Two weeks ago I received a telephone call from Cirese Terry who had visited a goat dairy farm near Sarasota, Florida and had seen a pitiful little goat out in the rain (goats hate rain) and knealing on her front legs.

Cirese was disturbed at the sight of this little female creatures and coordinated with me to take the goat to a veterinarian to get a diagnosis and possible treatment for her. Arrangements were made for a vet clinic appointment via SDA & our vet immediately said "This goat has a birth defect and there is nothing I can do for her. Her condition is untreatable and she will remain walking on her front elbows the rest of her life." He did not speculate as to what her life expectancy would be.

Wayne Pacelle, CEO of Humane Society of US, was in Sarasota for a book signing.

Wayne Pacelle's new book, The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, examines our contradictory attitudes towards animals and points to a better way forward. CEO and president of the nation's largest animal protection organization, Pacelle has helped to bring animal protection from the margins to the mainstream during his quarter century of work in the field, which includes 17 years at HSUS.

"The Bond" has appeared on many best-seller lists, including The Washington Post, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

As we close the year 2010 and SDA's 21st year in saving the lives of homeless animals, we are taking this opportunity to share with you a summary of 2010 and will later publish our goals for 2011.

Since SDA has been taking in helpless creatures for 21 years and giving them lifetime care, many of them have passed away in 2010 as well as in the past few years from natural causes. It is heartbreaking to say good-bye but we do so with the comforting knowledge that they have had a good life at our sanctuary being safe, clean, well fed and cared for in a comfortable environment.

ROBIN HOOD:  Some of the highlights of 2010 came with the arrival of new animal sanctuary residents like Robin Hood, a big orange tiger cat that had been shot with a bow & arrow by a cruel person and after months of recovery it was determined that Robin Hood was a feral cat and not adoptable.

Robin Hood is contented to hang out with his cat-mates in one of SDA's catteries where he lies in the sun and doesn't have to be bothered with people. Below is a photo of Robin Hood when he was recovering from his wounds where the arrow punctured his shoulder:  

EASTER: One of our favorites at the sanctuary is Easter, a little goat, whose mother came to SDA as a stray from Sarasota County Animal Services.

Little did we know the mom was pregnant and surprised us with giving birth to a kid at Easter 2010.

Unfortunately, mommy goat had an infection and Easter would not nurse from her mother and we had to feed her NINE bottles of milk replacer per day!

It was a big chore for 8 weeks but Easter thrived and is growing up to be the best goat ever. This is a recent photo of a sanctuary favorite, Easter: