I’m a total critter chick. Given the choice, I’ll almost always choose four legs over two. It could be my superhero name. Critter chick. Louder than a yapping puppy. More powerful than cat dander. Able to pet four dogs with a single hand. Look! There on the curb! It’s a dog. It’s a cat. It’s Critter Chick! I lean toward the furry & the feathered, but am not opposed to the smooth or scaly either. Cockroaches and waterbugs, however, are on their own.
I can’t pass up a happy dog and the sad ones break my heart, so I couldn’t keep walking when I found Dog tied to a standpipe, shaking, scared, his bones sticking through his skin & fur. He tried to stand but his back legs were so weak, he shook & shook and would maybe get a few steps, then collapse. No collar. No tags. Just fear, old age & bones.
I checked around, asked everyone I could find, was shooed away from an art space then followed out by an odd grey pinstriped suit with a Joker smile and a camera. He photographed me and Dog as we sat on the street trying to figure what to do, as I tried to calm Dog. He reminded me of that a “starving dog as art hoax” and if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with finding a place for Dog, I would have literally kicked the suit to the curb as he squatted and click click clicked his fancy camera at us.
I called shelters all over, no one could come get him. I considered taking Dog home, but there were the cats, the buildings rules and the fact that I’m never home. I hesitated picking him up. I know enough about dogs and zoonotic disease to be cautious. He was scared & a bit growly at first. I’d be cranky and growly too if someone left me tied to a pole to starve on the street.
But no one would come get him, no one claimed ownership and the police refused to help. I decided to scoop Dog up and we’d drive up the east side: Bide A Wee, Humane Society, ASPCA and finally, if no one could take him, to the NYCACC – the city pound. Yes, I know it’s a kill shelter, but it’s kinder than letting an animal starve to death on the street. Close to 40,000 dogs and cats wound up in New York City’s overcrowded shelters last year. More than half of them are killed. Spay and neuter your critters people.
I bent to scoop up this bag of bones up when I heard “Hey, that’s Daisy. I’ve never seen her without her mom. She looks terrible.” We found Daisy’s mom, sitting in a cafe, less than concerned that her dog came this close to getting lost in the shelter system and possibly euthanized; oblivious to the fact that Daisy was too old and infirm to be left out in the elements; totally unaware that unattended dogs are stolen and used as “bait” in illegal dogfighting rings.
When you take responsiblity for an animal’s life, you are RESPONSIBLE – look it up people. How you care for your animal is how you show it. Spay & neuter your critters. Adopt from shelters when you can. And you, Oblivous-Girl, arch enemy of CritterChick – If you care enough to name it, care enough to claim it. Tag your fucking dog, dammit.
These are great.
Wonderfull…