Pug Log #4?

Question

Hello All!

I want you to tell me a story today (I have a BA in creative writing, I can't help it!)

Have any of you ever been actively involved in a situation where a dog or other animal needed to be taken away or saved from its owners? I don't mean, necessarily, that you are active in a rescue organization, but maybe something where you saw your neighbor had their dog tied up outside for an unreasonable amount of time and so you reported them, etc.
If so - what happened? Did you call and report or did you take care of it yourself? Did you follow up on the situation if animal control stepped in?
What exactly was the situation and what was the point where you knew you had to step in?
Do you think you did the right thing? Do you know where the animal is now?
Were charges pressed against the owners?

If you are a part of a rescue organization, that's fine - I'd love to hear those stories as well, but I am really interested in individuals who took a stand for an animal.

Winston goes for a car ride....
http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i295/rachelburns/?action=view¤t=CIMG1286.jpg

Answer 1

About a month after my wife and i got married we moved on base (I'm a cop in the military) and she decided that since we finally had a house instead of an apartment she would extend her volunteering w/the SPCA to fostering.

she's a huge animal lover...and well, she's turned me into one too (willingly of course lol).

after watching her w/these animals i really started to admire what she was doing. so when one night i got a call on my radio while out on patrol about a puppy running across the bases active runway i didn't hesitate to get out there as fast as i could. this poor pup could get killed out there (not to mention endanger the safety of the pilots on the runway).

poor thing was scared and running crazy, we (the Firemen and my co-workers) rounded this pup up. one of the firemen finally snagged her and we took her to the stray animal kennels on base.
the base policy is that we must call Animal Control if no one claims the animal after 3 days. i knew my wife would have my HEAD if i let animal control take off w/that pup. the city shelter in the town we lived in was a horrible cinder block building w/no AC or heat. their method of "euthanasia" was a bullet.


So after 3 days my wife took the pup to the SPCA, and she became our third foster dog. my wife informed me that she was a Newfoundland puppy. cutest black fluff ball i've ever see really. she was very smart too, i taught her how to sit in 3 mins!
We called her Mia (Mee-ah). and she was adopted by a great family a couple weeks later. that family as it turned out..belonged to the fireman that snatched her up the night we saved her on the runway!

Answer 2

I have several, but the one that really got me the most was several winters ago a tiny pup was left outside in winter. Now I live in Canada not Florida. It was -30something. Bitter, bitter cold. The pup was crying it was so cold. I went to the house and begged them to take it in. I can;t post here what the owner told me.

I went to the back of the house and took the pup. She was in a bad way. I took her to the vet right away. She lost several toes and had to have the tip of one ear removed from frostbite.

I told the dog owner what I had done and told them to go ahead and report me for taking the dog if they wanted to because then I would happily be able to tell why I took the dog. I knew who would get in the most trouble and it was not me.

The moved a while after. I pray they never got another dog. The pup lived out it's life with a friend of mine.

Answer 3

I've called animal control twice on one of my boss's neighbors. The first time they had a 12 week old puppy on a chain in the back yard who was obviously starving. The second time they had a female boxer mix in a 5x5 pen, chained with no shelter and her 4 pups. She was emaciated beyond belief. I could count every rib, vertebra and her tail looked like a knobby stick.
I have grabbed several dogs off of abandoned or condemned property and worked with a rescue to home them.

Animal control refuses to do their jobs most of the time around here so no one got into trouble. I knew I had to do something the second I could clearly see bone structure. The mama had to be euthanized due to severe heartworm. The puppies are in foster homes and the first puppy is running around on a sheep farm.

Answer 4

I have 3 rescues living with me at the moment. My big bunny foo foo Hershey was living in someone's garage and fed once a week. The mom finally called our nature center and at the time we had no homes for him. So he came home with me. 2 years later, he is still here.

