Renshaw Horse Rescue. CONGRATULATIONS! A marvellous community effort!

Colin Hall, ecoPhaser

Thank You!! Thank You!! Thank You!! You guys and gals did an amazing job!!

Donna-Rae Coatta, Rescue 100 - Media, Fundraising

and Placement

Since I am not a woman of many words, I keep this short. I have read about your rescue operation. Bravo! I am very proud of you! For that, you and the other rescuers should get a gold medal. But I imag-ine that having been able to help those two poor guys means more than a medal. They will never forget you.

Anita Bailly, Victoria

Congratulations great work!

Love Susan Fyfe, Edmonton, Rescue 100

Can you send my congratu-lations & admiration to the Stutz & Jeck families & all the warm-hearted people of the Robson Valley. Made the front page of the Globe & Mail here in Toronto today!! Today, we are very proud to be Canadi-an. Thank you all and Merry Xmas!

Robert Dingle, Ajax, Ontario

I wanted to thank you so much for your efforts and perseverance, and those of

your fellow volunteers. Bless you.

Robin Klein, Baltimore, MD

I was just reading about the horse rescue that you took part in this past week. I am a 5th grade teacher here in Petaluma, and was just talk-ing to my students before our school break about thinking about the true meaning of the winter holidays. We discussed that it used to be bringing light to the darkness of the cold world but now, it seems so wrapped up in consumer-ism. When I saw the story this morning about some incred-ibly dedicated and selfless human beings saving these abandoned horses, I knew that I had a really great story to share with them next week, a story that really illustrates what we lamented not seeing much of....light against dark, warmth against cold, love against hate. I just wanted to say thank you for your self-less act, and for warming my heart this season. In a class-room in California, your story will be teaching some lovely kids that people do step up to the plate and do what’s right, even if it costs them a Christmas! I hope that you will share our thanks with all of those that helped! You are our heroes!

Kassie Nixon, Petaluma, California

This is truly a miracle and I want to send my heartfelt thanks to those who worked so hard to save these two crit-ters. Yes, a miracle! I did say

my prayers on this occasion, and that if there was only one gift under my tree this year it would be to hear of their success and that the lives of these two animals be spared. Low and behold!! It’s an es-pecially good thing; not only that the two horses have been saved but that a community of people together performed such a merciful act. I’m sure it provides a life long lesson for each and eventually very ful-filling memories of hard work done together in the right direction. Kudos to those in McBride, and all who took part.

David Webb, North Vancouver, B.C.

I have just read in the paper about the exceptional effort you made to rescue those poor horses at Christmas. I wouldn’t say that I am a great fan of horses, basically due to lack of understanding of them, but I am an animal lov-er who certainly appreciates how much passion went into this operation. May I congrat-ulate you on this supreme ef-fort of which I salute and ad-mire. You brought a great deal of happiness and relief to my day today, amidst all the suf-fering and global aggravation that exists in such publica-tions as newspapers. I will tell as many people as I can about your heroics and be as-sured you have made a lot of people a little less frightened about what to expect from human nature.

Mark Blackman

Hats off to all of you!! Wow, you are amazing people. Where can donations be sent to help with either some ex-penses of the volunteers or the upkeep of the horses?

Lynne Johnstone, Vancouver

Please add my name to the list supporting NOT giving the Edmonton lawyer his pack horses back; I believe he gave up any ownership when he abandoned them.Thank you for all your efforts in saving these beautiful ani-mals.Deborah Auer, Burnaby, B.C.

In these strange times, it is nice to see, people go out of there way to help those who can’t help themselves. Good for you and all the helpers.

Ken Sasaki

Good work on getting those horses out.

Ron Gerhardi

We want to thank the village for a truly inspiring, heart-warming Christmas gift: the story of your rescue of Sun-dance and Belle. You make us believe again in the potential that Canadians have in doing something selfless, very diffi-cult, and good-spirited.

Ian and Anne Lancashire, Toronto

I just read about the horses who are being rescued by volunteers from your town.

These people are to be con-gratulated for all their efforts in rescuing these poor ani-mals who were left on their own. Shame on the owner who left them there, hopeful-ly he will be charged. All the volunteers are heroes. The town of McBride must be so proud of these people. A sto-ry that started off so sad will hopefully end with a happy ending. Congratulations Vol-unteers!!!!

