So It Started,
About a year and a half ago I started my first day at The Harlingen Humane Society Paws Spay and Neuter Clinic. As I stepped out of my car I saw a brownish pittie mix sitting down with a perfect smile on its face greeting me as I walked towards the building. I called “Come here, you’re a good boy” and he came running towards me for a pat on the head and went about his way. I knocked on the door to start my new job and Donja opened the door briefly to let me know we aren’t open until 7:15 … “I’m here to work” I said. She continued to sweep and I asked her every annoying question I could probably. I told her there is a dog outside and she went to go get it. She put the dog in a big kennel and proceeded to tell a shelter employee that she would take HER home (the pup was a girl) and that one more dog wouldn’t be a problem; “She’s so sweet, don’t kill her, Ill take her” is what she said. In my mind “This Lady Is Crazy!!!!!!” Donja and Wendy kept Phoebe (the greeting dog) until she was adopted and she got a wonderful home thanks to them, which was awhile. The need to “need to rescue” is so much deeper than the “want to rescue”. Everybody “wants to rescue” for so many other reasons; the animal is sick can YOU help, the animal is injured can YOU help it, it has no home can YOU take it, my neighbor left It can YOU help, I felt bad so YOU take it, she just had puppies on accident can YOU spay her and the best for last… can I donate a dog to YOU. The need to rescue sounds a little different. It starts with a phone call, text message, email or just random conversations. “Hey how are you doing? What’s going on?” and ends in “ I found a dog, he’s really sweet”, “My dogs are aggressive towards it, I have too many already”, “Her leg looks broken, she’s not eating”, “ I almost ran it over on the road, it looked lost”. Now comes the NEED and Donja and Wendy need to take that dog that is sick, injured, you feel sorry for, got left behind, you felt bad for, will be finely spayed and on that one occasion they did not take the donated dog because that is not something that a dog should be mentioned as. Give these ladies a chance to breathe for half a second! Too many animals need help, Wendy and Donja need the energy, rest and compromise to move forward with the requests of people who want to rescue. A few tips before asking for help for a stray animal you wanted to rescue: if you cannot house foster, feed, provide vet care for the animal you rescued take it to your local shelter (that is what they are there for), think about maybe fostering the animal you rescued until it’s adopted, do not rescue an animal when all you intend to do with it is dump it on someone else, if you have yet to find a dog on the street looking sad sponsor an animal that is already in need, help your neighbor spay that dog that has had 9 accidental litters already (super run-on sentence I know). If you don’t like the way your local shelter is run, then volunteer to make it better don’t bash it because you don’t agree with it! Don’t like Kill Shelters???? Too bad because the reality is everybody likes to say they are “inhumane, disgusting, unnecessary, and HOW COULD YOU” but everybody wants to be on the outside of the glass looking in. That is not how this works. Please do not be a part of the problem and just shake your head in disbelief. Go to your local Kill Shelter and look into all of those animal’s eyes and shake your head, I bet it won’t do anything to help them. We need more animal advocates, fosters, sponsors and leaders! We need less turning of the cheek and ignoring the real issue….. homeless animal may never find their place if we don’t give them one.
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Author: Kira M.
Working in shelters for years has opened my eyes to things I would have never seen before so here is the good, the bad and the ugly of living a life that so little would choose to live. Archives
September 2018
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