This was not an emotional ASPCA commercial. The animals were not being slaughtered. This was not an organized animal police puppy mill bust.This was not a highly publicized case of unjust animal cruelty-- a zoo icon's life lost.
This was worse. Much worse.
Because for me, this was real life. It was all happening right in front of me and I was helpless. I was not an outspoken PETA activist. I was not protesting. I was not throwing blood or even trying to adopt a pet from my local kill shelter. I was no humanitarian. I was buying $80 worth of Gain laundry detergent at my local Walmart. And never would I have imagined the sight in front of me would so strongly impact me.
The sight was nothing out of the ordinary. A man was sitting on the bed of his small pickup truck in the parking lot of the gas station beside the hometown Scottsboro, Alabama Walmart holding a puppy.
And I did what no true animal lover can really do without feeling a small pang of sadness. I asked the man if I could pet his small, fury, and heavily panting puppy. And then asked if I could hold her.
No idiot to the practices of designer dog breeding and selling, I began to ask him questions, killing time so I could cherish this small, cute life in my arms. Easily noticable as a shih tzu.
The more he talked, the harder my heart pounded and the quicker my mind began racing thinking about how to talk him out of this puppy.
Snuggling the puppy as close to my heart as I could, I noticed her stomach was as hard as a rock. Common for young puppys who have not been wormed. But, this was different. Her eyes were wide and blank, frantically jumping from me to the man who calls himself her owner. Her nose was sandpaper. She had no energy and in no way reacted to my flood of affection. The closer I held her, the further she pulled away.
'Are you a breeder,' I asked, 'or did your furbaby have her?' . . . His response floored me.
'Well,' he says ever so nonchalantly, 'my friend and I don't really breed a certain type. We have a variety of dogs for a variety of different reasons . . . Just two days ago we had a shih tzu mix die and she was expecting about 9 puppies. It was such a waste of money.'
'Please do not tell me you sell to people who fight these dogs?!'
'Honestly, I just ask people for the money. It is too hard to know what people will do with them and it is isn't my problem. We have a variety of dogs for a variety of different reasons,' he repeats.
He then promises me he can get me any type of dog for any type of reason I might need. It is not hard to understand the implication of dog fighting.
Squeezing this sweet little girl tighter I tried to convince him we were meant to be together.
'You like her?' he asks, 'well just look in here,'.
To my horror he opened the truck door and in the bottom dog carrier, a carrier not even the size of a bag you can fit under your airplane seat were three more shih tzu puppies. As he reached in to grab one they immediately began yipping and huddled together in a corner.
'They must not like you,' I mumbled. Stunned.
He then begins to explain that since the were taken from their mother at 3 weeks old and he has not touched them since. He didn't have time. They were not vaccinated or wormed because that was a 'waste of his personal money'. Because it is summer and people are on vacation, his 'business' is suffering and the puppies aren't worth the personal investement.
Even though I have my fair share of furbabies, I was desperate and hoping he would see my love and have a change of heart. I knew somehow any life I could find for these puppies would be better than the inevitable fate of that dirty crate.
Slamming his truck door in the face of three small puppies huddled in the heat, he demands $400 each, 'I need the money,' he tells me.
Cash I did not have in that gas station parking lot, I asked for his phone number or email or a way to contact him after I left. He gives me his number as he tosses the little girl puppy through his truck window by the scruff of her neck. A lion taking its' prey.
I put his number in my phone and hurried back to the car, not wanting him to see the weakness of my tears. The helplessness in my heart.
I have yet to stop crying and my heart is too heavy to sleep knowing the sad puppy I held in my arms and countless others are facing unthinkable circumstances in conditions that pictures can never fully convey.
While this was no full on "In The Arms Of An Angel" commercial, this was much worse. Because when I see a commercial on t.v. or a news clip of an animal neglect story, I am always the first to say, "I would do something to stop that. I would not let that happen." Yet here I was letting it happen.
Just because an animal is not on the street, skin and bones, on death row at a shelter, or endangered does not mean it is being bred in happy, healthy, safe, or loving conditions! Just because a dog is designer and little and cute does not mean it is facing life threatening conditions and brutality! Cut puppies die, too.
Though I know I cannot by any means save them all, I cannot rest KNOWING I can make a difference in the tiny life I held close to my heart. So, tomorrow I have arranged to meet at the same location and "purchase" these tiny animals from him.
I know there are SO many worthy causes to give to, so many lives that need to be saved, and so many cases of this disgusting animal neglect.
But, please, please, help me cover the costs of to have these tiny terrified lives properly cared for. Vaccinations for each puppy cost from about $200-$300 and $100-$200 for spay and neuter.
After these puppies are in proper health and adequately socialized, my intention is to reach out to Vanderbilt Children's hospital in Nashville, TN and have them certfiied as emotional support animals to be placed with children who suffer from homebound illnesses, depression or an illness that does not allow for the energy of larger dogs, or who otherwise are deemed fit for the emotional support of a companion dog by their pediatrician.
(Though this was a long post this was by no means the full extent of the horendousconversation I had with this man.)
