EDITION OF FRIDAY, FEB. 26, 2021 [PetPowellPress] Welcome to Wandering Mind Friday. Yeah, this is being written on Tough-to-focus Thursday.
Why tough-to-focus? No idea. I’m not a psychiatrist, though I have played one on stage. But that was in a previous lifetime and I shut down my practice when the show closed and the theater took back my shrink costume.
Willam, the Office Cat, chose not to counsel me and quietly went to the bedroom to dream of a no-whine place to work. Handsome boy, ain't he.
I’ve had my two cups of coffee — and I’ve hugged dogs and cats and my homeofficespouse Martha.
She’s wasn't Zooming on Thursday. When she’s on a Zoom call, if I walk out of my office at the other end of the house, our Border Collie mix Dudley, usually in her office, hears my door open and begins barking an alert like either I’m a burglar, I'm a rebellious sheep or he’s a 3rd grade school teacher trying to shush an unruly boy who is working on a C-minus conduct grade on his report card.
JUST WORDS, NO PICTURES
BUT YOU’LL SEE ENOUGH…
One of the reasons I’m having trouble focusing is I read an infuriating report on the DAS Accountability Page here about some people living in Dallas, Texas, near the path known as the Santa Fe Trail. Somebody looked into a backyard last week and saw the neighbor’s dog. According to the text: “There was ‘Midnight’ frozen, laying in his doghouse (obviously too small for him) sticking halfway out dead.”
The appeal was being made for someone to face cruelty charges. And for some organization to investigate this senseless situation. An update reported that the people who Midnight trusted “put the doghouse on the curb with him in it.” No dignity for the dog. None at all. And he’d be alive today if he’d been loved as promised.
I think the fact that I read this posting before I started anything else might account for my inability to focus. If you spot what you think is an animal cruelty situation — weather isn’t the villain, people are — call someone who wears a badge and swears to uphold the law. Animal cruelty is against the law in Texas.
THEN THERE’S THE LADY GAGA
CASE THAT’S IN THE NEWS
There are disgusting people roaming this planet. Surprise, surprise. Maybe you’ve seen the impossible-to-understand story of the punks rolling up to Lady Gaga’s dog walker in Hollywood, grabbing the singer’s French Bulldogs and shooting the dog walker. Two of the dogs, Gustav and Koji, were taken, the third, identified in news stories as Miss Asia, ran to the side of the prone and bleeding dog walker.
Here’s the LINK to the TMZ story with video of the incident — TMZ says Gaga wanted the video released so people could see this crime and recover Gustav and Koji. The singer/actress has put up a $500,000 reward for the return of her dogs.
In a comment on another page discussing this event, our ol’ pal Gig Ray, veteran rescuer and advocate posted very simply what most of us are thinking, “WTH is wrong with people?”
[LARRY ASIDE: It will be interesting to discover the motivation for this incident. Couldn’t have simply been crooks just decided to steal a couple of dogs. Surely. Maybe I worked the crime and courthouse beats too long as a reporter, but this crime seems as if it either has a lot of thought about taking advantage of a specific sar or it has no thought at all. Only opportunity and criminal impulse. Either way, save the dogs, jail the creeps.]
BUT, NOW, CONSIDER THESE 2 EVENTS
THAT INVOLVE PEOPLE WITH GOOD HEARTS
BAYLEE’S CHALLENGE
The early report on Thursday read this way:
“CRITICAL - BADLY INJURED DOG appears to be a Beagle Mix. JUST CAME INTO LANCASTER TX SHELTER - BACK LEG DANGLING.” The photographs were pretty awful. This is one of them — anybody with a heart wants to comfort that dog.
All the work by 4-Legged Helpers to establish trust with the Lancaster Animal Shelter paid off for Baylee. The note from the Helpers read, “Shelter willing to do an emergency medical release on this poor sweet girl. She was found stray—not moving — she is unable to stand because of that leg. Baylee appears to be a little Beagle mix. Please, please, help save her.”
I chose a “less vivid” photo of Baylee to illustrate the beginning of this story — it still shows you a stunned dog with a leg that damaged and raw and bloody.
As word of the case began to spread, people began to donate to help Baylee get some help. Then, in mid-afternoon, Laura Macias from 4-Legged Helpers posted this photo of Baylee in her safely secure ride to an emergency vet.
The note read, “Leg is shattered. Baylee being taken to an emergency vet….Pic of her leaving first vet that got her on some pain meds and told us leg is shattered. We have someone wanting to foster/adopt but we so welcome any donations. Right now we are not sure if her back leg can be saved….”
There’ll be more info coming on Baylee. The non-profit 4-Legged Helpers pulled Baylee. The Helpers’ PayPal is [email protected]. And you can see more on 4-Legged helpers Inc. Facebook page.
Remember this: While some dogs and other animals were left to freeze to death, there are people who work hard to save ‘em all.
