Especially not the pets locked away on death row in high-kill shelters, with the clock quickly ticking, and not the rescuers trying to figure out how to save them. You must adopt a mind-set to act quickly and figure out details later, such as possible behavior issues, medical issues, etc. Sadly, high-kill “shelters” still operate all over the country; so, as a rule, you don’t have time to think about rescuing a pet, like I thought I did with Ramona (see earlier post “It Should Not Have Ended This Way”).

You need to act first and figure it all out later–learn to power rescue.

A Rose by Any Other Name?

Don’t be fooled about “shelters.”  Too many of them are anything but.  “Shelter” is too often code for “killing machine.”  People need to be aware that way too many shelters in our country are still high-kill and operate under old, close-minded protocols, using euthanasia as their first choice to manage animal population.  They extinguish precious animals’ lives, and justify the murders by blaming fake reasons, such as lack of kennel space, lack of people willing to adopt, the animal has behavioral issues, the animal is fearful, etc.  Of course an animal is fearful — look where he is!!  The chaos, the smell of death in the hallways, fear of all the strange people and other caged animals around him.  But take him out and away from those halls of hell and watch him blossom.  Sadly, “shelters” still exist that won’t be bothered to give animals in their supposed care such a chance.  In these cases, the shelters aren’t shelters at all–they’re killing machines.

Whose Job Is It, Anyway?

Another thing “shelters” do is put the responsibility and blame on us, the public, whether the animals live or die.  They assign animals an arbitrary 72 hours to live, then pretty much just sit back and wait.  If no one steps up to adopt or rescue him within the 72 hours, the “shelter” feels justified in killing the poor animal–as if they had no choice, they were forced, it’s not their fault. The beautiful mama lab in this photo, ironically named Hope, and her newborn pups–every last precious one of them–were murdered by the shelter.  Instead of protecting them and finding homes for them, in the way that “sheltering” means, the “shelter” decided it was easier and more cost-effective to just get rid of them.  Even though rescue organizations were standing by, offering and begging for the lives of this innocent family, the “shelter” took the shameful way out, and killed them, all of them, one by one.

Certainly not all shelters are this cold and ugly, but sadly too many still are.  Truth is, it should be squarely on the shelters to advocate for the animals–it’s their job–to set up new programs that pro-actively prepare the shelter animals behaviorally and health-wise so they have the best possible chance at finding caring, responsible new homes; and to create public and media outreach programs that make more people aware of the pets needing homes, and encourage those folks to foster and/or adopt. Nathan Winograd, founder of No Kill Advocacy, has a regular blog that addresses the failure of shelters nationwide to show compassion toward the animals they have charge over.  Nathan created the No-Kill design that truly saves the lives of shelter animals, not kills them behind closed doors.  Visit these links to learn more.  I’ve spoken about Nathan and the No Kill Advocacy in previous posts.  Their efforts have resulted in profound improvements nationwide in sheltering.  Because of them, “a no-kill nation is within our reach.”

Learn To Power Rescue.

To anyone who considers getting involved in pet rescue, know this: You Must Be Prepared To Go All-In. There is no halfway. Prepare yourself to act quickly so that situations like poor Ramona and Hope don’t happen should you hesitate. Prepare yourself to be flexible because you typically will not know the behavioral or medical history of most pets you will rescue, so you’ll be dealing on a daily basis with many unknowns.  Learn ahead of time what you can to be best prepared to handle tough situations.  You’re going to need every bit of emotional, mental, and physical strength you can draw upon.

Above all, prepare your heart.  Rescue is an extreme labor of love that will change you from the inside out.  Once you commit to saving and protecting these vulnerable lives from those who would hurt them, and experience the power in this simple act of love, you will never be the same.  And, while it will hurt like hell, that’s a good thing.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post Learning To Power Rescue. appeared first on BareFootPets.

Sweet Ramona’s face is burned into my memory now. An indictment against me for my empty sentiment — feeling badly for her but not acting in time to actually save her. I saw the post yesterday on Instagram begging someone to save Ramona, but I didn’t act in time. Instead, I saved the post while I did the “responsible” thing — sleep on it overnight, review my already stressed bank account to calculate how it could feed another mouth, and figure out if I could squeeze yet another dog into my rescue pack. Is it irresponsible to keep adding rescue pets when my home is already bursting at the seams? My friends and family already call me crazy. This is the life and daily dilemma of a “career” pet rescuer.

Damn The Cost — It’s A Life.

When I considered all things logically, on paper, I just couldn’t make it work this time. I’ve been rescuing discarded, vulnerable animals for many decades, paying out of my own pocket to feed and care for them, living on a shoestring budget. And now common sense is nudging me to start saving for retirement, or end up homeless like all my rescue pets when they first show up at my doorstep for help.

But Ramona’s face stayed with me as I slept last night. When I woke up this morning with Ramona still on my heart, I knew I needed to try — somehow I had to make it work. At least I would get her out of the shelter to safety and then figure out the bigger picture for her.

No Second Chance. It’s Done.

But Ramona was already dead. She had been killed by the shelter before anyone would save her. When I woke this morning, before even getting out of bed, I grabbed my phone and pulled up the saved Instagram post for the Texas shelter’s contact information. I was going to call and ask them to pull Ramona from the euthanasia list and keep her safe until I could figure out how to get her to me here in Phoenix.

The words in the updated post screamed out at me — Ramona’s dead. No one stepped up, and the shelter didn’t bother to advocate for her. She’s dead and that’s that. Another precious life extinguished, and we all will just go on our way. My heart has been shredded all day, and I’m writing this post with tears on fire and the stinging guilt of having been party to letting it happen. I hesitated, and they killed her.

Why Was She Not Save-able?

I’m wondering why no one wanted Ramona. Was she not beautiful enough? Was her back story not tragic enough? Is it because she was a pitbull? But a life is a life – those things should not have mattered, right?  Although they must have — because no one wanted her and, at the end of her broken life story, she died alone. Sweet Jesus, I am so so so sorry.

I keep going back to the post and looking at Ramona’s face. She knew — she knew no one was coming for her. She knew she would die there without anyone to care. Look at Ramona’s face — there’s no hope left in her. She knows. She will die there alone, unloved, and unremembered by most. And that’s exactly what happened. Ramona’s life didn’t matter.

Prayer For Those We Let Down.

Ramona’s heartbreaking story reminds me of my first prayer back in 1998 when I started Milagro Senior Pet Refuge. As I embarked on this most beautiful and difficult life chapter in pet rescue, I recognized that we wouldn’t be able to save them all no matter how hard we were going to try. So I asked God to be extra loving to the precious souls we wouldn’t be able to save, and to love them in a way we would fail to do here in this life. When I lay my head down to rest at night and try uselessly to shed the guilt that inevitably comes with being a pet rescuer, God still gives me moments of peace knowing that He continues to answer that first prayer every day. Today, however, I’m not feeling peace. My heart is broken for Ramona.

Take-Away.

Ramona’s sad and senseless end underscores the importance to ACT QUICKLY! There are SO MANY MANY more animals like Ramona in high-kill shelters that don’t have the luxury of time to wait while we figure things out.  Shelters are, after all, just killing machines in disguise.  We must get the animals safely out of those shelters FIRST, and worry about the details later. Had I adhered to my own advice, Ramona would be safely and happily with us today, knowing love … maybe for the first time. Don’t be afraid of the unknown. Just Save The Life — God will help you fill in the blanks later.

Rest In Peace, Dear Ramona. God’s Got You Now.  ❤ 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post It Should Not Have Ended This Way. appeared first on BareFootPets.