surviving, overcoming obstacles and adapting to their environments, and that’s really what it’s all about for young people in crisis,” said Chris Kelley, the executive director of Wildmind.
Over the course of the program, the teens work on a group project, usually helping with construction on one of the animal’s habitats. The group typically ends their day with a hike or walk around the property.
“They get ideas about how to cope with their daily struggles and come through the other end with hope for the future,” Kelley told NationSwell.
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The story of Wildmind goes back nearly four decades ago when Steve Karlin, an environmental educator, opened a sanctuary that encouraged children to connect with nature. The at-risk youth program, which has helped around 2,500 troubled teens, was added in 2001. All in all, Wildmind has brought science and environmental literacy to more than 8 million students.
Jen Motroni, a wildlife educator, said it’s incredible to watch the kids open up over the months. People who would have never crossed paths create lifelong friendships and learn as much from each others’ challenges as they do from their animal teachers.
“They have this idea of what’s going to happen, and then all of that gets broken down,” she told NationSwell. “Many times they open up to us about the abuses and the trials and tribulations they go through.”
Motroni, who has worked at Wildmind for 18 years and with the at-risk program for three, has heard the kids describe all sorts of family challenges, from parents who have been deported or struggle with addiction to fathers who have abandoned their family.
“I have learned so much from these kids,” she said. “Everybody has their own story and you never know what someone has gone through.”
Kelley stressed the dual nature of the program. “It was developed to not only include the animals and the stories around the animals, but to provide young people a forum for opening up, for trusting people, for sharing their feelings,” he said. “Wildmind creates a safe space for them to do that.”
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Tag: Animals
How One Man and His School Bus Are Saving Animals From Hurricanes
From the outside, it looks like a normal school bus. But inside, it’s a bustling animal shelter on wheels, with rows of dogs and cats in crates stacked two deep.
Tony Alsup spent this past week driving his bus to South Carolina shelters to rescue animals in the path of Hurricane Florence, which has caused 23 deaths and displaced more than 1 million residents as of publishing. So far Alsup has gathered 53 dogs and 11 cats and relocated them to shelters out of harm’s way.
“I’m like, look, these are lives too,” Alsup told the Washington Post. “Animals — especially shelter pets — they always have to take the back seat of the bus. But I’ll give them their own bus. If I have to I’ll pay for all the fuel, or even a boat, to get these dogs out of there.”
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Alsup never planned on becoming a chauffeur for dozens of animals in need. It all started with a misunderstanding on social media: When Hurricane Harvey was barreling toward Houston in 2017, Alsup saw a web post requesting help in bringing shelter animals to safety. Alsup volunteered, planning to carry a few dogs in the cab of his semi-truck. Meanwhile, the shelters assumed he could transfer dozens of animals in the body of the truck.
“You’ve got to be very careful what you say on social media, man,” he told the Greenville News.
But once he had given his word, Alsup felt he couldn’t back out. “So,” he reasoned, “why don’t I just go buy a bus?”
He spent $3,200 on a former school bus, tore the seats out to make room for dog crates, and hit the road. Since then, Alsup has been an essential force in helping rescue pets displaced by Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and now Florence.
Alsup has largely focused on the “leftover” animals — “the dogs with blocky heads, the ones with heartworm,” wrote one shelter on its Facebook page. “The ones no one else will ever take.”
“It’s so easy for people to adopt the small pets and the cuties and the cuddly,” Alsup said. “We take on the ones that deserve a chance even though they are big and a little ugly. But I love big dogs, and we find places for them.”
If you’d like to contribute to Alsup’s animal rescue efforts, you can donate via PayPal.
At This Prison, Puppies and Inmates Give Each Other Purpose
At this women’s prison in upstate New York, puppies are proving to be more than just woman’s best friend.
“They make you feel like you’re worth something,” says Dunasha Payne, an inmate at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. “And they make you wake up every day, that you have a purpose in life and that you’re not just a prisoner.”
