Some people mean well..... - 11/26/2001

..... but man they bungle things.

See an add in a paper for puppies, and pay $200 cause you think it'll be cool to own one. Then keep it outside, chained, for a year, up until your neighbor sees it and they give me a call..... thankfully I was at home and not at work.

You can be damned sure those people don't have the animal anymore. They meant well, I'm sure, but when you can see an animal's ribs through thick winter coat..... or literally cup it's belly in your hand...... not to mention you're tweakers and since you forget to feed yourself, I guess the animal doesn't need to eat, or becuase it's naturally wild, and has fur, so can be kept outside year round..... staked to the ground.........

I don't want to know how miserable this poor guy was.

At least they gave him up without a fight. It wouldn't have been pretty if they decided to object to walking in with "I'm taking this animal. Now." Had to dig down 2 feet to uproot that stake.

Then once we got him back to my place, we had to use a hacksaw to cut the chain off his neck. Which, get this, he stood patiently and completely still for.

And people tell me animals are stupid?

Bought him a padded collar, cause it must've sucked to have that heavy chain (we're talking 15 or so feet of thick 1" links) around his neck the entire time. Held his head up higher, instantly.

Sucked down two slices of bread, two eggs, 1 full can of special formula puppy wet food, and 9 cups of soaked puppy chow and still looked like this....

My god..... to simply see his eyes after he had that first bowl of food. To see the fire return to them....

And people ask me why they shouldn't own a wild animal as a pet. It's because 80% of them end up like this.

So now, Nick (he liked that name better than what he had) is on his way to a home in a nearby mountain town that can keep him until we're able to hook him up with a Wildlife Rescue Facility somewhere in the state. The zoo won't take him, and I'm not sure why, more than likely it's because we don't have a cage for him that's appropriate. Or he may not be native, I'm not sure. But I'm also not the person that talked to the zoo about taking him, I only called them back to get the director to look up some phone numbers for me (gotta love knowing who to talk to). So he called back, and my boss called back sometime later, with numbers, and even a facility in San Diego that rescues them....... so hopefully, all will end well.