A community comes together…
The week after Christmas is usually so peaceful. I love Christmas, but after several months of holidays and hectic schedules, it’s nice to have some quiet time. I like the stillness to reflect on the holidays we just celebrated and to also think about what’s coming up next.
2019 was different
We’ve seen some pretty bad things through our animal rescue, but two days after Christmas we were reminded of the cruelty that man is capable of inflicting on animals.
Early one morning, we received an urgent call asking for immediate help. Someone witnessed a driver and his passenger(s) throw six puppies out of a vehicle’s windows and into oncoming traffic on a busy highway. Two of the puppies were hit by oncoming traffic and killed, the other four scattered and ran into the open plains. As soon as we got the call for help, Tabitha, my niece, and I rushed to the scene to help find the four missing puppies.
a bad winter storm moving in
We coordinated a community-wide effort to find the missing puppies as quickly as possible. A winter storm was moving in, and we didn’t know if the puppies could survive the cold, especially if they were hurt. For four days, in a winter storm, sub-freezing temperatures, wind, and ice, people from all over the community came together to walk grids on the plains trying to find any signs of the four surviving puppies.
found safe
The twelve-week-old Anatolian Shepherd Great Dane mixed puppies were eventually found and brought into the home of one of the searchers to keep them safe, warm, and to get medical help for them. We brought the two puppies, Hope and Chance, home with us that were killed in order to have them cremated.
too many questions
There were so many questions swirling around this tragedy. Where did the puppies come from and who threw them out the window were just a couple.
The owner of the puppies came forward and said he had been having problems with his neighbor. The neighbor stole the puppies and tried to kill them by throwing them out the window on the highway. He was afraid his neighbor would do it again if the puppies were returned to him, so he let us have all four of the puppies.
We took one of the puppies. The person who brought the puppies into her home right after the rescue took the other three to train them to be therapy dogs. Chili dog was terrified of the one we kept. The puppies were already larger than him and he’s afraid of large dogs. We thought it might work out, but it didn’t. It wasn’t fair to Chili to bring someone into the family he was going to be terrified of. So, another family involved in the search and rescue took him. The last we heard, he’s a happy and healthy boy; although he has a severe fear of being in vehicles.
no help from the law
The Sherrif’s Department was notified of this situation from the very beginning through the end. But, they said it was a neighbor feud and because it involved pets, they weren’t going to get involved. The neighbor faced no consequences for his actions.
Sometimes rescue work leaves you more frustrated than anything else. This is a good example of one of those times. Although we lost two souls, we find comfort in knowing four puppies ended up in safe, loving, and forever homes. Their previous owner is grateful for the second chance they’ve been given.