The Beagle newspaper is not an office filled with journalists madly on the phone taking stories, thumping away at typewriters in little booths, rolled up shirts sleeves sipping cold cups of coffee, nor adjusting sharpened pencils behind ears. The Beagle is one average bloke with an average laptop publishing local news over, most often, a less than average internet. The Beagle has a staff of two Jack Russells who assist in keeping the editor sane. This editorial is dedicated to my canine staff. For many years it has been a concern that in the event of an accident most of us don’t have clear instructions in our wallets of who to contact in emergencies. We have been encouraged to put an I.C.E (In case of Emergency) number in our telephones and some of us do. But for many, in the case of emergency, there is little instruction to response teams of who to contact. It can take hours and considerable resources to track down a next of kin. Try this test for yourself—turn off your phone, put it in your pocket or bag your normal things, wallet, credit cards. Now pretend you are injured (or dead) and someone is going through your bag trying to discover who you are, where you live and who your next of kin are. Is your phone locked? Now imagine if you also have pets at home waiting for you. Dogs, cats, chooks, rabbits… waiting for food, water, walks, medicine—and no-body knows. The Beagle has just printed out its latest batch of business cards with a section on the back to alert response crews that you have animals at home waiting and in need.
The cards are available free at: Nourish on North Street Batemans Bay, Mogo Collective, Moruya Books, Moruya Health Café, Moruya Veterinary Hospital, Tuross Head Newsagency, Bodalla Lavender and Casey’s Café and Montague Vets in Narooma. If you have an animal at home pick up a card and put it in your wallet. If you can’t pick up a card you might like to talk to and nominate three alternates, print out this image and pop it in your wallet. For all the much loved critters out there …. Until next Lei