Joanne Benson, Montreal, Quebec

Just wanted to say “Great work” and Congratulations on setting the horses free.I’m sure the owner and all the volunteers are very happy.

Thomas, Miramichi, New Brunswick

As an animal lover, I would like to thank the people of McBride for their compas-sion and the love they have shown to the two horses that were found abandoned on the mountain side. The “nev-er give up’ attitude displayed by both the horses and the citizens of McBride is heart warming and my God Bless all those involved in saving the horses. Also please en-courage the authorities to find and hold accountable those who abandoned the animals. As an Albertan, I sure hope the evil people who abandoned the horses are not from my province. Once more, God Bless the citizens of McBride.

Toby Racette, Alberta

May I take this opportunity to thank all the residents of McBride and, in particular

those directly involved with the rescue of the two horses. This was an awesome feat of determination on the part of the rescuers! You have done all of us proud and provided us with THE Christmas story of the year! Congratulations on your success!

Herb Ducette, Sudbury, Ontario

Your community should be very proud of the people who saved the starving horses. My wife and I have decided that we will take the time to visit your community in the spring. This is the type of community that people strive to live in.

Dave Sherman, Pender Island, B.C.

I have been following the sto-ry of the poor horses trapped in the snow, and am so happy that the horse are now out of what would surely have been their grave had it not been for the compassion and hard work of those who shoveled the horses out and are now walking them to safety. How-ever, I am very concerned about a comment I read this morning in the Edmonton Journal that the horse sadis-tic and cruel owner can still have them back? The article said that if the horses are not claimed by their owner, a horse owner in BC will get them. Is this true? Please pass on my heartfelt thanks you to all those in the area who helped get these horses out. This is the true meaning of Christmas! God bless all of them!

Laney Mochoruk

Dear Mayor: Saving those horses has made my Christ-mas. Congratulations to all those compassionate and committed people who went to such trouble for those animals. Christmas is pretty strange this year, with many driving troubles here in the Lower Mainland and many Christmas dinners probably being postponed because of ice on the highways. But it warms the heart to think there are such wonderful people in the world.

Sarah Bennett

Congratulations to the peo-ple who rescued the horses. This shows the real heart of a smaller community banding together in a noble cause.

Earl Sims

I am so proud of all the peo-ple from McBride and area who helped free those horses. Kudos to all. It is so great to hear GOOD news today.

Ross Craig, Nova Scotia

The Globe and Mail front page story of the 2 aban-doned horses being rescued by the people of McBride was unbelievably moving. I do hope that there will be some kind of public recognition for those involved and that the lawyer involved will need the services of one before this matter is closed.

Don Adams, Brighton, Ontario

From Ontario we thank you ally for saving the two hors-es as written in the Globe & Mail. In Ontario we fight ev-

eryday saving horses but your efforts on what your commu-nity did in pulling together is - priceless! Please pass this message on to all rescuers - we’re proud of you all - true Canadians!

Catherine McPherson, Ontario

Can you please help to send this message to the Jeck & Stutz families & all the good hearted volunteers in the Robson Valley, BC. Congratu-lations on your successful rescue of two horses on Mt. Renshaw!!!! You Canadian heroes have made the front page of the Globe & Mail here in Toronto!! On Boxing Day, 2008 you have made us extremely proud to be Cana-dians!! Your story of digging out these horses is fantastic, be assured, a little place in heaven awaits you.

Robert Dingle, Ajax, Ontario

Thank you and the citizens of McBride for caring about and saving those two horses. All of you deserve a medal or ten. It truly is heartwarm-ing to hear of the generosity and kindness shown in such an unusual circumstance. I wish I could have been there to help out. My thoughts and feelings about the perpetra-tor of this crime are not men-tionable in public so I’ll just focus on the good side of this situation. You are a wonderful people and thank you again from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful act of kind-ness that you did, thank you for reaching out and going to such great lengths to save these magnificent animals. I will be making a donation to the BC SPCA to help with the upkeep of the horses or for them to use as they see fit at their shelters.

Ruth Jenkins, Nepean/Ottawa Ontario

We wished to send a message of heartfelt thanks to the resi-dents of McBRIDE who com-pleted an incredibly kind and thoughtful act rescuing the horses this Christmas. This is such a depressing time for so many people and it a wonderful Christmas story that your town sent to us all. Thank you so much and what wonderful people you have in your town.

