A dog owner in Corpus Christi, Texas apparently tried to help his young dog via a home splinting/bandaging job on both front legs. He ended up causing additional harm to the dog and decided to leave him in a highly visible location, presumably in hopes that someone with the means to obtain proper vet care would help the dog. That happened via a good Samaritan and a local rescue group.
The treating vet says that upon bandage removal, one of the dog’s front legs fell off due to gangrene and they are working to save the other leg. He told the local paper:
“Money is not as important as trying to do the right thing for unfortunate dogs or cats,” he said. “I would never put a dog to sleep for lack of funding.”
In contrast, the website for the Corpus Christi pound states that they only accept surrendered animals by appointment – which requires an in-person visit to the pound in order to fill out a form requesting said appointment – and only when they have space. And they may kill the pet immediately upon intake “if inadequate space exists, if the animal is not highly adoptable, or if the animal appears to be ill or injured.” “Inadequate space” is not “no space” but they don’t define what pound employees consider “inadequate”. “Highly adoptable” is another subjective term which they also fail to define: if a pet is not adopted within an hour of surrender, is he no longer “highly adoptable” because duh, no one rushed to adopt him? Where does a scruffy little dog with falling off legs rank in the adoptability spectrum? And “appears to be ill or injured” is also vague and also scary. Is illness or injury something you can tell just by looking? A cough is an illness, a torn toenail is an injury – exactly who is eyeballing the appearance of the animals and making these assessments?
The city of Corpus Christi is not operating a shelter. Instead they are using taxpayer funds to run a pet killing facility. People do not want to take pets, no matter how dire the circumstances, to pet killing facilities. Rescue groups and animal lovers are willing to partner with municipal facilities to save lives. Implementing the proven programs of the No Kill Equation saves lives. Corpus Christi could provide true shelter to animals in need and get them adopted but the city chooses not to do that.
Any questions as to why a compassionate owner in Corpus Christi would think it’s better to tie his leg-falling-off dog to a row of mailboxes rather than take him to the so-called shelter?
Oh my god – poor beastie. But yes, people will rail against the owner when the owner clearly had limited resources (including apparently money) and no one to turn to.
I continue to read about these killing factories and really want to make a difference. I’ve tried writing, emailing, calling, etc and it seems as if it has to be someone local who spearheads an organized effort to make the changes that need to be made. Any thoughts on those of us who are willing to do something, but don’t live in a particular area, can do?
Unfortunately, this baby died the other day due to his heart giving out. That is the saddest thing I have ever heard.