Animal Welfare Professionals

Was there an experience that you had that had a huge impact on you and inspired you to dedicate your time to helping animals?  Share your story!

 

Sheila

Director of Research

Maddie's Fund

#PeopleManagement
#impact
#experience
#dogs
#cats
#story

i was asked to help a friend to capture a stray dog from his neighborhood. I had no experience in catching a stray dog but agreed to help. This animal had been in this neighborhood for about 6 weeks before I was asked to help. The dog would only come out at night and when the sun would start to rise she would go back into the woods until the following night. We put food out for her which at some point during the night she would eat. We were not able to see her in the time we spent waiting, after a couple of weeks we put out a trail cam and finally seen her. She would come to eat at about 2am. This animal was a beautiful white German Shepard. From the photos we could tell her front leg was injured. We stayed a couple nights until the wee hours of the morning, hoping we could coax her in to us. Each time this sweet girl seen us she would run back to the woods (on three legs). We knew we couldn't catch her on our own and she had already proven she wouldn't enter an animal control trap. We contacted a gentleman that someone had told us was very good at catching strays. This gentleman came down to us from a neighboring city and began to help. He brought with him a net. This net was about 6 feet in diameter and was secured to a hoop of PVC pipe. He hung that net from a tree, with a rope about 100 ft long. He hung that net about 6 ft high and placed a food bowl under it directly in the center. Each night he would place a Ham Hock in the food bowl an the dog would come and eat it. He did this for a few nights then on the fourth night he started lowering the net about one foot per night. Eventually he had the net low enough that the dog would have to lower its head to get under it. On the last night he held the end of the rope while hiding in a carport, and waited on the dad to come. Well she finally came and once she began to eat the Ham Hock, he let the net drop onto her. Needless to say this scared her terribly. We ran up to her, and held the net down so she wouldn't escape. It only took a few seconds for the dog to settle down and allow us to pet her thru the net. Working thru the net we put a collar and leash on her, and removed the net. This poor baby just sat there shaking in fear of us, but never growled or snapped at us. Well we put her thru a lot of vetting which included a leg amputation, and treatment for a case of mange.  Today this white beauty has done remarkably well. We named her Ghost, and today after over a year this baby is commingled out of her shell. She loves attention and is trying to learn to play with our othe dogs. 

If this baby can overcome her fear and disabilities, I knew I should do whatever I could to help other animals that we human beings have let down time and time again.

Today Ghost is a happy member of our family, and will never want for anything she needs

#PeopleManagement

What a beautiful story, and a beautiful girl. Thanks so much for sharing! Does your organization help dogs and cats, or just dogs?

#PeopleManagement

When I was a young child, there was a time my parents would not let our family have any pets (the main reason was that we were poor). There was a neighborhood stray cat that I loooooved and bonded with....fleas and all. One day I found the kitty in the back yard, limp and barely breathing. My older sister and I scooped her into a box and ran as fast as we could to the nearest vet, about a mile away. When we got to the clinic, we were turned away because we could not pay. We took her home and cried until she died. I vowed I would be a veterinarian and never turn down a patient that was suffering or needed my help. Although I was never brilliant enough to become a veterinarian, I try to fulfill that life goal toward our animal compantions in other ways

#PeopleManagement

When I was a kid, about 5-7years old, we had a dog. She was a German shepherd/ Rottweiler mix and her name was Kaia. I was pretty much the only one taking care off her even though I was pretty young, so naturally she stuck around me the most. When I was 6, she started limping on her front right paw one summer, My step-father had said that she'd just twisted her paw and that she would be fine, but it continued for months of on and off limping but still my step dad wrote it off and refused to have her looked at. About a year and a half later after I turned 8, my mom (who always worked 2 jobs to support my brother, me, and my step-father,) Finally took her to the vet, only to find out Kaia had had bone caner the whole time. I was devastated when we euthanized her, she was my best buddy, and even now I tear up thinking about her. It was around that time that I knew I wanted a career based around animals, I'm lucky in the fact that I had come across an opening here at LTBHS, and I had promised my self that I would help these animals in the ways I couldn't for my own dog years ago. 

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Ky Crawford
Animal Care Attendant
Little Traverse Bay Humane Society
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-12-2017 10:37 AM
From: Sheila Segurson
Subject: What experience inspired you to help animals?

Was there an experience that you had that had a huge impact on you and inspired you to dedicate your time to helping animals?  Share your story!

 

Sheila

Director of Research

Maddie's Fund

#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)
#impact
#experience
#dogs
#cats
#story