There were over 40 rescue groups there from all over the East Coast, over 500 hundred dogs and a tent full of more cats than I could count. There were also educational booths with information on everything from the horrors of puppy mills to the greatness of pit bulls. For those of you unfamiliar with Best Friends Animal Society, they are the ones on the National Geographic TV show “Dogtown” and the organization responsible for rehabilitating the Michael Vick dogs. Many of the Best Friends people working the event came all the way in from Utah and worked tirelessly to pull an event of this size off.
Once the doors opened the whole area was a buzz of activity. People and dogs everywhere you turned. It was exhilarating. There were so many great people working so hard to find every last animal a home. Everyone was united in the cause to find homeless animals the happily ever after they so deserved.
And then there were the dogs. Oh the dogs. There were rows and rows of kennels housing every size and breed of dog imaginable. I was lucky enough to be stationed right next to the Best Friends pit bull educational campaign booth, so spent my weekend with many fine representatives of my favorite breed.
I can’t tell you how hard it was not to take them all home. My wife, who was home watching my twins, kept texting me, cautioning me not to come home with anything that woofed. It was not easy. They were all so lovable and so very deserving of a better life. When the sun finally went down Saturday, 200 dogs and cats had found new homes.
Before I went home for the night I walked up and down the rows of kennels and smiled at all the empty cages. But on Sunday morning when I returned, the kennels were all full again. Just like that the empty spaces were filled with so many more homeless dogs. I didn’t have much time to dwell on that fact though – there was work to be done.
Sunday was another happily exhausting day. Even though the end of the day was punctuated with hard rain, the event went on and more dogs and cats got their homes. At the weekends close 310 dogs and cats had been adopted. Before I left on Sunday afternoon, I put my hood up to protect me from the heavy rains and walked the rows of kennels again, gazing upon the empty spaces. There was no smile on my face this time though. My eyes didn’t focus on the empty cages, but instead lingered on the dogs still left homeless. The event was over and there chance to finally get a home here was over.
So although the adoption event is over and was a huge success, there remains much work to be done. The empty cages are so quickly filled and the dogs and cats now occupying them are in dire need of a hero.
As I walked past the lonely faces behind the metal cage walls I made them all a promise. I promised them that I would do everything in my power to make sure that their day would come, when they could feel the warmth of a home and the love a family. I’m in the process of becoming a Best Friends Training Partner and hope to be a part of their amazing team, helping animals in need when they need it most. I strongly encourage you to do whatever you can to help out. There is no sum of money too small and no amount of time too short. Every single dollar and minute you can spare to help out these great homeless dogs and cats will go a long way.
Please help your local animal rescue groups and shelters and check out and support Best Friends Animal Society www.bestfriends.org.
Wonderful post. You brought tears to my eyes. I had a life changing moment on Sunday at the event. I like you want to dedicate any and all free time I have to helping those and unfortunately millions of other dogs/cats find their forever home. Everyone can do something to help these animals from walking a dog for an hour a week to picking up an extra Costco sized package of paper towels or even TP and donating it to your local shelter. Every week I get an e-mail from JAC of the basic supplies that they need and I know all shelters are in need of these basic supplies so that they can keep doing what they do best rescuing the abandoned and 11th hour dogs from the kill shelters. Thanks Fernando! I think we all had tremendous restraint b/c Jeff and I both would have taken 1 if not more home with us if we had the room and resources! I think that restraint is what drove us to make those promises:)
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