EDITION OF LATE MAY 3-EARLY MAY 4, 2023 [PetPowellPress] Today I’m like a bad camera trying to aim at the big orange tower at Six Flags Over Texas while being gripped by a wobbly teenager in a seat on the herky-jerky Runaway Mine Train in its debut year, 1966 — I just can’t focus.
cOh, wait, Six Flags didn’t open the Oil Derrick Observation Tower until 1969.
See, some facts make a difference — they help me focus.
That’s my left hand and Stevie
Ray — I was doing a magic trick for him — making my left forefinger disappear. He yawned, but I didn’t catch that on film.
Stevie Ray doesn't believe I have the skills to be a magician even though I can make food appear twice a day and treats appear whenever he meows. Hmm. Perhaps I am a magician's assistant.
PART I
Call this edition two things: Unfocused and proud to look you in the eye and say “MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU.” Yep, came via the “May the Force be with you” line from the 1977 film Star Wars, first in the the long-running chain of space operas. (If westerns are “Horse Operas,” then space movies can be “Space Operas,” right? What do you call political movies? I’m going with “tragicomedies” on that. Agree? Disagree?
Who cares?|
So, on Thursday, May the 4th be with you. And, if you’re not an heir to the British throne, May the 6th be with your bets at the Kentucky Derby. Bless all the horses and keep ‘em safe.
PART II
While allowing my brain to wander the world,,,,Wait. For a split-second it just stopped right here. Maybe it’s a wild thought that comes from seeing too many notices this week with photos of dogs and cats that say “HAS TWO HOURS LEFT OR WILL BE EUTHANIZED.”
You’ve probably seen a lot of ‘em in your time as a rescuer and animal advocate. DEATH THREAT NOTICES.
Think about this: There’s no law that says a shelter can’t display animals online as soon as they come into the taxpayer-financed shelter. Would doing so make adoptions and rescues run faster and keep animals from being “pressure-packed, last-minute — all you SOBs who don’t take him feel guilty” appeals?
Is it time for someone to standardize how shelter animals are publicized so their chances of rescue and adoption can improve? Or is everybody satisfied with the “HEY, LOOK! THIS DOG DIES TUESDAY UNLESS YOU FIND A HOME THAT ISN’T ALREADY OVERLOADED WITH RESCUED ANIMALS!”
Anybody got any ideas to improve methods of saving the lives of animals on the shelter clocks. Trust me, the shelter personnel — most of ‘em, I’m pretty sure — would rather prepare adoption papers than hypodermic needles.
Surely, the age of whizbang computer systems, there’s a better way to publicize the at-risk animals on a tax-payer financed website. Timing — that’s the key to everything, right?
PART III
I began working as a reporter/editor/columnist in 1965 and I’ve spent a big chunk of my grown-up years writing about animals. I also taught journalism briefly at the university level. And what would I like to see people who write tip sheets about found animals or any animals do? This: Include who, what, where, when, why and how in every note. Who’s the animal? What happened? Where did it happen and Where is the animal now? When did this happen? And Why did it happen — dog dumped, dog a stray, dog thrown out of a truck on Dowdy Ferry Road? Plus, what is the “How?” It’s “How can I contact the right person who'll help me rescue this animals in the most efficient way? Efficiency saves animal lives! You need reliable information! Youwouldn’t call the fire department and yell into the phone “THERE’S A FIRE IN MY BATHROOM. COME HELP ME.” You’d darn sure include the key information if your buttocks happened to be on fire, right?
I’m speaking specifically to people who haphazardly post half the facts on Facebook and then are amazed that nobody responds.
Of course, I have sinned in print. But, I try not to and I fully recognize the parts of a story that make up the Life-Saving Appeal. Yep, “the W’s.” The previously mentioned Who, what, etc., and that “H,” too. You owe it to the animals to be thorough and loving with what you type.
[LARRY ASIDE: The work I do benefits every day from people who include everything in their animal notes — shelter volunteers, soft-hearted and hard-working rescuers and advocates, etc. Angels on the Earth, these people are. They’re examples of how to do the job right in the face of tough challenges. I’d give ‘em a raise if money mattered to rescuers, advocates and do-gooders in the animal community.]
