“Peace for Patrice”

The gala Oct. 12, 2008 was a huge success as Patrice and Valentina made a smooth transition. Valentina now can spend more time at home with her siblings and Patrice can go out in the world, visiting hospitals and schools.
Our human diva, blind soprano Sylvia Aponte, assisted by her Seeing Eye dog, Paz, was an unqualified hit, and the most beloved “bride” as Victoria Ruiz surprised her and hubby to be Javier Verardi with an impromptu Mendelssohn Wedding March, from “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The colors flowed, the champagne bubbled, and everybody was copasetic, especially the Weimaraner divas Canela, Jett and Moon, and the inimitable Tuqui, with his wheelchair-bound owner Edwin Colberg making a total of four legs instead of the expected six.

The event, at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Cathedral in Santurce, made a few bucks for new cat and dog rescue projects, but most of all was a great way to celebrate differences, limitations and potential. We’ll have more about the awards soon. Keep tuned. Meanwhile, here’s a little background on our new spokescat, Lucie Patrice.

Celebrating a special blind cat with nine lives

A cat covered with long soft fur in tones of silver and champagne should be the most beautiful creature in the world. And she is, except for one thing: she has no eyes.

One St. Patrick’s day, an anonymous call sent us to No. 1 Cervantes Street where we found the little Persian cat in a box in the garbage can. She was covered with knots, and the cavities where her eyes should have been seeped with liquid. Veterinarians believe she was born that way, although we had been tipped off that her eyes had been gouged out. We named her Patrice for her Saint, but soon added a second name: Lucie for the patron saint of the blind. She doesn’t seem afraid of bumping into things. It is just her way of navigating.

She had begun to adjust to her new surroundings when another rescued female cat challenged her territory, and little Patrice incredibly found refuge in a tiny hole in the wall.

The fall, like Alice’s tumble through the rabbit hole, spirited her down the shaft to the floor below, and her rescue took a variety of experts 10 days. Skeptics did not believe she was down there, but I heard her cry every night. We dropped ice cubes and dry food down, but could not be sure she could reach it.

The entire island rejoiced when the rescuers pulled her out, and she became a celebrity. Her survival was miraculous, and she has recovered completely after her trauma.

Valentina, the snowshoe kitten with an injured foot whose rescue on Feb. 14. 1997 was celebrated with a book, is 12 years old and ready to retire from the foundation named after her. However, :Lucie Patrice will take her place as spokescat, and will continue the tradition started by her predecessor of visiting schools and hospitals.

For information about Patrice and how to help her foundation call Millie Seijo at 787-526-0328 or Peggy Ann Bliss at 787-585-9130.

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On My Mind...

World reels at Puerto Rico animal cruelty
By: Peggy Ann Bliss

The world is still reacting to the early December finding of probable cause by Judge José Esteban Pérez Marrero to arrest the alleged killers of beloved pets from Barceloneta. Letters to the local animal protectors are coming in from as far away as Australia, Argentina and Russia.

Julio Diaz, owner of Animal Control Solutions, and his employees Lucas Montaño Rivera and Roberto Rodríguez Ceballo face three charges each of felony animal cruelty for their part in seizing 80 cats and dogs at three housing projects and throwing them off a bridge in Vega Baja.