A success story!

I began my Monday morning at the shelter by going into the kennels to say hi to little Tiki and her Chihuahua friend. When I looked in the kennel there was the Chihuahua, but where was Tiki? My stomach dropped. I searched the vet room and another room that sometimes animals are in. Nothing. Where could she be? What happened to her? I asked some of the other officers and one of the kennel techs that were there over the weekend, but no one knew anything. Ahhh! Then one of the officers comes in and states that another officer is going out to the landfill. What? Did they put animals to sleep on a Monday (normally Tues-Thurs only)? No, turns out they just had to empty the freezer. So what happened to this dog? Finally I asked one of the front office staff and she said that she had been picked up by a rescue on Saturday!!! What wonderful news! I was soo happy to find that out! Then the remainder of my Monday and most of today were spent learning how to work in the front office and see how they take in animals, do adoptions, and connect with the public. I learned a lot about policies from taking phone calls and also learned how to navigate the computer system that we use. Today I got to leave the office a few hours early as the officer I carpooled with had some calls to do on the way home. After one non-eventful call, we decided to help out another officer pick up a deceased dog on the road. It was a large German Sheppard (from what I could tell). Just and FYI, I would not continue reading until after the picture of the kitties, unless you have a strong stomach, this was gross! The dog had been sitting there on the side of the road since this weekend. From a distance it looked like it had thrown up or had it’s tongue sticking out. No, on closer inspection it was a swarm of maggots in his mouth. Ewww, not to mention the intestines that were laid out behind him and the horrible smell that emitted from the carcass. As we were pulling the dog into the bag (with gloves) I tried grabbing the back of the dog to pull in. As I grabbed my finger went in to where his muscle and bone was. I thought I was grabbing where there was hair, but there was some muscle exposed. Then the clump of hair came off in my hand. Slowly, between breaks for fresh air, we worked the dog into the bag and I had to grab the loose intestines to throw in the bag with it. The sad part is that during all of this, the 2 girls and I could only laugh. I felt bad, but it was all I could do, got to make the best of the situation, right?

So then to continue my adventures for the day we responded to a barking complaint. Well I will keep this short and sweet, but there was a very strong difference in opinion among neighbors and the Sheriff’s office was requested to come out and handle the dispute. It was the first time for both the officer I was with as well as me to have the Sheriff’s be called out by us. Of course, this is the same day that she had told me on the drive in to work that she had never had to call them out before. Talk about forgetting to knock on wood!

Okay, now the explanation of the kittens. I was kind of naïve when I asked someone to take this picture, just thinking of how cute, fluffy, and little they were, but realized later that without a nursing mommy, they had no chance of survival with us…they, unfortunately, were put to sleep a few hours later. So here is my message again: Please spay or neuter your pets so that they don’t make unwanted babies that wind up in the shelter that I think are so cute and adorable and then have to find out that they are put to sleep. Unfortunately I have a feeling that these two brand new puppies (don't even have any teeth yet) that were brought in today with no mommy will meet the same fate…i'll find out tomorrow.