EDITION OF THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022 [PetPowellPress] The woman gave her last food — a can of green beans — to the 16 puppies and 2 adult doggie moms who may have been dumped onto her rural East Texas driveway. Most were starving. The woman’s condition wasn’t much better.
This is one of those circumstances that astounds even the most veteran of rescuer: Mass dumping of animals trapped in potentially fatal spirals due to human behavior.
It may astound veterans, but it won’t surprise them. Awful stuff shows up all the time in rescue.
This case involves at least 16 surviving puppies and two adults — one other pup had died in this woman’s rural driveway near Quitman in East Texas.
The rescuers came via the great Humane Tomorrow organization. That photo clearly demonstrates that the Humane Tomorrow rescuers and volunteers travel with their hearts -- that explains why that dog being comforted by a loving kiss and cuddle. Bless that dog and its Humane future.
We heard about this challenging rescue first from our longtime pal Della Wallace, veteran animal advocate and rescuer. She was volunteering Wednesday with this extraordinary case of dogs found on the brink of disaster.
Humane Tomorrow got involved on Sunday when the organization learned of the situation because a volunteer saw an online post about this awful dumping of dogs and the need for trustworthy help.Most of the dogs have been in the care of Humane Tomorrow’s Glenn & Shirley Hulcher Family Animal Care Center
in Argyle. Some of the pups needed extra vet care.
Stacy Smith, Humane Tomorrow Executive Director, filled us in on the details yesterday after finishing “a shift working with those very dogs.” They are calling them the Maverick Mutts because they’ve given them names of characters from the Top Gun movies. [LARRY ASIDE: We’ll get those IDs once these pups are out of vet care, socialized and available. They may not always sleep with their chins in the food dish -- but if they do, that's OK. That pup doesn't deserve another moment of worrying about being fed....] The drive now is to help them become healthy and happy and rady-to-adopt.
Here’s the story from Stacy:
“The lady whose property they were on said they were dumped there and she was trying to take care of them but her own water was being shut off and she was feeding them stuff like canned green beans because that was all she had. I am not clear when they were dumped—if the adults were dumped a year ago and she had them all this time or if they were dumped recently in this condition. We are trying to figure out how we can help her as well, FYI.
”
What was the key to getting Humane Tomorrow involved?
Stacy says, “Dyane Fisher is the lady who saw the post and jumped in her car. She drove two hours east (Quitman) and when she got there could not stand to leave any of the 16 puppies behind because one was already dead and knew whoever she left behind might not make it.
“I don’t believe catching them was difficult because most of them could barely walk and she had a bag of dog food in her car She did also get two adult females who we think are probably the mothers of most of them. Yes she is an absolute hero… I have seen a lot of dirty cars in my time but nothing like that….
“They really were in bad shape. We are slowly giving them small meals until they can handle more food. They were badly dehydrated and anemic from the thousands of fleas and ticks. They are very lucky that Dyane did what she did.”
So, what happens after you bring 16 starving and flea-bitten pups and two moms with the same conditions into your rescue shelter?
Stacy says, “We posted the Amazon wish list and got a ton of donations of food and puppy pads today [Wednesday] but you can never have too many puppy pads. My guess is the next real need will be for enrichment and training stuff to get them ready to be adopted—they are friendly but wary and need some people skills.
“So, spray cheese (always the best friend maker!), soft rope slip leads, Kongs, training treats, and always more food, puppy pads, pill pockets, and small dog Capstar to replenish our supply of that since we went through all we had on Sunday.
“And obviously donations of money always help us to be prepared for whatever comes next. We hope it doesn’t happen of course, but we have to always be prepared for a group of dogs like this to break with something serious like parvo.
“We wouldn’t take them on if we weren’t willing and able to go the distance with them. I think people forget sometimes that something like this is about more than the initial rescue. It’s a months-long commitment.”
[LARRY ASIDE: These photographs are all from the Humane Tomorrow Facebook page. They give you an idea of the challenge of feeding and caring for “growing puppies” — and may they all grow to be healthy and beloved in homes that adore and treasure them. Some of the faces are hopeful, some are sad, perhaps anxious and maybe frightened. But they’ll grow out of that with the help of the Humane Tomorrow volunteers.]
You can see Humane Tomorrow’s AmazonSmile Charity List
at this link:
https://smile.amazon.com/hz/charitylist/lists/75-2727224. And if you have things you want to hand-deliver to help the dogs, Humane Society says, “Items can be dropped off at the Glenn & Shirley Hulcher Family Animal Care Center at the side door next to the garage door. 1961 E Hickory Hill Rd, Argyle 76226.”
Your support, Humane Tomorrow says will help the organization “be able to make a difference in the lives of the Maverick Mutts.”
That last photo is of three of the Maverick Mutts diving into a meal together. You can see the video on the Humane Tomorrow Facebook page.
CONTEMPLATIONS
SOME DOG THOUGHTS
Whenever I run into one of these big recovery/abandonment stories it really makes me wonder just what is happening inside the minds of the humans who got the animals into such a fix. The only answer is this: A sickness has created a tragedy. …The most animals we’ve ever had dumped at our house at one time — not counting litters of feral kittens by their momma — is three. Dudley showed up with two smaller dogs — someone dumped them on a nearby busy street and they found their way to our house. The two little dogs went into the wonderful care of East Lake Pet Orphanage and, of course, found good homes. Dudley the Angel has been with us since 2013 — he’s quite the fellow. I’m grateful we got another free dog for our lives, but I’d still like to spit in the eye of the jerk who dumped him and the two little dogs. …
In the early days of our marriage, more than a quarter-century ago, Martha and I found an apparent bait dog who was barely able to stand and had been thrown out onto a pile of trash near Mountain Creek Lake after dark. That pittie dog’s face sticks with me. At first I thought she might bite me. But she just wanted to be comforted in her final hours. There are people who oughta be in jail. No parole. No light sentences. Not a day without a lecture about protecting and loving animals and kids and others. Not a day without a pop quiz about proper behavior among humans and animals. Yeah, I’m a daydreamer. Not alone, I suspect. Save the animals and work on saving the humans, too -- though they're nearly impossible to help. Evidence suggests.
—- Offer criminal justice ideas by clicking on ‘comment’ below or email [email protected] and put SAVE ‘EM ALL AND LOVE ‘EM, TOO in the subject line. —-
