Animal Cruelty

For those of you who know me, you know that I'm an avid animal lover. Have been since I was little. When I was younger I always dreamed about helping animals, whether I was a veterinarian or whether I worked at a dog shelter, I always knew that I wanted to help them. A few years ago I volunteered at our local animal shelter (for about 1 hour due to dogs that walked me instead of me walking them). It was so sad seeing those poor animals that needed a loving home, a warm place to sleep, and a little TLC.

A few months ago I signed up at the HSUS website to receive their newsletter. Everyday my inbox is filled with terrible stories of puppy mills, dog fighting, animal neglect, etc. I want to share a couple of stories with you today. They're very, very sad.

We come across thousands of animals in the most desperate of situations in our work at The HSUS.

We step in wherever we can and save these animals from the worst kinds of human cruelty. These survivors drive us in our work, inspire us as we confront the individuals and industries that profit off of such callous mistreatment.

Today, you’ll meet Fay. Hers is the story of the worst of humankind, and I might say the best, too.

Fay was rescued last July in Missouri, where we assisted in raids in eight states to rescue dogs from the horrors of dogfighting. Fay’s mouth had apparently been badly wounded in the ring. In response, a dogfighter had mercilessly cut off her lips.

True to the spirit of humankind’s best friend, this animal who had suffered so much at the hands of people responded to her rescuers with unreserved affection. As you’ll see, Fay had been stripped of her lips but she still had a tongue, and she was happy to use it to lick the face of someone who would hold her close.

                                                         

A Puppy Mill Story -

I just wish that every person thinking about buying a dog from a pet store, from an Internet site, or from a parking lot or other roadside setting would watch our video of our recent Arkansas puppy mill raid—and then, in acquiring a dog, go to a shelter or rescue group instead. Working with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, The HSUS delivered more than 90 dogs from one of the most appalling settings we’ve dealt with in a while—and that’s saying something, since our team has done 16 puppy mill raids this year, and rescued nearly 3,000 dogs from the mass commercial breeding operations.

These dogs, mostly Pekingese, Yorkies and other small breeds, were suffering from severe matting, parasite infestation, eye injuries, and skin and dental infections. One older Pekingese was so matted that her hair was grown around the bars of her cage, like a vine wrapped around a fence. We had to literally cut her out of her wire prison. The property owner walked by this trapped dog every day and, evidently, was so emotionally disconnected from her suffering that she did nothing to mitigate the situation. Many of the dogs seemed to have little life in them—they were so emotionally traumatized by their fate. But dogs do have an amazing ability to rebound from such circumstances, if they are given the right care and heaping doses of love, and that is our great hope in this case.

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. There are hundreds of stories about puppy mills with over 1000 dogs crammed in cages for their whole lives, stories of neglect and starvation, stories of dogfighting.  If you would like to read more, you can visit the HSUS website.