About seven months ago, I rescued little Harry (my name for him), an older yorkie, from the terrible Broward County animal shelter (Animal Control). Harry was blind in one eye, and had a cataract in his other eye. He had kennel cough, and pneumonia. I could not bare to see him crunched in a small cage. My heart just lept out for him. So I brought him home - home to an apartment with Chickie, my chihuahua/pug mix who I rescued from that same shelter three years ago; and two rescued cats, Crystal and Mitzvah.I immediately took him to the vet where he received a shot and some meds better than the non-meds he was receiving at Animal Control. When I brought him home, Harry revealed a very great intelligence and inspite of how sick he was, he immediately began to snoop around the house, curious about everything. But more, he sensed he was in a home, and he showed his perkiness and happiness to be “home”. A few days later, I gave Harry a warm bath, and upon towel drying him, wrapped him in a large bath towel and placed him upon my soft mattress. He was in heaven, oohing and ahhing at the great comfort he was enwrapped in and lying upon. I could sense a great deal of negative energy and tremendous stress leaving Harry, and he fell asleep for the next 12 hours.
Thereupon, for the next four months, Harry was restored to complete health. He loved being walked outside, and he displayed a kind of dance, which was the dance of celebration of being alive, and being loved. I frequently held Harry in my arms, and rocked him like a baby. He loved it. When I brought him in from a walk outside, he was so happy to be home, and he would approach Chickie and the two cats and caress their faces with his. Harry was a sweetheart.
Then one day he began coughing, non-stop coughing, where he could barely breath. I rushed him to the vet and she reported he had a collapsed trachea. She did not think he would make it, but gave me tranquillizers for him to quiet him in the hopes that the tension upon the trachea would quiet. It didn’t work and a few days later, Harry had a severe tracheal attack where I had to rush him again to the vet, where he was desperately choking and gulping for air. I knew Harry needed to be relieved from this suffering, and gave the vet consent to put him to sleep. Before she did, I spoke to him and told him how much I loved him, and thanked him for coming into my life and giving me such joy, and the opportunity to heal him. Seeing him die was very painful for me; and I prayed over Harry’s warm body - I prayed very hard that he would now move into the Light and be comforted by angels and heavenly caretakers.
Harry was abandoned and betrayed by someone - someone who didn’t care enough. He might have fared better had he not fallen into the hands of this terrible Broward County shelter - a shelter that has no heart for its inhabitants - a shelter that is in effect a disposal unit - and not an adoption facility as it should be. In Miami/Dade it’s awful too.
So much can be done at Broward and in Miami/Dade to boost traffic and consequently adoptions by redirecting some of the resources into EFFECTIVE advertising, PR and marketing - but it will also take a major shift in consciousness. The Commissioners at Broward and Miami/Dade are of an anti-life culture, where the fate of these sensitive, unconditionally loving and vulnerable animals are an absolute non-priority.
The ONLY thing that will change things is a massive campaign by voters who are pet lovers, in a well organized and orchestrated way. It will take leadership. And it will take funding from private citizens.
Right now, none of this exists in spite of all the talk - talk that has been going on now for years, as tens of thousands of beautiful creatures are destroyed. There is one person - a man by the name of Nathan Winograd. He’s written a book called “Redemption” - which lays out a detailed strategy for converting “kill” to “no kill”. His website: www.nathanwinograd.com.
There are millions of Harrys who are murdered each year at our county shelters. “Euthanize” is too bland a word for what occurs. Dragging innocent, vulnerable dogs to the killing rooms, screaming along the way - knowing their fate - where they are laid on cold metal tables and injected with poison, all the while trembling with fright. This is an atrocity - and it must end.
It requires leadership - a few bold courageous leaders in each locale - working to change policy…and consciousness. Nathan Winograd points the way.
And that’s the way it is, as Walter Cronkite used to say - but it isn’t the way it has to be.
If you are in the Broward County area, sign an electronic Petition of Protest to the Broward Commissioners at: www.CompassionateAnimalFriendsofBroward.org
Thank you.
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