Circles Resurrected: Shelter Stories
Shelter Stories
By: Anne Speakman
The van pulled slowly up to our shelter building. I looked out and saw three children with noses planted against the window. Were they coming to adopt their first puppy? I hoped so. It was the beginning of summer, and we had so many. A woman was out in the parking lot putting a leash on on a large bouncing dog on the other side of the van. As she walked him to our door, he jumped with anticipation. He was ready to play. No adoption this time. She came in the office and filled out the papers to relinquish the dog. The family was moving to New Jersey.
The dog’s name was Nike (like the shoe). Her youngest had found him a few years earlier. He was a good dog – loved kids, etc. But he would be just too much trouble to move along with all the children. They would just find another dog once they got settled. The papers were signed and they left.
I watched the van pull out of the shelter lot. The window was down on the van and out of it came a little tow-headed boy with tears streaming down his little red cheeks. He cried out with hurt so big it tore my heart apart, “I’ll come back and get you some day, Nike, I’ll come back….”
I turned and headed to the back of the shelter. I gave Nike a little pat on the head as I passed his run. He didn’t understand and I couldn’t explain why he was there or the terrible pain I felt for him and his little blonde friend.
Inmates – trustees from the county jail – work each day at our shelter. They help clean, feed, and exercise the animals. Many have come and gone over the years, but Tony, the first inmate who worked for us, remains a dear friend, and comes to visit often. He had been sentenced to ten years hard labor under the Habitual Offenders Act. He had abused drugs and alcohol, and he had been convicted of many crimes. But his life was changed, he told us, because of the shelter, and the things he saw and learned there.
While he worked for us he became attached to one dog in particular. He was a black Husky-mix, with translucent blue eyes. Old Blue Eyes was “his” dog, and Tony loved him. When there was time, Tony, a “hardened criminal,” would take Blue Eyes for walks in the nearby woods. He really wanted to find the dog a home. Being locked up wasn’t much of a life – this Tony knew.
Months passed and no home was found. We had talked about putting Blue Eyes to sleep. Tony came in to work a few days after we had discussed it. He looked as though he had been crying and his heart was heavy. We talked as we worked. He had come to a decision about “his” dog. It was time to set him free. Tony held Blue Eyes as we injected the lethal solution into his vein. The dog’s head dropped as life left him. He lay limp in Tony’s arms.
Tony carried his friend into the woods they had walked in and buried him under an old oak tree. He came back to the shelter afterwards, his eyes red and swollen. “It ain’t no life to be locked up, even for a dog. I did what was right, I know I did.”
Blue Eye’s end was a beginning for Tony. After he finished his prison sentence, he married and bought a farm. The unwanted dog with the translucent blue eyes did not die in vain – he taught a man about living and changed his life.
There were people who turned in their adolescent animals because “they’d gotten too big.” They were Christmas puppies and kittens doing the natural thing – growing up. There were those who told me they “had too many.” They had not spayed their female dog or cat, but they had found homes for her first, second, third, fourth, and even fifth litters. Now they had decided to keep one of her off-spring, and bring her to the shelter. The list of reasons goes on. The surrender cards list the litany of reasons: “don’t want,” “too many,” “too much trouble,” “can’t keep,” “won’t stay home,” “chews,” “barks,” “too protective,” “not protective enough,””in heat,””pregnant,” “moving,” “too big,” and on and on and on…”You won’t kill them will you?”. We are silent. Then we say that speech, “just so many homes…too many…if people would spay and neuter…” They turn and walk away. Their conscience is clear. The responsibility is now ours. Each animal is unique, trusting, and loving. We feed them, care for them, talk to them, and then we must end their lives. They have been betrayed.
My daughter lives this life every day at the animal shelter where she works! She is a very strong person I know I could not do what she does every day!
It is so sad we are such a disposible society! It sickens me to see how people just toss a animal away like a piece of trash.
People only a small amount of animals turned in to the shelter get another home. If the animal acts afraid it may be put to sleep because it may be labeled agressive. The danger of illness in the shelter is another problem the animal has to make it thru. I could go on & on forever but just read the above article very well written!