Pet Adoptions Can Sometimes Backfire. Now Josie Needs Our Help.
June 2, 2011 By Teresa Rowell | Reprinted with permission from Examiner.com
Animal rescuers are usually volunteers, meaning they rescue out of compassion.
They usually operate on donations and, with any luck, grant money.
They spend countless hours caring for as many animals as they possibly can; most while working full time jobs.
When it comes time to place one of their rescues into a home, it means everything to them that it be just the right place for both the pet and the new owner.
They screen potential adopters through interviews and sometimes home visits.
They believe the adopters have come to them because they truly want to add a new member to the family. It may be the heart-wrenching story behind the former life the animal endured. Or, perhaps it was the photograph that captured the animal’s personality that just drew them in.
For whatever reason, the rescuer will always make a very prudent decision about the adoption. And, you can believe the heart, which took the animal in in the first place, plays a big role in their assessment of letting the animal go.
So, when an adoption backfires, there is nothing more disturbing.
Such is the case of Josephine, a black lab mix, that was taken in by Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO).
Josie, as she is lovingly called, was found in a yard behind a warehouse. She had been abandoned. Just let behind.
ARNO took her into their adoption program, vetted her and socialized her. They reminded her everyday that people cared about her and that one day she would find a home of her own.
And Josie was adopted.
ARNO was founded in 2005 and has been saving the lives of abandoned and homeless animals in Louisiana and Mississippi, beginning with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. They are an all volunteer, non-profit group with impeccable dedication to rescue.
When they learned that Josie had merely been left out in a back yard on a hard concrete slab, they were devastated.
It is just one of the many things rescuers dread hearing. But, it can happen.
Josie was taken away immediately and returned to ARNO. However, she has sustained damage to her hips from enduring the discomfort of the concrete floor.
Josie is in need of a partial hip replacement.
And yes, ARNO WILL save her once again.
But, you can help.
If you would like to make a donation for Josie’s surgery, you can click on donate or you can send any amount you can spare to ARNO at 271 Plauche Street, Jefferson, LA 70123.
Remember, without donations, it is impossible for valuable rescuers such as these to continue doing what they do.
If they don’t do it, who will?
UPDATE
Since Josie the black lab originally went to the ortho specialist at Southpaws Veterinary Surgical Specialists, another problem has surfaced in addition to her hip. Josie’s ears, plagued with chronic infections for months, have become calcified and now an acute pain area. Soablasion is the only method to deal with her pain. The ear procedure will be done before the hip surgery. The specialists told us that doing the ear first is paramount to make sure there is no infection that could become systemic and interfere with proper healing from hip surgery. Josie will be going in for ear surgery very soon.
If you can find it in your heart, please donate to help this big, beautiful, sweet black lab become the dog she longs to be and no longer feel pain. Josie is in foster with one of our directors at her farm in Springfield, LA. Josie will alsorecuperate there from both surgeries before being put up for adoption…again.
We will be going ahead with the ear surgery very soon, even if we have not collected enough funds. The specialists want the hip surgery to occur within the next few months or they fear she may lose the ability to walk in her hind legs.
About the Author
Teresa Rowell has operated Don’t Be Cruel Sanctuary, a 501c3 animal rescue in Livingston Parish, for eight years. She is a board member and volunteer for Tangi Humane Society. Her grant writing successes have funded over $10,000 for animals in her community. Teresa graduated from USF with a BA in Journalism.