Those of you who know me well are probably thinking "What? You don't like people..." and that's usually true. In general, people scare me. They say mean things, and care mostly about themselves, and are generally harmful to other people, animals and the environment. I usually try to avoid people whenever possible. But sometimes I meet people who say nice things, and care about others, and help other people, animals and the environment. That's when I decide maybe there are more people who I do like than people who I don't. So here's a story of something that helped me remember why I do like people:
Our rescue group received a call from a shelter about a beagle. The problem wasn't the beagle, it was the beagle's owners. They had not spayed the beagle, and when they found out she was pregnant, they decided to get rid of her. So because of these selfish people, the beagle was going to have to be put down. The shelter called us yesterday. It was the beagle's last chance - they'd contacted all the rescue groups and people they knew of, but no one else had room. Our main foster home had received two of these calls in the past month -- she already said "yes" to both of those dogs, so had no room left for this one. Likewise, I couldn't take her since I was well over my limit of dogs and didn't have the time or resources to care for another one. So it looked as if this beagle would die, as would her puppies, just like so many other dogs before her. But I just received word that another Heartland volunteer would take the beagle. Even though she's also very limited on time and resources, she managed to make room for one more.
It's just a dog, right? Lots of dogs being killed all the time - lots of reasons we can't save this one. Because no, we can't save them all. But I can save two... and Gina, Angela, Donna, Karen, Lori, Shannon, Donna and Sue each save more... and if we could get a few more names added to that list, we could save even more. And maybe, someday, we COULD save them all. It took one person to be a bad owner, not bother to spay/neuter their dog, then dump her and create this problem. It took several people, from the animal shelter where the dog was taken, to the HHS volunteer who answered the phone and sent out the plea, to the foster mom who took the dog, to solve the problem. It'll still take more actually - people to donate time and money to HHS to pay the vet bills and supplies for the dog and puppies, and then people to adopt the beagle and her puppies once they're ready. That is a LOT of people I like, all to fix a problem of one person I don't like. So all in all, I'll have to say that at the moment at least, I like people!
