Change of plans

[Zach]

Recently, something like this happened to me.

In early January, I decided one morning to drive over to the Daniel Boone National Forest, to hike on a trail that I had seen on a map, but never been on myself.  It took me a while to find it...it was in a very rural, isolated area, deep forest, and the access point was not well marked, so I drove past it, and had to backtrack to find it.  Finally I found the trailhead, and parked my truck, and gathered my things for a long hike.  As I was doing so, an emaciated, starving Walker Hound walked up to me, wagging his tail. 

I started my hike, but decided I should try to capture the hound, and take him home and feed him, and see if I could find a home for him.  He had two collars on; one, an orange nylon collar with no tags or identifiying marks; the other, an electronic shock collar.  I suspected that he had been abandoned by his owner; this sort of thing happens often with coon hounds.

The weather was very cold, well below freezing.  I was many miles from any town large enough to have a store that sold dog food.  I managed to catch the dog (who by that time had trotted quite a way up the mountainside, way into the woods), bring him back to the truck, and tie him into the bed.  I drove about 20 miles into a town, found a store with some dog food, and bought a bag, along with a dog bowl, and fed him.  It was obvious that he hadn't eaten in a long time, and was probably near to death by starvation.  I could count all the bones in his tail; I haven't ever seen a dog so thin and bony.  After feeding him I countinued on home on a secondary road.  I was afraid that he'd die from the cold air, in the back of my truck.

So I got him home.  He had a sore on his back, and the end of his tail had been abraided or cut off; he'd had a really hard time of it.  I can show you a picture, but it doesn't convey how thin this dog was, or how near to starvation:





I built a shelter for him out of some spare straw bales.  He went right in:



(To be continued.......)

When I was living in Costa Rica I saw quite a few dogs in really bad condition. It was a huge lesson for me in the sense that I am a HUGE animal lover; I've kept snakes, rats dogs cats, but it taught me I can't help them all. I was feeding my dog raw at the time (I brought her with me) and I would try to throw some meat or even buy dog food specifically for the strays dogs but all of them were extremely skiddish so I would toss some meat near them and they would jet off. I tried leaving food in certain spots but there was an element of needing to understand what they are going through and the bigger picture and how this experience for them is temporary, and I can't spend all my energy worrying about them all day long as this would be draining, the best thing I could do is feed or give water when I could and send them loving thoughts affirming their true nature. My neighbor, who was a coke dealer, had a vicious (fearful) pitbull that he would leave on a chain for days with no water. Such a sad situation to see...I had to find clever ways to give him water and food since this was not the kind of dog you want to mess with up close (atleast in its 'current' state..he loved his owner and his owners brother regardless).

If theres something I can do physically speaking, I will always do it...but sometimes I just couldn't financially speaking. This was difficult to come to terms with. I was able to rescue a young cat while I was there. he was extremely skinny and I got him on a raw diet and took him in. It was kind of hell, but it worked out... I guess. He pee'd all over the house. I didn't know what I was going to do with him when I had to leave and this was really hard to deal with...since I know that the view of cats and dogs over there isn't the same as it is here. Many people simply don't care or see them as dirty and a nuisance. The local vet said he wouldn't take him...but luckily the day I was to leave he wasn't there at the time and the lady who was his helper there took him in..this was an hour before I was heading to the airport. I had the cat in a backpack...lol (had to). I told her he was my pet and I can't care for him anymore and although I don't know what happened to the little guy, I feel that I left him in good hands and he would find a home. He was certainly better off than the state in which I found him and thats good enough for me. I wish I still had pictures.