August 29, 2018
Hello my friends, today I have decided to blog about something completely off subject of vampires. My greatest passion in this life is animals. Not just dogs or cats but all animals. Over the last 40 years i have saved my fair share of animals and with the grace of God I will continue to do so. I recently was asked ‘why do you do this to yourself?’. You would think that my answer would have been spontaneous, without hesitation or thought, but the truth is the question had a profound impact on me. Why do I do this? We all know that animals lives are very short in contrast to ours, which means I must also deal with a lot of their deaths. Losing one of my fur babies, whether they are in my life for a day, week, month or many years still breaks my heart. The pain is real, the loss is devastating and my home irrevocably changed. The missing characteristic of that one specific member of my family gone changes the course of my life. I have choices, just like we all do. I could choose to mourn the loss and close my heart off to another animal so I don’t have to feel that pain ever again, or I can choose to love another knowing that death is inevitable.
Some describe me as a glutton for punishment, while others admire my dedication but absolutely vow that they couldn t do it themselves. Which leads me back to the original question, why do I do it? I realized that I hesitated not because I didn’t have an answer, but rather the answer is not black and white, it is many shades of grey. Doing rescues, taking on newborns, trapping ferals, being responsible, making a difference in the animal world requires dedication, a strong will, a heart with a capacity to love immeasurably and time, and that’s not even including my own household of 4-legged idiots I have running around making a mess and taking up the entire couch to snooze. I choose to mourn those I lose but to also rejoice in the life they lived. Countless animals suffer on a daily basis in this world, the Yulin meat festival, dog fighting, puppy mills, the list goes on and on. So many animals, domestic and wild die horrible deaths, alone, beaten done, parasite infested, sicknesses, broken, cold and hungry.
Some born on the streets having to fend off predators at the start of their life, some born in cold cages in puppy mills, the cage steel biting into their paws, others belonging to a home and then one day find themselves being dumped along a road in the middle of nowhere. No food, no shelter, no warm caring hand to soothe the despair away and left to just die. I can’t imagine being alone in the dead of winter, trying to find a small safe semi dry place to lay my head but never really getting a good nights sleep because their are others out there trying to survive as well and every thing is a predator so they have to be on guard at all times. They must weather the bitter cold even if that means they lose their ears to frost bite. They must survive the excruciating heat of dead summer where water becomes a luxury. They go from day to day not knowing if their bellies will be filled.
Every animal not spayed or neutered can reproduce over and over, compounding the already existing problem. So I trap them when I can, I get them spayed/neutered and then if they are completely feral I release them back to their territory or if I can to a healthy farm dedicated to helping the forgotten ones. If there are babies I baby bottle raise them and with the help of an outstanding woman named Debbie, we find them good homes. It takes a village they say to raise a child, I often times wonder why the village doesn’t to God’s creatures.
So to answer the question, I do it for them, I do it for me, I do it because I can. To open my home and my heart to one that is in need, is the right thing to do. Giving them a chance to heal and to learn what a kind hand is, to stroke their fur and talk to them, nourish them, teach them, but ultimately love them has its own rewards. I have learned just as much from them as they have from me. If someone beat the crap out of me repetitively I can honestly tell you, I would not forgive but seek revenge, yet an animal will continue to love that person and even die for them if need be. Their unconditional love for their human no matter how horrible that person is, is mind blowing. I learned not to take a beating, not to watch a beating happen but get involved no matter what.
Do I suffer from a broken heart? All the time, but I choose to remember how that animals life ended instead of how it started. I remember the snuggles, the licks, the tail wags, the motor revving, the adoring eyes but most of all I remember the LOVE. To love an animal and to be loved, by an animal is a true blessing. I will continue with this journey until God takes me home and I can only hope and pray that they all are waiting for me, but until then, Im here and I’m doing what I can, whenever I can and when the moment comes for one to lie their head done forever, it will be with a loving, kind, gentle hand stroking their fur and my voice saying that I love them. I will mourn, I will sob, I will ask God why and I will rescue yet again, knowing that I am saving a life.
