You know, I can write posts about Katrina to lists, to my blog, to my friends, etc I can share information, I can thank, I can co-ordinate efforts, I can remain objective - or so I thought.
But when it is your own breed, or someone you might know, it gets very personal. This got personal for me yesterday when someone shared this photo of a Belgian Tervuren being pulled out of the water and into a rescuer's boat. I made it my task to track this dog down.
What I wasn't prepared for was the director of the rescue group calling me at 9:15 tonight to let me know she had tracked down the fate of this adolescent male Tervuren.
What the photo does not show is that the dog had been living a very long time on top of an air conditioning unit. Long enough that the pads of his feet and the flesh was worn down to expose bone - bone and flesh that absorbed the toxic waters. His prognosis was not good and the decision was made to not let him suffer any more.
A thank you to Joyce Hillard of Arkansans for Animals for making that long distance call to let me know. Thank you for the efforts your group are making in New Orleans.
I made a few phone calls to the president of our breed club, left a message for the head of rescue who had authorized me to do what I could to find the dog, and spoke to two friends. I am drained and I am so sad. So sad for the animals. Sad for the people who no longer have the existence that they once knew. Sad for whatever and whoever is left in that toxic swamp. Sad because so much of this could have been prevented.
Thanks for letting me share my feelings. I am going to bed and just holding my dogs, my breathing, live dogs.
1 comment:
I am heartbroken and I feel so helpless. I want to help and have given money, more money than I should. I want to do more for those poor animals and for those poor people. Thank god for those who are there helping. How can they keep going? Many have been working now for 2 weeks at an exhausting rate.
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