Dog rescue is not for sissies – Part I
Christina Hart - Seattle, WA
Dog rescue is not a sport for sissies. It’s physical, emotional, and psychological. It eats up all your free time and free money. It brings you into contact with animal abusers, people abusers, and felons. There are a 1000 sad stories to 1 happy story.
So why do it?
It is rewarding beyond measure. Let me give you an example …
5 years ago a small group of Certified Animal Rescuers (certified by Noah’s Wish) were called in to help out a woman whose friend had relocated 55 pit bulls to her property and then the friend announced she was emotionally drained and did a walkabout. There were 6 of us in this small rescue group.
It was October and winter was beginning to show itself with rain and low temperatures. 20 of the pit bulls were housed in crates in an unheated trailer while the other 35 were living in a penned area located in a dark ravine and had no roof, no walls and dirt floors. A few dog houses were scattered about. Cold winter rains had turned the dirt floor into inches of mud that reached half-way up the dogs’ legs. Those dogs in the crates were let out twice a day for a few minutes to go potty.
One might think an individual foolish to walk into a pen of 35 unleashed pit bulls. The hope in their eyes made us brave as we did not hesitate to enter the pen and freely give the dogs much-appreciated love. Not one growl nor one snap nor one bite. Just dogs so happy to see humans that all they wanted was to lean against our legs and to receive a friendly pat on the head.
Over the next 7 weeks we recruited friends who had time, funds and/or skills to help get these dogs into an environment safe from the winter weather. That was our first goal. From sun-up until after sun-down, we worked hard to enlarge the pen, to build individual kennels within the pen, to haul in gravel and sand and cement blocks to create a dry floor and to build a roof over everything. We hand-hauled the supplies down into the ravine by way of a muddy, slippery path that was one-person wide.
I remember huge snowflakes falling as I was tying together fencing to build the final 4 kennels. We all were exhausted, cold beyond feeling and hungry. All we had to do was to look at the dogs who were already housed in their own kennel with a dry floor and a water and food bowl to keep on working just a little bit longer to finish off the kennels. Our funds did not include building walls but we managed to hang thick plastic, anchored with rocks, to hold the winds at bay.
Finally, the dogs were in a healthier situation and we could exhale the breath we had been holding for the last 7 weeks.
To get back to the question of “why do it?” … looking in the thankful, happy eyes of those dogs who were now dry and warm and in a healthier situation made the time and funds invested worth it. It also created a bond amongst the team that still exists 5 years later.
What was the fate of these 55 abandoned pit bulls? What other goals did we still need to accomplish? Stay tuned for my next installment to learn!
- Christina Hart – Program Manager