Janice and Patrick Quinn, Beaconsfield, Quebec

The humanitarian action of the hard working kind people who saved the two horses has

done more to promote your town than thousands of dol-lars of advertising could have done. There actions have made people from all over the world aware of your commu-nity. Many will then explore your town on the internet as I have done and learn more about the town. Many will decide that they should visit the town. The actions of the volunteers who saved the horses speaks very highly of the character of many or all the members of your com-munity.

Dave Sherman, Pender Island, B.C.

I’m so thankful for your residents rescuing the poor horses on the mountain. Your town has really made a differ-ence and I congratulate you on your inspiring rescue. I really hope that someone in your town can keep the two horses they would be great mascots for the town and I’m sure there will be a lot of peo-ple wanting to see them. Let’s hope the authorities do the right thing by not giving the horses back to the owner who left them there. God bless

Wayne MacNeil

Hats off to the people of McBride in their efforts to save the two abandoned horses!

Leslie Chapman

Wonderful story in the Globe & Mail about your towns-people digging the tunnel for those poor horses. Congratu-lations, you should be very proud.

Dawn Riley

Thank you to the folks of McBride community for the remarkable rescue of the two horses trapped in the mountain side. As I followed the story from teary start to elated happiness end, I no-ticed how many others were following the story, even way down here in Spencerville ON. Friends from all over have heard of this story and are talking about the miracle in McBride. Amazing, in-credible, miraculous, heroic, heartwarming and uplifting. Only a few words to describe this wonderful story. Thank you and God bless the rescu-ers.

Lori Smith, Spencerville, Ontario

I want to express my amaze-ment of what the people from

your village did to rescue the 2 poor horses. I’ve almost lost faith in humankind and this is a proof that good people are still around. If there is any way to help with the up-keep of the horses or help the people who took part in the rescue in any way please let me know.

Peter Zalewski, Toronto

I live in Mount Vernon Wash-ington USA and our local newspaper just ran an article about saving the horses at McBride recently. Since I am always interested in saving animals, I wonder if a fund has been set up to care for the horses or to help reim-burse those volunteers who spent their own money to accomplish the rescue. Any information you could send would be appreciated if I am able to help.

Don Prohaska, Mount Vernon, WA, USA

Thank you for saving horses in the Rocky Mountains. It is a very nice story in Christmas time. Congratulations from Switzerland!

Hansjoerg Fauser, Switzerland

Say all my thanks to the men and women, who saved the two horses in the Rocky Mountains!

Yvonne Barzilay, Switzerland

i wanted to say that the citi-zens of mcbride are wonder-ful for what they have done for the two horses stranded. i would like to extend my-congratulations to them for the effort and sacrifice they put into getting belle and sundance out. they showed what christmas truly is about. i hope that the owner, the lawyer, does not get these two animals back because he does not deserve them. i have my own horse and if there was no absolute way to save them, then i would have to do the hardest thing and save them the horror of starving to death. how they survived was in god’s hands. is there a way of contributing to their upkeep?

Christine Johnston

Thanks to all of you that worked so diligently to rescue these animals.What a beautiful Christmas gift!

Melanie Mochoruk

I was sincerely touched by the story of the two horses rescued at Christmas.

Andrea McGowan

My hats are off to the rescu-ers. There should be more people like this in our world. God Bless you all.

Bev, Edmonton

Thank you so very much for your efforts to rescue Belle and Sundance. The G&M story at Christmas made me cry, I was so moved by your dedication. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your kind-ness!!!

Andrea McGowan

I just read the story regard-ing the rescue of the two horses that were stuck on the mountain by members of the McBride community. As the report didn’t mention particu-lar names, I thought perhaps this would be the best way to say a hearty thank you to all those involved for showing such compassion and dedi-cation to two of God’s crea-tures that surely would have died without their help. What a wonderful example of the all that is best in humanity!

Sincerely, Roberta Palanuik, Bentley,

AB, Canada

The Valley Sentinel Wednesday, February 18, 2009 • 11 10 • Wednesday, February 18, 2009 The Valley Sentinel » IN Depth » IN Depth

From left to right: David Jeck, MLA Shirley Bond, Ray Long, Rod Whelpton, Premier Gordon Campbell, Birgit Stutz and Marc Lavigne. Missing from picture: Joe Rich

Tim andMonika Brown

shovelling

Renshaw Horse Rescue!

Sundance and Belle

thevalleysentinel.com