FixNation is Deeded the Plot to Toto’s Final Resting Place in Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Toto from The Wizard of Oz is one of the most well-known and beloved canine movie stars of all time. Say the word Toto to almost anyone in the world and they immediately know who you are talking about.

As a film, The Wizard of Oz was epic when it was released back in 1939. It was witness to the launch of Technicolor, it won several Academy Awards, and to this day it’s one of the biggest films in pop culture history. At least once a year, the movie airs and both young and old sit rapt in front of the TV. If you grew up with the Wizard of Oz, you remember being fascinated by talking lions and tin men, getting scared silly by flying monkeys and wicked witches, and falling in love with the adorable little Toto. And some of us drooling over Dorothy’s red glitter shoes, but that’s for another web post.

What most people don’t realize is that since Toto’s death in the late 1950′s, Toto has gone completely unrecognized by the Hollywood community. There is no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, no memorial statues…absolutely nothing to honor this little dog’s big acting career.

But that is soon about to change!

CLOSE-UP: Toto

Toto was one of the many animals trained by Carl Spitz back in the golden years of Hollywood. Carl Spitz was a German immigrant who became a famous animal trainer for the studios, opening up his Hollywood Dog Training School back in 1927. Spitz pioneered the training technique of using hand signals to get animals to perform. Toto was actually played by a female Cairn terrier named Terry, who had been abandoned at Spitz’s kennel four years before The Wizard of Oz was made (yes, Toto was a rescue!). Spitz officially changed the dog’s name to Toto after the movie became so popular. Toto went on to co-star in many films with some of the era’s biggest actors.

When Toto died towards the end of WWII, Carl Spitz buried the little dog behind his house and kennels. Then in 1958, the Ventura Freeway was expanded across the San Fernando Valley. CalTrans bought up the Spitz property for construction purposes and the entire area was destroyed. Toto’s final resting place had been plowed over in the name of progress.

Fast Forward to 2010

J.P. Myers, an L.A. local, was talking to a co-worker about an episode of the Huell Howser show, where Howser interviewed author and grave hunter Steve Goldstein about the lives and grave sites of famous animals. Through that conversation, Myers realized that Toto had lived and died just blocks down the street from where he had gone to elementary school on Riverside Drive, and this really hit home. Myers had just successfully launched a Facebook fan page and campaign to get Jack Norworth, who penned “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a more appropriate grave marker than the nondescript gravesite where he had been buried. It dawned on him that the same action was needed for Toto, so Myers picked up a copy of Steve Goldstein’s book, LA’s Graveside Companion: Where the V.I.P.s R.I.P., to dig up more information. He contacted Goldstein directly, and Goldstein agreed to partner up on the project.

Hollywood Forever to the Rescue

Goldstein and Myers reached out to a number of local cemeteries around Los Angeles, only to get turned down by every single one. Finally, they contacted Tyler Cassity, owner of Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Hollywood Forever is the final resting place for hundreds of big-name celebrities such as Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, Hattie McDaniel and Johnny Ramone, to name a few. Cassity, an animal lover, immediately recognized the impact that Toto had on American culture and graciously offered to donate the VIP plot and the memorial marker for Toto. It was agreed that the plot should be deeded to an animal group so that Toto’s gravesite would always be protected and well cared for. Cassity suggested FixNation, and Myers and Goldstein quickly agreed. FixNation has been fixing the feral cats at Hollywood Forever for some time now, in coordination with the cemetery and its caretakers.

A dedication ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 18th at 11:00 a.m. at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to unveil the new grave site and marker. The ceremony will be open to the public, so please come out and join! All parties will come together to celebrate and give tribute to this little dog’s big achievements. Thanks to the heart and vision of Myers, Goldstein, Cassity and Hollywood Forever, little Toto will be honored with the recognition this little legend so worthily deserves.

For Toto, finally, there’s no place like home.
 

Toto’s dedication ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 18th from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Admission is free to the public and there is free parking on site inside the cemetery. Kids and pets are both welcome. Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A., 90038.
 
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The two groups are running this donation program for three lucky recipients in the Los Angeles area:  FixNation, Clinico and Spay4LA. Donations must be made before the end of February and they must be made through the Found Animals website only in order to count towards this matching donation challenge.

Here is the link where you can donate:

Click Here –   http://www.foundanimals.org/pet-spayneuter/donate

If you prefer to mail your donations instead:

PAY TO:  Found Animals
Include in the memo of the check the name of our clinic – FixNation
MAIL TO: Found Animals, PO Box 66370, LA, CA 90066

Thank you for your continued support of FixNation. And of course, a very special thanks to Found Animals and the Heigl Foundation for their most generous support!

