DATELINE: DALLAS The Town That Air-Conditioning Saved, Texas (May 21, PetPowellPress) -- Ladies and gents, Typepad, as of this writing, appears to be fully functional again, which, of course, puts it way ahead of me. Now, here is our Wednesday report in no particular order. And we'll get to this curiously posed dog in a minute. Keep reading. And, oh yes, the City of Dallas is considering a budget that will reduce funding at Dallas Animal Services. People are stirred about it. They're leaving comments on the DAS Facebook Page, the Now Or Never Dallas website has a detailed report and you can even Google the City of Dallas 2014-15 budget and look at it. You can see today's Council workshop agenda HERE. The Dallas website is www.dallascityhall.com. The actual Council meeting, according to the public schedule, is May 28. If you have concerns about the budget, you could become an informed citizen, then contact your Dallas council member and the mayor's office. Show some courage: sign your name to the letters and emails. Be nice, too. Your goal is to save lives, not to tell off a council member.
THE CAT THAT WENT TO COLLEGE
Our pal Dianne Cole has a good habit of saving animals that wander around near the place she works, Mountain View College in southwestern Dallas.
This cat? Yep, showed up Tuesday.
Dianne explains, “This beautiful, sweet friendly cat was at MVC this morning...came right up to me. My friend Pat are I are concerned about her because there was a pack of 3 large and 1 medium dog after her this morning...they are fairly aggressive I feared they would gang up and hurt her.
“Got her in a kitty carrier this afternoon and Pat has taken her home for the night but can't keep her as she already has a house full of kitties.”
So, some help is needed for the cat -- Dianne can’t take her home because “my Cisco is NOT cat friendly.”
And, about the cat, Dianne confesses, “I'm really not sure if it's male or female -- just very sweet and loving.”
Offer to help this college-level rescued cat by emailing [email protected].
[LARRY ASIDE: The cat was overheard mewing, “Any ol‘ dog can go to obedience school, but it takes a cool cat to go to college.” Maybe I misheard that. But, I do know cats and their attitudes.]
TOBY’S TUMMY
Reliable rescue tipster Dawna Carabajal of Friends of Rowlett Animals is working to help one of those very animals, Toby, described as “a super sweet boy” for whom the city shelter is seeking help. Dawna’s note explains that the shelter took him to a vet and the possibility is “something is going on around his spleen. The vet recommends that he go to a rescue group that can address his possible medical issues.”
The dog has made lots of fans and there are $200 in pledges to support the group that takes him. The challenge now is finding a rescue group. To volunteer, email [email protected] or call 972-412-6219. (Want to get involved with a pro-rescue group, email Dawna at [email protected]. Her email is named for a momma dog she and Deborah Verner -- maybe one or two others! -- rescued several years ago in southeastern Dallas. Deborah still rescuing? See next item!)
THREE IN GARLAND
Our longtime rescue tipster Deborah Verner has issued an appeal on behalf of three dogs in the Garland shelter. They “need out ASAP,” she writes. “I've met 2 of the 3, and they are total sweethearts.”
Dog A189356 is an un-fixed black-and-tan Chow mix. No idea how old he is. Been there a while -- went off “stray hold” on May 6. “I couldn’t believe that he was still at the shelter,” Deborah says, “But I saw him! He’s a total sweetheart.”
Then there is A188785, an un-fixed female Labrador Retriever. “She has been adopted and returned a couple of times,” Deborah says. “She is running out of time.”
[LARRY ASIDE: No idea why she’s been returned -- probably human failure. That’s generally what happens with Lab-types. People aren’t patient with them or don’t spend time with them so that they feel loved. Or they park ‘em in a backyard and forget about them until it’s time to mow or go on vacation or something -- then they go to a shelter and the clock starts ticking.]
Then there’s A189884, described as an “unaltered female Blue Merle Queensland Heeler.”
“She looks terrified as she was being surrendered,” Deborah explains. She has been spayed and is in recovery.
You can see these animals at 600 Tower St. in Garland. Call 972-205-3570, then 2, then 4. If you want to tag for rescue, email the ID number and description to [email protected].
Three dogs, diminishing chances with each day that passes.
EVERMAN SIBLINGS
These are two of many, many cats in the Everman Animal Shelter, according to the noted shelter volunteer critter promoter Heather Harrison. (Her note about Marble and Stitch, the “darling dog-friendly kitty duo,” even stirred interest in Houston -- we got a copy of it forwarded from Bayou City tipster Alexandra Kelsey. These two may go coast-to-coast and Gulf to Great Lakes before it’s over!)
Both are healthy and friendly. Probably be happy to stay with each other, too.
To offer to help them, email Heather at [email protected].
MEANWHILE IN BURNS FLAT
The tireless rescuer Terry Lynn Fisher has reached outside of little Burns Flat in the western edge of Oklahoma to a spot about 16 miles from her center of operations and taken up the case of Trusty.