JET’S SITUATION
We got this Thursday morning from Karen Lee, our pal whose barkleyworld.com helps animals in need. She was writing on behalf of this little guy Jet — the organization Pound Pals is accepting pledges for Jet because the funding will help him cope with his latest diagnosis, diabetes.
There’s a story. Karen says Pound Pals has a number of senior pets and others in vet care currently. But Jet’ situation is particularly touching. In a Facebook post, Pound Pals posted, “Jet has been a beloved pet since 2013. His mom passed away last year and his dad is 85 years old. This past Monday, Jet was diagnosed with diabetes. His dad, who lives alone, is not able to give Jet his insulin. As a result, Pound Pals has been asked to consider accepting Jet. When we plead him to our fosters, we received an immediate notice of acceptance. This means Jet has a willing medical foster.
“We had our vet team review Jet's medical records. Jet is going to be a complicated case because he has multiple issues. He was diagnosed with autoimmune meningitis in 2019. Jet now needs some extensive diagnostic testing which will include thyroid panel and Cushings testing. Jet's glucose is currently 755 which means immediate hospitalization until his glucose is at a safe level and stable.
“Long story short, Jet is an expensive long term rescue endeavor." This made Jet an "iffy" case due to the organizations already burdened medical funds. The post continues, "Jet's extended family says their grandfather is very bonded to Jet and does not want him to be euthanized. Jet's dad wants Jet to be able to get the care he needs and live his life out. As a result, the family agreed to board Jet at his vet clinic so he can start insulin injections for two days in hopes that we will be able to take on Jet's needs.
“The family had Jet's dad say his goodbyes at the vet clinic today. After 8 years together, Jet's dad had to leave him not knowing if he would be euthanized or rescued."
The note says “the family agreed” to give Pound Pals two days to find financial support “before having Jet euthanized.”
Pledges is what Pound Pals needs. Here’s the LINK to Pound Pals. You’ll need to scroll down to get to Jet’s story.
[LARRY ASIDE: There are pledges coming in; more will be needed, probably. But this effort and the efforts to help other Pound Pals dogs demonstrate that there are people whose hearts are correctly wired.]
ONE MORE LANCASTER DOG NOTE:
REMEMBER ‘TESTY’ RANGO THE GSD?
We wrote about several German Shepherds who’d been dumped at the Lancaster Animal Shelter and caught the eye of Four Legged Helpers. One of these was Rango. Brandi and Jenny (Chanel) have been tagged by rescue, says the Helpers’ Laura Macias.
Rango was an “owner-release” and the owner handed him over because “he is acting badly” and the surrender was so Rango could be euthanized. Yep, kill him.
You may recall in our initial report about Rango, one theory was that he had a medical problem that was bugging him and changing his demeanor.
Thursday afternoon, Laura reported, “Rango had a cyst that burst literally today and he is now acting all friendly! So yay! We are spending some money to get him looked at today by a vet. Poor guy! ... We are so happy he is being a sweet boy now!!”
Plans were for Rango to have an afternoon vet visit, then return to the shelter and await being rescued or adopted. To help him with his vet bills, donate to 4-Legged Helpers PayPal account at helpingshelterbabies@ gmail.com or go to the 4-Legged Helpers Inc. Facebook page and donate to Rango. Call or text Laura at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected].
[LARRY ASIDE: Yeah, it was cheaper or more convenient to dump Rango so somebody else could kill him than it was to simply take him to a vet and get an inexpensive checkup. Maybe Rango didn't fit into the family budget. Sheesh.]
CONTEMPLATION
WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?
I realize I'm hadly the person to examine the human condition, but whatever is wrong with people, it's not wrong with ALL people. If you are reading this, you probably know a bunch of the angels who save animals from the deeds of people with malfunctioning souls. Remember that you know these angels. It may give you a boost when you need it.
For every three or four guys who’ll shoot up a dog walker and steal dogs, or every household that doesn’t care if a pet freezes to death in winter or bakes to death in a Texas summer, for everybody who neglects a dog or cat to death, there are scores of good hearts trying to save ‘em all.
Sometimes the village idiots, the free-roaming villains and their don’t care/so what cousins win. But Texas has laws. Make a call to someone with a badge and a Texas Bar card and save some animals from hell in Texas. (Need I mention monitoring the Texas Humane Legislation Network and it’s efforts to educate the Texas Legislature into a mood to protect animals?)
When you watch the animal advocate community work for years, you’ll know that there are people who have given their hearts to protecting the dogs and cats and horses and cattle and other animals whose lives are in the hands of humanity. That’s uplifting. What’s also uplifting is finding out that prosecuting attorneys now and then throw the bad guys in the slammer — the only drawback is that one of the pieces of evidence is usually a photo of the body of a dead animal.
Humans can do better. Well, most humans can. Some of you rat bastards are hopeless. Pardon my entirely accurate French, as the righteous say when moved to unbridled expressions of disgust. My apologies to rats for mentioning them in the same sentence with the human creeps.
REMEMBER: Save ‘em all — from humans and circumstances.
—- Offer thoughts and theories by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing [email protected]. —-