The annual Day of the Dead celebration is an ancient, spiritual tradition that dates back thousands of years to Aztec times. Celebrated in Mexico and widely throughout the Hispanic community, Dia De Los Muertos honors the memories of our ancestors and the beloved souls of friends and family who have passed. It is a time when the veil is lifted between the living and the dead, and the two realms come together in a festive tribute to life, death and rebirth.

The largest celebration in the nation is the event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, LA’s oldest memorial park. The annual event at Hollywood Forever typically draws crowds upwards of 11,000 visitors. This year, they will be combining the celebration with the Mexican Independence Bicentennial and the Revolution Centennial. Traditionally the actual day of Day of the Dead is on November 2nd, but this year the celebration at the cemetery falls on October 30th, which is the day of many Halloween activities.

FixNation will be hosting a hand-crafted altar at the event dedicated to all of the beloved kitty souls who have crossed over. We will especially be honoring and celebrating the many homeless cats who have passed who never knew love in their lifetime here on earth. We will also have literature to hand out in English and Spanish about feral cats and Trap-Neuter-Return, in order to educate the public about peacefully co-existing with the cats within our community.

Festivities will be held at Hollywood Forever on Saturday, October 30th, from 2pm – 12 midnight. Come join us in the celebration!

The day and evening activities include:

- A traditional, opening procession taking place at 2:00 p.m., when the spirits will be guided into the afterlife, followed by ritual Aztec blessings and Fire Dance

- Hundreds of colorful, artistic community altars from all facets of the public, remembering and paying homage to their dearly departed

- Several stages featuring originally conceived and choreographed performances by renown musicians and dancers, everything from indigenous tribal burial dances to Mexican classical music to modern rock-folks groups, with a special performance by the lead singer of Cafe Tacuba, Ruben Albarran

- A superlative Mausoleum (Cathedral) art exhibit featuring various, unique life-size “Calaveras” presented by 15 culturally-conscious local artisans

- Fine Mexican cuisine and a wide spectrum of Day of the Dead merchandise available to purchase

- Storytelling, art workshops and face painting for the kids at the “Children’s Space”

- The ghosts of the Mexican Revolution and Independence parading through the entire memorial park throughout the day

- Theatrical and musical performances culminating in a featured concert under the evening stars, accompanied by a light scheme production to guide back and celebrate the spirits of our beloved souls

We want to honor your beloved kitties as part of our altar memorial, even if you can’t join us in person.

We want to honor all of the beloved cats that our friends, trappers, volunteers and donors have loved over the years, cats who are no longer with us. For anyone who has cared for and loved a precious kitty soul who has since passed away, whether a companion cat in your home or a feral on the streets, we ask for you to send us a photograph of your feline friend to include in our altar. We will post your photo on our altar so the memory of your beloved kitty will be honored and celebrated with us on that special day.

If you would like to send in a photo — you can either email a digital image to INFO@fixnation.org or you can send a hard copy print to our clinic office at 7680 Clybourn Ave, LA, CA 91352. PLEASE NOTE: Hard copy photos will not be able to be returned, so please make sure it’s not your only copy!  Anyone, anywhere is welcome to send in a photo for us to include in our altar. You don’t need to be a resident of Los Angeles to participate.

We hope you can join us for this historical celebration. Together, for one day and night, we will mingle and dance with the kitty souls we have lost, with joyous celebration and with love in our hearts.

Location: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, 90038. Arrive early for desired parking. General admission to Hollywood Forever is $10 per person and children under 10 years old get in for free.

Give thought for one minute on how many future homeless cats we have collectively prevented by spaying and neutering this many. It’s mind-boggling! And yet we still have much more to do…

This amazing achievement is a result of the combined effort of hard-working trappers, the caring public, dedicated volunteers, skilled vets and staff, supportive cat rescue organizations, and last but definitely not least, our most generous donors. We can’t thank you all enough for helping us achieve this goal.

WAY TO GO LOS ANGELES!

Click here to read the special news coverage by Best Friends Animal Society.

The new plates feature original artwork created and donated by actor/artist Pierce Brosnan. Plates are $50 for a sequential plate or $98 for a personalized plate.

The total number of dogs and cats euthanized in public shelters rose from 378,445 in 2004 to 432,512 in 2008, according to the latest figures available from the California Department of Public Health. When the state’s private shelters are included, it is estimated that one million pets enter California’s shelters each year, with more than half of them euthanized, the California Spay and Neuter License Plate Fund and the California Veterinary Medical Board noted.

