The Vancouver Courier telephoned last week to do an interview about our TG Reunion!! It is a very “real” article and “tells it like it is”. Thank you Cynda, Steve and Jude for participating in the interview and posting your picture with Maya. The link is here

The story is here if I haven't posted it right!!
Rescue dogs reunite at Crowley Park
Reclusive animal shelter owner to join panting party
Sandra Thomas, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, August 27, 2008
When dozens of sick and starving sled dogs were seized from an abandoned property in northern B.C. last fall, animal shelter owner Yvette Labatte didn't hesitate to take them in.
"We took all 50," said Labatte, who with her husband owns and operates Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue in Topley, which is northwest of Prince George. "We took them in on the Sunday and Monday and by Friday they had all been vet checked."
Labatte said the veterinarian aborted 29 puppies because the mothers were too sick to deliver and the puppies were too interbred to survive. The majority of the dogs had been locked in a trailer with no food or water for weeks. The survivors were reduced to eating drywall.

Steve and Judy Taylor and ‘Maya’ will attend a reunion of dogs rescued through a remarkable shelter in northern B.C.
Photo-Dan Toulgoet
Labatte notes one puppy was born, but with several developmental disabilities. Named Isaiah, the puppy has become a poster boy for spaying and neutering.
“He’s not the brightest bulb in the garden,” Labatte told the Courier during a phone interview last week from her Topley home.
In less than a year the Labattes had all of the dogs spayed or neutered, brought them back to health and adopted out all but eight of the most damaged dogs. The Labattes keep those dogs, which Yvette describes as having severe separation anxiety, at the shelter.
The couple opened their non-profit shelter 20 years ago and have since found homes for more than 4,000 dogs considered hard to adopt. The shelter has a no-kill policy and takes in dogs destined to be euthanized from area animal pounds.
This weekend several dozen Turtle Gardens dogs, accompanied by their Vancouver owners, will converge on Everett Crowley Park for a reunion.
Labatte, a near recluse, is making a rare trip to Vancouver to take part in the event. “I’m so happy about seeing the dogs, I can’t believe it,” said Labatte, who last left Topley, which has a population barely above 100, two years ago to attend an earlier reunion. “And I know the dogs will remember me. They always do.”
The reunion will cap off a months-long fundraising effort by several local dog owners who adopted their canine companions from Turtle Gardens. Cynda Lee and Judy Taylor are a part of a small group determined to help the Labattes keep their dilapidated shelter running. They’ve adopted dogs from the shelter through contacts made on the Internet or through word of mouth.
Taylor and her husband Steve adopted one of the abandoned sled dogs last year after hearing about Turtle Gardens through someone who adopted a dog through the shelter. But first the Taylors undertook a little detective work.
Steve Taylor, a commercial fisherman, was near Topley for work and dropped in to see the shelter. “I wanted to see if it was a scam or not,” said Taylor. “But when I met Yvette and saw the shelter I was amazed at the work these people are doing.”
Taylor described the shelter as dilapidated and much in need of money. Because of the shelter’s makeshift look, similar animal rescue groups accuse the Labattes of running a substandard operation. That’s just not the case, said Taylor.
“There are two ways to look at it,” he said. “Some people think the shelter is below standard and should be shut down, but on the other hand they’ve rescued and adopted out thousands of dogs that would have been killed. They refuse to refuse a dog, and they’re stretched to the limit.”

The Taylors adopted their dog, named Maya, after the visit. Taylor described Maya’s personality as “different.” Dogs that live long enough to make it to Turtle Gardens are an example of survival of the fittest, he said.
“It’s Darwinism at its best. If you want a smart, crafty dog, then you should look at Turtle Gardens.”
The dog reunion and Take a Hike with Turtle Gardens event is Aug. 30 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Everett Crowley Park. The entrance to the park is off Kerr Street, just north of Southeast Marine Drive.

©Turtle Gardens Animal Rescue Society. Have your pet spayed or neutered today.