He was, she says, picked up in the distant town and “taken to doggy jail. While in there, a dog that is being held as evidence (and VERY aggressive) tore through the fence and attacked this sweet old boy In the process, Trusty and the dog in with him escaped through the poorly built pound and a[were] hanging around outside of it. This is a terrible place in the country -- it is a hell hole.
"These two dogs are facing coyotes getting them along with God knows what other danger And remember, Trusty is hurt!!!
"So, I'm taking Trusty to my vet to see how badly he is injured and looking for a place for his friend to go as well. I'm full. I have no place for them. But I can't look the other way.”
To offer to help these dogs, email [email protected] or call 580-330-1459. Terry Lynn writes, “Please send prayers for these two innocent dogs.”
CONTEMPLATIONS: We’re turning Rhonda Tatum’s note about Loki, formerly known as Cappie, into a contemplation. She wrote the note about this guy after he’d been in the Sherman Animal Shelter north of Dallas since April 14. Rhonda is a veteran rescuer -- we’ve mentioned her efforts before.
About Loki, she wrote, “Each time I would visit the shelter to take images of the dogs to post on PetFinder, Loki would be there, looking longingly at me, wanting me to take him out to the play area or take him home, but his picture had been taken long ago, so I kept moving along, trying to get all the dogs online so they can be seen, and hopefully adopted.
“Recently I had a day when I finished up in time to have a moment to take some new photographs of this boy, so I took him out to the play area for a short bit of time, so I could snap a few images and let him run for at least a short bit of time.
“He is such a sweet boy, he just ran and ran, he played with my daughter for awhile, then nudged up against her, as if to say, ‘Please take me home, I am so lonely and bored here at the shelter.’
“Some volunteers came in to the play area next to ours, and they had a dog out to play. Loki ran over to the fence (never barked once) stuck his face up as close as he could, and gave the dog a big lick across it's nose.(that is all he could reach, or he would have slobbered all over it) Their tails wagged at each other, and they ran the fence together for a bit, then the volunteers next to us, started throwing a ball for their dog, and we did the same for Loki, and he was as happy as he could be.
“Then, they brought a different dog out, Loki went over to the fence to see that dog as well, that dog sniffed him and then ran over to the volunteers to play.
“Loki looked so sad and rejected, as if someone had just yelled ‘bad dog’ at him, he seemed so abandoned and lonely.
“We spent as much time with him as we could. and we did take a few images of this sweet boy as he was playing, he was such great company, we fell in love with him instantly!
“It was now time for us to pack up and leave, the shelter was closing for the day, and as usual, the workers were standing at the gates waiting for us to get in our cars and leave so they could lock up.
“I took Loki back to his kennel. As we arrived at the building, he paused and resisted a bit going into the long hall that holds the dog runs. The closer we got, the more frightened and sad he became. As I got him to his dog run (or pen) he stood up on his hind legs, wrapped his arms around my chest, shoved his head up against my face, pushed it up to my cheek and I could almost hear him saying ‘Please don't do this to me again, I have been a good dog.’ He was making very low whimpering noises, but being sweet and obedient, he went on inside and sat with his head down, looking at the concrete floor.
“I left the shelter and cried all the way home. It is now two days later and I am crying as I write this.
“I am at the shelter a lot, and I see dogs come and go, but rarely does it affect me to the degree that this sweet boy did.
“I am guessing the reason he is still there is because he is a black dog.
“As we all know, that it is though no fault of his own, yet he has to bear the burden of the color of his soft black fur.
“As I write this, all I can think of is his very sad big brown eyes, and I can still hear the echo of his soft whimper of sadness.
“My heart is breaking for this sweet dog. Please consider adopting this loving boy, he deserves better than what this cruel world has done to him.”
Now, Dear Readers, contemplate this wonderful u-turn on the road to disaster. Rhonda says the story she wrote “went viral and he has found a home and will be placed on Thursday with a grandmother for her grandson who lost his very old dog earlier this year. The boy is 15 and autistic. It is a perfect fit for the dog, and also for the boy!
“There are, however, two dogs at the shelter at this time that are in serious need of some help. One they call ‘Old Man’ and the other is a tripod -- a three legged dog. These dogs are in serious need of some help.”
You can drop by the shelter and visit the animals. Or email Rhonda at [email protected] or email the shelter at [email protected] or call 903-892-7255.
Go to the Sherman PetFinder site HERE and you can navigate to photos of other big, black Lab-type dogs, an older dog named Anthony (left) and that three-legged girl dog, Hope. Anthony is “Old Man” and he needs a home.
Shelters kill many, many animals in North Texas. We have got to figure out a way to make every tax-paying resident demand that elected city and county officials stop this madness. But it will help much more if the idiots we share the Zip Codes with will simply start treating these living beings as valued souls rather than trash that’s just too much trouble.
The story of Loki demonstrates emotions and understanding -- things that we’d value in a human but, in a dog, it’s nothing to the elected officials who don’t do a thing to stop the killing of unwanted animals as if they were despicable murderers on Texas’ legendary death row.
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