PART IV
Speaking of life-saving. We’ve all seen scores and scores of emails and announcements begging us to help a dog or cat at the “last minute” or even weeks early! How about making a point of telling all of us what happened to the animal you declared was on the brink? Sometimes it might be an uplifting adoption or a “pull” by a life-saving rescue group. Make this experience positive!
We can’t be left to believe that they all moved to Happy Puppy Farm or Big Purr Cathouse and are living the dream. Results matter.
They inspire other people to get involved. I typed that last sentence in honor of all of the veteran rescuers and fosters I’ve known for years who absolutely will break down and cry with joy, with sadness or with a desire to beat the stuffing out of some jerk who tossed a cat or dog into a trash bin or a bag of kittens or puppies into a creek. That crap happens.
PART V
When I began writing readlarrypowell.com and other animal tales in the 20th Century, I thought that people would wise up. I foolishly expected things to get better. What a dunce I am. Dallas had a new big shelter. The no-kill facilities were growing and becoming more recognizable to the community. Rescue groups were growing. The population grew, too, and not every newcomer or oldster wised up when it came to protecting animals. They joined the disgusting array of “don’t care/so what” people who don’t give a flip if a perfectly good dog or cat gets a needle in the neck or gets run down by a car or starves or dies from an easily fixed medical condition. You probably know some of these empty souls.
CLOSING NOTE
Dear Dogs and Cats and Other Animals who encounter humans, May the 4th and every other day be with you and may the hearts of humans work to make you welcome where ever you are on this entire, battle-scarred Planet Earth. And if you’re a human without enough heart to try to save an animal, buy a mirror and stare into it until you realize how much you need to change to make the whole darned planet better.
POST-CLOSING NOTE
Let me tell you about the good people doing animal rescue and promoting them. They risk their lives, their health and their fiscal well-being to get animals out of potentially fatal situations.
I write this to support those people who, in the face of ugly challenges and opposition, maintain their love for animals and their senses of humor.
Many years ago I was among several speakers at a pro-animal event in a northern suburb of Dallas. After the event, I saw a cluster of “known rescuers and advocates” gathered around the back of a car and shooting the breeze like ol’ soldiers at a reunion. There was laughter and suddenly some of these people — MOSTLY WOMEN (I PROUDLY point out THE HEART AND ENERGY OF RESCUE) — began rolling up their sleeves and laughing even more. What was going on? They were talking about the challenges of rescue and they good-naturedly began showing off scars left on their arms from the mange they caught rescuing dogs! Bless their hearts!!!
I’ve avoided mange. I’ve got scratches and bites from rescued cats. The only one of our dogs who ever bit me was my beloved Cocker Spaniel Inky -- I rescued him from Kiest Park where he'd been dumped as a nearly nude, mange-stricken, purebred Cocker. He was blind in one eye ("Probabl from trauma," his vet said) and, once, when I reached down to pick him up from the wrong side, I startled him and he flopped those big ears around and nipped my left hand. My fault. Inky remains the reason my heart beats in support of rescuers and the rescued — that’s the portrait Martha did of him. It hangs in our dining room in honor of the boy who made life better after some other human had made his life worse. Sometimes we call it "Starshine Inky" and sometimes "Confetti Inky." Bottom line is we miss the little guy. I found Inky as I was walking three other rescues from Kiest Park
that we'd had a while -- they would become Inky's lifelong pals along with me and Martha and a handful of rescued cats. You may be more familiar with this photo of Inky, the Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas, who, periodically performed "impressions" for us in the photo form. This is Inky showing us his impression of a spaceship pilot ready for a snack after declaring "May the 4th Be With You" after having gotten a free and large snack from the Wookie who bakes cookies for Wookie Cookie Happy Yappy Snacks.
Go out and save some animals — you’ll live a better life. And, from my heart, a thanks to all the people who for years have sent me notes about dogs and cats that need humans to save them from situations other humans created. You people are magnificent.
—- Offer responses by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing [email protected] and put “SAVE ‘EM ALL” in the subject line. —-
