Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Animal House

I suppose in some way, this should be related to plants, but for today I want to focus on another creation that I love: animals.

I have always been fascinated with animals. I confess my Dad helped to feed this love of mine. He would bring home cats, dogs, insects, reptiles- all simply "day" or "week" pets (cats and dogs were "hour" pets...) and I would love them! It started with a goldfish named Bubbles...I nearly killed him trying to feed him Wheaties (breakfast of champions) when I was 3.

By age 9, I was Steve Irwin. I had not heard of him yet, but we were kindred spirits. My list of pets includes: cat, dog, chicken, ducks, all manner of insects (especially many praying manti), fish, parakeet, guinea pigs, snakes, ground squirrel, bunnies, turtles, lizards and geckos, frogs and toads, crabs, and so on. Not that many...

I have also, because of this fascination and love for creatures, attempted to rescue several that were in trouble.

Most notable among these rescues, was a pair of dogs.

It was summer, and I was working in Missouri. One evening, I spotted a pair of young dogs in a parking lot. The parking lot was on the edge of the mountain highway and I felt compelled to check them out.
Not worried about rabies or anything, I got out of my truck and called them. The excited pups came dashing toward me and I could see that they were VERY thirsty. A cup of water was retrieved from the restaurant (whose parking lot we were in) and they were given a drink. I knew better than to feed them, and decided to load them into my truck.

They acted like they would leap out of my truck and onto the highway during the 15 minute drive, so I shoved them into the cab. I had a back seat in that truck.

We made the whole ride, but as I got out of the car, they puked. I managed to save my purse in time...but the maps, umbrella, my notebook and new Bible...all were trashed.

This was a bad day. Not only this, but we were unable to find a pound in the vicinity. NOT good. Well, there was nothing for it but to take them to a place away from the road, but near people. Another guy volunteered his truck and we tied the dogs into the bed of it so that they wouldn't jump. We found a great parking lot...surrounded on three sides by hotels and over 100 yards from any roads above 35 mph.
As we let the dogs out of the truck, we noticed several people watching us...so we began to act like we were letting the dogs stretch their legs. We made up names for them and called them, half-heartedly, until we lost most of the audience. Then we dove into the truck and sped away!

My truck took hours to clean, but thanks to several friends it was in working order by the following afternoon! I never saw the dogs again.

I still rescue animals...have rescued another dog and two kittens in the last year (one kitten just last night)...but I am hesitant to offer them rides. And I don't drop them off in the middle of no-where. The dog's owner picked it up the next day, one kitten had to be taken to a foster-care agency, and last night's is still waiting for her owner. She's quite the cutie!

No comments:

Post a Comment