On Aug. 16, the Queenie Foundation sponsored a gathering on the East Hartford town green, as part of the International Homeless Animals’ Day vigil organized through the International Society for Animal Rights.

“This is the second year we’ve had a Connecticut vigil,” said Queenie founder and Executive Director Enid Breakstone. “This is the only vigil in Connecticut. We need someone to organize one for next year in the southern part of the state.”

The Queenie Foundation is a Manchester-based organization involved in humane education. Foremost on their agenda is the promotion of spaying and neutering. “Alleviating homeless cats and dogs is so simple,” said Breakstone. “There are so many problems out there that are complicated. We can rescue and adopt forever, but until we can increase spaying and neutering, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”

All over the country, and internationally in countries such as Canada, France and Switzerland, animal advocacy groups gathered on Aug. 16 to support homeless animals, promote spaying and neutering programs and hold a candlelight vigil for animals that have died as a result of overpopulation.

The East Hartford event drew about a dozen animal groups and featured music, food, information, prizes and a chance for animal lovers to get together and socialize.

There was a blessing of the animals in the late afternoon, when a local clergy member did a group blessing for all animals present and left behind at home.

Karen Batko had a booth set up on the green promoting her organization, Yesterday’s Kittens, Inc. She had brought along her Springer Spaniel, Maggie. “Maggie and her son, Reubin, help take care of the kitties,” said Batko. “They’ll lick the kittens and help stimulate them and watch over them.” Yesterday’s Kittens is involved in the efforts to trap, neuter and return feral cats to the wild and works out of Deep River. “But we get kitties from all over,” said Batko. The organization deals with many kittens, often the offspring of feral cats. “We’re one of the few organizations that will bottle-feed ,” said Batko. “It takes a lot of time, and many organizations won’t get involved with it.”

Batko opened a cardboard box beneath her table to reveal a litter of tiny, two-week old kittens. “Some guy dropped these babies off a little while ago,” said Batko. “He was actually a breeder. He breeds his cats and sells the kittens to pet stores. The mama cat got out, and he didn’t want to deal with having to bottle-feed the kittens.” So Batko agreed to care for them and eventually adopt them out. But raising such tiny kittens is labor-intensive , and they are delicate. “Our vet bills are unbelievable,” said Batko. “Especially when they’re really tiny, they don’t have any immunity from their mom. They’re very susceptible to all kinds of things.”

Across the green at the Bikers Against Animal Cruelty booth, Erika Fuery talked to visitors about the focus of her group. “We promote responsible pet ownership. We also raise money to help defray animal abuse vet bills all down the eastern seaboard.”

A recent BAAC event was a motorcycle rodeo in Glastonbury, which featured bikes, beer, food and games, and which raised money in addition to collecting supplies to donate to local groups.

A recent project funded by BACC was the donation of a video surveillance system to the New Haven Animal Shelter. “They had a dog stolen,” said Fuery. “We believe he might have been stolen for fighting.” With the new security system, the shelter hasn’t experienced further incidents.

As afternoon faded into evening, Breakstone took to the microphone to begin the formal portion of the event. She introduced brief speeches by other animal advocates and read off a long list of recent positive legislation involving animal welfare. One striking item from the list was the banning of internet hunting. The practice, originating in Texas, involved the lining up of captive animals via computer screen for shooting. The carcass would then be shipped to the hunter at his home location. As animal lovers lit up their candles for the candlelight vigil, Breakstone read off a list of 10 animals euthanized recently at area shelters, along with the reasons given for their surrender. “Sasha, 10-year-old Boston terrier – surrendered because her owners were getting a divorce. They decided to have her put down rather than fighting over her,” read Breakstone, as listeners wiped tears from their eyes. “Died May 10, 2008.”

For more information regarding Yesterday’s Kittens, visit the Web site www.YesterdaysKittens.org. BAAC has a Web site at www. BikersAgainstAnimalCruelty.org. The Queenie Foundation’s Web site is www. queeniefoundation.org.

For more information regarding the International Society for Animal Rights, including information on vigils, go to the Web site www.isaronline.org.