Nala, my pit bull mix was owned by my ex-husbands best friend. I had never had any good memories of pit bulls but went to meet her as a puppy anyways and fell in love. WELL, I found out he was abusing her and his other dog. And had been starving her and stabbed her. I called the local animal welfare and police every day and they went there but could never prove he had any dogs. No one had seen a dog outside in about 6 months and he kept them locked in the basement. I finally went over with the police and forced him to bring Nala out. She was a year old, had scars all over, barely any fur but jumped into my arms and started licking me. She weighed a whopping 22 pounds, which is severly under weight but the police said because she is a pit bull mix she would be euthanized. I took her home, called the vet and had her seen right away. 5 years and now 70 pounds she is the sweetest, most loving dog in the world!

My Lechita was brought to my attention by my future brother in law. He said a man at work was talking about a fat chihuahua he had that he was going to dump into the woods cuz she annoyed him. I got a call telling me that and called the man who didnt want her right away. He said she was fat, lazy, hated men, hated kids, wouldnt eat dog food ect ect. I went to get her anyways. When I walked in I saw tons of smaller dogs in cages (with puppies HELLO BYB'S) and took her right away. Then made a call and had him shut down. Last I heard all dogs have found homes!!! Well, Lechita turned out to be very energetic, loving, and very pregnant. She had 4 pups but only 3 survived.And thank God I was with her while she gave brth, I had to assist with 2 of the pups and we had a few close calls. They are now 7 weeks old and all have good homes (one is staying with us)

I have rescued many animals but only 2 dogs. Working at a nature center you would be amazed how many people dump dogs and cats ect and how many injured wildlife calls we get.

Answer 5

oh wow...i have so many to tell.
i do volunteer w/the SPCA but i have also done things on my own.

i had a friend (now former friend) that had 2 cats and a huskie mix. she was going through the middle of a really nasty divorce (not that that is ANY excuse at all!), and was not taking care of her pets like she used to. i would clean out the cat's litter box and i BOUGHT them food cause she didn't have any. i also took care of the dog and walked him for about 2 hrs every day (yes 2 hrs! i don't run, but huskies need TONS of exercise...i had the time).

eventually i convinced her to place the dog w/a good family that i knew through the SPCA. they had lost their husky 6 months before and wanted another...but were willing to wait till one came through the shelter. this family was awesome, they are extremely active and outdoor-sie. the adoption almost didn't go through though because my friend was attached to the dog. she knew she couldn't care for him, but didn't want to let go. i see that a lot w/some owners, esp. when county TAKES the animal away.
anyway...
the cats were another story. they were both a MESS physically. my friend had been keeping them in her garage. and anyone that has an attached garage knows how stuffy and hot they can get. couple that with the fact that the cats (both were Persians) were NOT groomed, NOT properly fed, and their litter was only changed or cleaned when *I* visited.
it was just bad, i knew it was bad. and i was torn! i didn't know what to do. i ended up breaking down and tell my friend that what she was doing was illegal, not to mention horrible on so many levels. i convinced her to let me take the cats from her.
i took them to my vet, got both cats on medications for numerous problems then i called a shelter in another town that is exclusively for cats. they took the cats AFTER i made a large donation. *$300* (for the continuation of care for them both since they were so very sickly)

honestly that shelter really didn't have the room, but i am so glad they made room.

after this happened i really didn't know if i wanted to continue a friendship w/this person...but i kept making excuses for her...she was going through a divorce, she had to file for bankruptcy and she lost her house, her ex was a drug addict that ruined her life..etc.
i guess i felt bad for her, as much as i did for her pets. i did all i could for them and thought i should shouldn't abandon her!

THEN 2 weeks after i re-homed the cats in the shelter she came to one of our SPCA adoption fairs that we hold twice a month...looking for a DOG! she was 2 seconds away from walking out w/a new puppy when i pulled the manager aside to tell her the story about her other pets. i just couldn't let her take home another animal.
the manager denied her application on the spot, and our friendship ended that day as well.
she never spoke to me again...i tried to explain, so did the SPCA manager..but she was hurt by what she saw as a betrayal.

sometimes it's hard to do the right thing, but when you know you must, you must!

EDIT:
oh hey SSgt.Kibbits...how ya doing my love? shouldn't you be WORKING? ha ha.
**he's my honey...errr...hubby!**