They plates are now available for pre-order. They will be produced and issued once an initial 7,500 pre-paid applications have been collected. Go to www.CASpayPlate.com to order yours today!

Ericka has been working in news for over ten years. Born in Peru, Ericka moved to the United States at a young age. She graduated from Rider University with a communications degree. She then set off working for big industry names like Univision, Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” and WSVN in Miami and Telemundo 47 in New York. Today,  Ericka is the evening weather anchor for Telemundo 52 in LA, one of the largest Spanish television networks in the world. In 2009 Ericka earned her meteorology degree and earned the prestigious American Meteorology Society seal of approval. Her personality, versatility and knowledge have gained her respect and a huge following. Ericka’s Photo galleries and Internet segments such as “Ericka Te lo Cuenta” are amongst the most trafficked in the Telemundo website.

Ericka joined forces with FixNation because of her love of cats and strong desire to help the community at large. Sharing a common vision of “No More Homeless Cats in LA”, Ericka is using her vivacious personality and tapping in to her wide fan base to help drive home the importance of spay/neuter and to explain what Trap-Neuter-Return is all about.

“Many people in the Spanish-speaking community have a great love of animals and want to help the cats within their community, but simply don’t know about TNR or what resources are available to help them locally” says Ericka. “By letting people know about FixNation and the free spay/neuter services they offer, I can help show people how easy it is to make a positive difference in the world around them.”

Ericka visited FixNation with her camera crew and showcased the coverage and story on her heavily trafficked Telemundo website. She also invited FixNation’s Spanish-speaking team members to join her on air, with tame kitten in tow, to talk to her audience about free-roaming cats and the benefits of TNR.

“We couldn’t be more pleased that Ericka is helping us reach the Spanish-speaking community,” says Kim Senn, VP of Operations at FixNation. “Ericka is an extremely popular, influential woman with fans who follow her everywhere she goes. We are thrilled to have her help in reaching out to the Hispanic community on the importance of Trap-Neuter-Return for our community cats.”

More exciting plans are in store in throughout 2010 for Ericka and FixNation to team up on educational outreach projects for the Spanish-speaking community. Together, through education and increased awareness, they plan to turn the tide on the plight of homeless cats and to reduce the pet overpopulation in Los Angeles, helping both people and animals alike lead better lives.

To get to know Ericka Pino, go to:

http://www.Telemundo52.com/erickapino

To view her gallery of FixNation, go to:

http://www.telemundo52.com/noticias/5868721/detail.html

Here is an FAQ on what this means on a practical level:

1. Is TNR now illegal?

Answer: No. TNR is legal for private citizens and rescue organizations to carry out. The only difference is that the city is currently prohibited from supporting our TNR efforts.

2. Can I still get city vouchers to offset the cost of spaying or neutering feral cats?

Answer: Currently, a private resident can get up to three vouchers for spaying or neutering cats that live on their own property. These vouchers must be obtained directly from a city shelter.

3. If I have a question or problem related to feral cats in Los Angeles or if I need to borrow a feral cat trap, whom should I contact?

Answer: Contact FixNation, Stray Cat Alliance, Kitten Rescue, Actors & Others for Animals, Best Friends Catnippers, or one of the many local cat rescue organizations that you may already be familiar with.

4.  How did this lawsuit happen?

Answer: A group of conservancy organizations that are concerned about declining song-bird populations and  the potential impact of feral cats on the environment sued the city for non-compliance with CEQA, and the court found in their favor.

5.  What is being done to correct the situation?

Answer: A coalition of animal organizations has formed to work with the city of Los Angeles to re-establish TNR as an important strategy in any effective and humane program aimed at managing and controlling feral cat populations while complying with CEQA. The coalition includes:  Actors & Others for Animals, Best Friends Animal Society, Feral Cat Caretakers’ Coalition, FixNation, Found Animals Foundation, Kitten Rescue, and Stray Cat Alliance.

6.  Will Judge McKnew’s ruling be appealed by the City of LA?

Answer: No. The City Attorney has concluded that because the law precludes any new evidence or arguments being introduced on appeal, that re-trying the same case on the existing court record would likely have the same result with the added consequence of establishing the ruling state-wide, while now it only affects the city of Los Angeles. The coalition has hired an attorney who specializes in CEQA, and they agree with the City Attorney’s decision not to appeal.  Rather, the coalition will work with the city to develop a TNR policy while observing CEQA requirements.

7.  What can I do to help?

Answer: Please forward this FAQ to concerned family and friends, and if you can, please donate to your favorite feral cat program and sign the coalition’s declaration of support for TNR in Los Angeles. (Click here to view and sign the Coalition Declaration)