Payne is part of Puppies Behind Bars, a program that teaches inmates to train puppies as service animals for veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD. Not only do the dogs bring comfort to the people they serve, but the inmates participating in the program are “the most well-behaved” in the prison, according to one guard. Watch the video above and read our full article to see how Puppies Behind Bars is making a difference for people in and out of prison.
The Exotic Birds and Suffering Veterans That Are Helping Each Other Heal
The V.A. complex in West Los Angeles boasts an unexpected feature: the Serenity Park Parrot Sanctuary, which offers nursing care and refuge to exotic birds left without owners.
Veteran Matthew Simmons started the sanctuary, which is funded by donations, after serving in the Navy during Operation Desert Storm. The facility rehabilitates sick or injured birds, and in the process helps troubled vets, too. “If you’re not offered a ledge up, it’s a very deep pit, and there’s lots of guys down there,” Simmons tells NBC 2.
One person benefitting from these beautiful creatures is Coast Guard veteran Lily Love. She suffered from PTSD after her service, prompting to five trips to the V.A. psychiatric ward, but ever since she started spending time at Serenity Park, she’s stayed out of the hospital. Love is now in charge of the kitchen, preparing meals for parrots each day starting at 6 a.m. She says that working with the birds, “takes me out of myself.”
Navy veteran Bob Corell describes the time he spends Serenity Park as his “salvation.” “I think I’m a little kinder. A little gentler than I was before I got here,” he says.
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How Competing in a Horse Show Gives Disabled Veterans a Sense of Belonging
When serving their country, members of the armed services display their expertise on the battlefield. Back at home here in the U.S., some veterans are putting their skills on display in a different type of theater: the equestrian show ring.
Recently, a group of more than 20 veterans gathered at the Tulsa, Okla. fairgrounds to show off everything they know about horsemanship for a panel of judges at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship. All are participants in Heroes on Horses, a nonprofit providing equine therapy to disabled veterans. Some, like Army veteran Matthew Evans, are lifelong riders, while others had never been on a horse before they became involved with the program.
“It’s kind of like a milestone, you know?” Evans tells Tony Russell of News On 6. “Some of these people have never seen a horse before and they step up to a horse for the first time, and now here they are competing in a world show, you know? That just goes to show how far they’ve come and how great they are.”
While horse riding is meant to be therapeutic, there’s something about the thrill of competition that gives the disabled vets an extra boost. The judges evaluated them according to the stringent standards they use to measure other riders before announcing the winners. Still, Evans tells Russell, “Being able to compete with other veterans again isn’t so much a competition, it’s more of a camaraderie and a brotherhood. It’s kind of like a reunion.”
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As for the value of equine therapy, Marine veteran James Mincey says, “They always say that the best thing for the inside of a man is the outside of a horse, so there’s a lot to that.”
MORE: This Injured Veteran Healed Himself. Now He’s Bringing His Secret to Others
When This Dog Lover Realized There Weren’t Enough Search-and-Rescuers, She Set Out to Train More
When Wilma Melville retired from her career as a gym teacher in New Jersey, she never imagined that her second career was about to take off.
Melville used her newfound free time to pursue her dream of owning a highly-trained dog, and enrolled in FEMA’s Advanced Search Dog certification program, a process that can take three to five years and can cost up to $15,000. Soon after receiving her certification, Melville was asked to assist with finding victims in the rubble following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
“This disaster made it clear that there were too few certified search dog-handler teams,” Melville writes on the website of the Search Dog Foundation (SDF), the California-based nonprofit she started after that experience. “Out of this heartbreaking experience came a determination to find a better way to create highly skilled canine search teams.”
When Melville began her efforts, there were only 15 dog-and-handler pairs with advanced training across the country. Today, there are more than 250, according to David Karas of the Christian Science Monitor. Of those, SDF has trained 150 teams, providing their services for no cost to any community that needs them.
But search-and-rescue missions aren’t the Search Dog Foundation’s only mission. Melville’s organization exclusively trains dogs adopted from shelters — transforming rescued pets into rescuers. An effective team requires “the right dog, matched with the right handler, and professional training for both,” Melville told Karas.
