In the spring of 2011, I received an email that was filled disturbing content. Concordia Animal Control in Kansas sent out a plea to all Colorado Dog Rescues. The email was filled with a descriptive tale outlining four Hound dogs that had been chained on four foot leads and left to die in a suburban backyard.
The animal control officer that had generated the plea for rescue had turned to Colorado in hopes that four good homes could be located for the recovering hounds. The officer knew that finding rescue within Kansas state lines was next to impossible because hound dogs are a dime-a-dozen.
As I read the story of the emaciated hounds and the neglect they had suffered, I knew that I needed to take action. I had to find rescue for these poor animals. I immediately forwarded the email to everyone in Colorado that I knew was a dog lover. Next, I trashed the email. Because after all, I had done my part for the hounds.
The same email arrived again just a couple of days later. This time the message was marked urgent. Rescue in Colorado had not come through. After spending thousands of dollars on nursing the dogs back from the brink of death, they were in danger of being euthanized. Of course, I did what any dog lover would do; I forwarded the email. Again, I sent the plea to everyone in Colorado that I knew had a rescue dog, wanted to rescue a dog, and simply loved rescue dogs.
A week later a similar email from the same author arrived in my box. I was appalled. No one had offered a safe place for these refugees. Only one rescue in Colorado had stepped up; they took two of the hounds.
I thought to myself, Of all the people in Colorado I sent the rescue email to, not one had room in their home for two hound dogs?! NOT ONE! I was disturbed by the lack of empathy my friends had shown. Moreover, I was disappointed that no one offered any kind of help.
It was at that moment I realized that I hadn’t done anything to help secure rescue in Colorado for any of the hounds. And there my personal rescue story began. Forty eight hours and a thousand phone calls later, I drove from Colorado to Kansas to rescue a couple of hound dogs.
