Animals Need Friends Too

Well, Christmas is done and we're about to fall off the cliff. Jeez, I'm so tired of the squabbling and one upmanship in Washington, D.C. I say grow up and do the job, or go home.

There should be an easier way to fire lawmakers than having to wait for an election. I can't stand car salesmen, but I think lawmakers are right up there on my you know what list.  Forgive me, but it's been a very trying 24 hours.

Remember my neighbor's barking dogs? Oh, and the vicious one? The vicious dog got taken away several months ago, but we still contended with the barking ones. They did put them in the house at night. I know, I know, two huge black lab/dane mixes, and a heeler of medium size in a house. WOW!

The story doesn't end there. A water pipe broke this summer at the neighbor's house. The water was turned off, and the neighbors moved, but they didn't take the 3 dogs. Poor dogs.

Two of those dogs have been in that house since July or August of this year. One has been outside. We kept noticing that trips to feed and water were becoming more infrequent. We still had some barking and we called our local police, but they quit responding. A couple of months ago we tried to get help for the dogs, but alas, no help from the animal control officer or the chief of police was forthcoming.

Lovely environment. The poor dog is behind the tree and yes,

the water and feed dishes were empty, the way they stayed

most of the time.

Did I mention we had a number of snakes this year? Look at that yard! Is it any wonder? You know what the city inspector said? He couldn't go into that yard because it was surrounded by a 6 ft. vinyl fence. So we just kept our hoe and shovel handy for killing snakes.

This is the heeler. I kept wondering why I didn't see the other large

black dog in the window. I found out last night that it was in a dog

crate full of feces. The house, I guess, is covered with dog feces.

Gruesome subject huh?

The story has to be told to raise awareness of animal abuse. I never considered myself an advocate for animals, but this situation made me cry more than once. In fact I had no cuddly feelings about these dogs, but  they took my heart and all I wanted to do was feed and water them.

The situation exploded yesterday when I looked over the fence and I could see rib bones with skin and hair stretched over them. The dog's spine was protruding. I cried, then I got mad. We had a promise from the animal control officer earlier in the day that he would rescue the animals. Well, four-thirty pm came and darkness was getting closer. We were fearful that the dog wouldn't make it much longer. He/She was still in the same position as earlier that day. Not standing, not sitting, just kind of crouched and those sad, defeated eyes begged us for help.

     

This was taken in November, before the situation digressed so bad.

See all those round balls? Those are those thorny balls off a gumshoe tree.

Believe me, they hurt, cause our backyard is covered with them from

guess who?  The neighbor we really love.

That poor dog had to walk on those dang things. Well, back to my story. I had to get a council person involved, but he managed to get the whole police department down here and they removed all three animals. I forgot to tell them about the crippled cat. I don't know if it's still in the house or dead.

I have a sadness in my heart now because I had to cause trouble for the neighbor to get something done for the poor dogs. What do you do?

The dog catcher, (I say that loosely) told us this morning that the dogs are still alive. That's about all we know. If you know anyone that loves animals, call the DA here in Craig County of Oklahoma and ask him to make sure they don't get the animals back and if you want a dog, beg them to let you adopt one of these animals after the court takes them from the owner or they relinquish them.

Sorry I shared a sad story, but I'm living it, surely you can find some sympathy in your heart for these animals and be ready to defend the weak.

Until Later,

Okie Girl @ Home