“I never expected to found and lead an agency that would make a significant difference nationally in how dogs are selected, plus how handlers and dogs are trained for this specific work,” she said. After she knew she “could make a giant sized contribution,” she said, “I never looked back.”
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These Reading Programs Are Going to the Dogs
Early readers need encouragement, not judgement. And what’s more reassuring than a wagging tail, sweet puppy dog eyes, and a rapt audience that will never utter a discouraging word?
Nothing that we can think of. And that’s exactly why innovative programs across the country are bringing man’s best friend into schools and libraries for reading lessons. The well-trained, albeit furry, audience members give kids an outlet for their newfound phonics, and the pooches — with their toddler-like need for attention — lap it up.
In Augusta, Wisconsin, the Tail Waggin’ Tutors visited Augusta Elementary School, giving children 15-minute stints to read to a pooch. “We look for every possible way to motivate kids to love to read,” reading specialist Nancy Forseth told the local Leader-Telegram. “Who doesn’t love dogs?” Clearly, most children, as some 90 kids signed up for the program, she said.
In Anchorage, Alaska, through the Pawsitive Reading Program, pets visit a local library once a month, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The kids don’t even realize they’re working and learning sometimes. “She thinks she’s helping the dogs to read,” one mom says, of her precocious tyke.
The added bonus? (Beyond the reading thing, that is.) Shy kids, and those fearful of dogs, slowly start to come out of their shell.
For both dogs and their owners, these programs are staffed solely with volunteers. But for those involved, the petting, hugs, and smiling kids are certainly payment enough.
Plus, who can resist the photo from the Kasson, Minnesota, Post-Bulletin of a kid reading the modern classic adventures of Pete the Cat to an attentive, dog-show-worthy border collie?
Certainly not us.
This Nonprofit Reunites Veterans With the Four-Legged Friends They Made Overseas
When U.S. soldiers are far from home on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, they often befriend stray dogs living in the area. Some even go so far as to adopt the furry friends as pets. With some servicemen and women, this bond with their animals becomes so tight that when they return home, they want to bring them back to America. But there’s often a (costly) roadblock.
It can cost several thousand dollars to transport a dog from overseas, and this expensive bill usually prevents such a reunion stateside. That’s where Guardians of Rescue, a Long Island-based charity dedicated to helping stray animals and veterans, steps in. The nonprofit’s No Buddy Left Behind Program identifies soldiers who have befriended dogs in foreign lands and raises money to bring the animals to the United States through social media and crowd funding websites including GoFundMe and YouCaring.
One such story that captured the attention of many was that of a mother dog named Sheba and her litter of seven puppies that a New York National Guard unit looked after in Afghanistan. Guardians of Rescue raised the money required to quarantine the dogs in the Kabul facilities of Nowzad (an international animal rescue organization), vaccinate and spay or neuter the dogs, fly them to Dubai, and from there to the United States.
Another Guardians of Rescue program, Paws of War, pairs specially trained dogs with soldiers that suffer from PTSD and other conditions. “If the veteran suffers from hyper-vigilance or claustrophobia, we will train the dog to face outward towards the door,” Dori Scofield, the Vice President of Guardians of Rescue told Arielle Brechisci of Newsday. “Some are trained to wake you up when the alarm goes off.”
Paws of War paired PTSD-suffering Iraq veteran Paul Zimmerman of North Babylon, New York with a boxer named Kona. “It certainly is the best medicine I’ve ever had,” Zimmerman said. “Just having him just being there for you is tremendous.”
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Here’s an Awesome Program That Proves the Healing Power of Man’s Best Friend
For many war veterans, the biggest battle doesn’t take place overseas. It happens stateside, after returning home and attempting to readjust to civilian life. Justin Morseth, a military veteran who was honorably discharged in 2003 after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in Iraq, knows this all too well.
In 2006, after his wife, Megan, gave birth to their first child — a son — Justin was overcome with crippling anxiety, which was later attributed to severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (aka PTSD). “It suddenly brought back repressed memories of some children that had died in Iraq,” Megan told the Indy Star. “It just kind of exploded everything in him.”
