Part Two - The OneWe Left Behind

The picture in part one is the lucky dog, who has some love and attention. These two are the others that hang out at the junkyard. They are probably all from the same litter.

As you can see, one has his eye badly infected. Alissa said that the feral packs had been beating him up. She wants to bring him in to the shelter, but they are full up. Since he has pitbull in him, he is also not very adoptable, even though friendly. (Marsha's Katrina Dog, Billie, has pit bull too, but he's a scaredy cat and a lap dog.)

The man at the junkyard said he had seen someone put something in the dogs' food, and the infection started clearing up soon after, so we assume that it was antibiotics. We don't know who the man is, just another of the anonymous helpers there.There is a woman from NOLA that saw the picture and is trying to track the dog down to bring to a humane shelter. I haven't heard if she got him or not.

Three Junkyard Dogs, Part One

We went out on rounds with on of the trappers, Alissa. One of her spots was a junkyard in Chalmette. Here there were 3 dogs, pit bull mixes, young and not completely socialized but very sweet.

The junkyard man is caring for one who he thinks of as his dog. The man was a story in himself, with a withered hand and seemingly developmentally disabled, and a craggy face that had it’s own corrosive classic quality, half ugly, half weirdly beautiful.

Alissa has finally made the man understand the importance of having his dog neutered and he is willing, but there is no one that can pick up the dog and take him to the vet. There are vets there that will do $20 neuters in this sort of case.

That she could make this man understand makes me wonder again why no one else there seems to get it.

Tough Weekend at ARNO

This weekend was a rough one at ARNO. Tom, one of the three full-timers and a volunteer, has had to leave for Chicago. Jackie is unable to get out of bed from a back injury. That leaves Robin, all 110 pounds or so of her, to take care of the 200 plus animals.

I’m told a lot of local volunteers showed up to help out, though. I know that at least one person flew in from out of state to be there. Once again, the people involved here go to un-thought of lengths to be a part of something bigger than themselves. I wish I could be there right now.

I’ve been sewing and mailing ”cool snakes,” aka doggie bandanas down there. I will try to get a photo of one of them on this site.

Contibutions from Capt’n Jeannie and Dave (Girard) paid for materials and mailing of the first 3 dozen. They are filled with horticultural polymers that swell up with cool water are then tied around the neck of the dog or person and help keep them cool for several hours. I am hoping that one of the garden centers will donate a bucket of the polymers. I'll be running around tomorrow with hat in hand.

SCAers - they are great for events. Easy to make, too.