Imagine being chained to a car and left in a storage locker for a week with no water and temperatures outside hovering around 100 degrees.
You're starving, thirsty, dehydrated, confused, and don't understand why this is happening to you.
It sounds like a plot for a Stephen King novel, but it isn't. This is what happened to a four month old dog who is now named Braveheart.
Braveheart was discovered by the owners of the locker facility off Youree Drive. He was as close to death as he could possibly be. He was rushed to the emergency animal clinic, and later was later taken to Benton Animal Hospital where he miraculously survived. The pictures posted by Lumberjack Rescue on their Facebook page are awful; if you want to see a starved, carcass of a dog, you can go look. You can read more about his story here.
The good folks at Benton Animal Hospital have cared and nurtured Braveheart to the point where he was able to be fostered out to Ronda and Bo Spataro; Ronda works at the animal hospital and Braveheart has been going to work with her.
TSR LA Baby Mommas Rescue has also been involved in caring for Braveheart. An auction was organized and many in the community have pledged and raised money for Braveheart's care, because really, nobody wants to see a dog abused and abandoned like this.
Braveheart was making a terrific recovery. A video of him running across a green, grassy yard and playing with other dogs, tail wagging, eyes bright, was posted on social media last week. It was a miracle!
Until yesterday.
Yesterday, Caddo Animal Control came and took Braveheart away from the Spataros, put him in a kennel, and abandoned him once again at Animal Control. They said he is "evidence." Property. There's an investigation going on, you see, into the people that did this to Braveheart.
It defies common sense why anyone would take this dog away from a loving foster family where he is getting top notch care, and place him in a cold, soulless kennel. His immune system is highly vulnerable and he is susceptible to the plethora of diseases in a pound.
The Spataros are devastated. The community is outraged. KTAL did a story on it last night which will bring you to tears.
What can you do? Email everyone on the Caddo Commission and tell them, respectfully, that this dog needs to be returned to his foster family. Keeping him at Animal Control is a death sentence. The Spataros are responsible, professional people who will take care of the dog and restore him to health. There are plenty of pictures that are "evidence"; to keep the dog in a kennel at Animal Control is just cruel and reaffirms his loss of faith in humans. You can start with an email or phone call to Everett Harris and Charles Wilson.
Free Braveheart!
(Thanks to Chad Rogers at Dead Pelican for sharing Braveheart's story).
I cannot understand the mentality of a person that would let a sweet, innocent dog suffer like that. Braveheart deserves the stress-free, loving environment that his foster family can provide.
ReplyDeleteI have emailed both gentlemen. Hope it helps.