But even as the Morseths struggled to cope with Justin’s PTSD, there was one aspect of their lives that could always keep the former soldier centered: His rescue dog, Samson. The couple credits Samson for pulling Justin out of his terrifying flashbacks and keeping him calm in the face of stress. “I definitely think Samson saved his life,” Megan said.
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Inspired by the healing power of Samson (who has since passed away), the Morseths created a program called Pets Healing Vets, which pairs shelter dogs to Indiana veterans who suffer from PTSD or have had traumatic injuries. The adoption, training and medical care of the dog is completely free — for life.
In partnership with the Humane Society for Hamilton County, Pets for Vets has paired 13 veterans with dogs since the program started in 2012. And so far, it’s been a wagging success. Greg Sexton, an Army veteran who was injured in Iraq, got a black Labrador retriever through the program, which he says has been a “huge help”, especially in crowds, where he can easily get overwhelmed. “You get to rescue a dog,” Sexton said about his experience. “And the dog kind of gets to rescue you.”
Pets for Vets has been so successful that the Morseths, who now have two rescue dogs, and the area’s Humane Society wants to see the program grow. They have expanded it to law enforcement officers who also suffer from PTSD and are actively seeking veterans to take part in it. After all, if anyone deserves an unwavering loyal best friend, it’s our nation’s veterans. “Bringing those two together is Kismet. It’s the way that it should be,” Megan said.
ALSO: These Dogs Know How to Serve Their Masters and Their Country
Abused Dogs Are Getting a Second Chance at a Happy Life with Help From At-Risk Youth
For dogs rescued from abusive homes, the nightmare isn’t over with the arrest of a neglectful human. Many of these animals end up at animal control, where they can become aggressive and distant from humans. They’re often kept alone in cages, lost in a system that doesn’t have the means to assess, treat and train them in order to safely place them in good homes. Sadly, victims of animal abuse and neglect often end up being euthanized. Cynthia Bathurst, founder and executive director Safe Humane Chicago, has made it her life’s work to end this cycle. And to do so, she has connected at-risk dogs with another group that can feel discarded by society: juveniles in the criminal justice system.
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Through the organization’s Lifetime Bonds program, volunteers take abused dogs that have been rehabilitated to the Illinois Youth Center, where they spend three months in training with a group of at-risk young men. These participants learn how to care for the animals, teaching them simple skills such as sit, down, and roll over, as well as more complicated skills, such as running agility courses. The young men also learn about animal welfare and safety through classroom-like discussions that focus on issues like overpopulation and dog fighting — an issue that is prevalent in gangs across the country. The goal of the Lifetime Bonds program is not only to teach these dogs how to trust humans again, but also to teach the human participants patience, confidence and skills that they can use upon their release. “We focus on the special bond between people and animals that helps build empathy and opportunity,” Bathurst told The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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Lifetime Bonds is just one of the many programs that Safe Humane Chicago offers to help build safer communities through the proper treatment of animals. Research has proven that violence against animals is connected to violence against people. According to a report by The Humane Society of the United States, 65 percent of individuals in Chicago arrested for animal crimes between 2001 and 2004 had also been arrested for battery against another person. In another study, 46 percent of 36 convicted murderers admitted to committing acts of animal abuse during adolescence. With that in mind, Bathurst focuses her nonprofit on educating people about animal abuse, while also helping them realize the depth of interpersonal connections that can grow between animals and humans. Volunteers train law enforcement officers on the enforcement of animal-related laws, as well as the humane treatment of animals caught in the judicial system. They also have a Youth Leaders program offered in some Chicago Public Schools, which trains students to become ambassadors for the humane treatment of animals. The organization acts as court advocates for animals that have been abused, and has developed a program that provides behavioral support to these animals that end up at animal control. Their methods have been so successful that the organization is working with other states to develop similar programs, hopefully allowing more abused dogs — and at-risk youths — to enjoy a second chance.
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