Another Victim Of Human Irresponsibility

This is the face of another victim of human irresponsibility. I just met him this morning but I'm sitting at the library's computer with tears running down my face. I have named him UnLucky Boy. As I type these words he is a mile down the road at a vet's office being executed by lethal injection. He has done nothing wrong. He has committed no crime. He is, or was young, friendly and healthy except for being very,very skinny. He showed up at our place a few days ago. My Honey told me that this stray dog was hanging around outback of the barn. Our place is surrounded by a wildlife management area and people from town dump out their unwanted pets on the dirt road that leads to our house. Over the past nine years that My Honey & I have rescued 15 dogs and puppies. We were able to find homes for all of them except for Maggi (that's another story for another day). But this UnLucky Boy came to us at a very unfortunate time. Our resources are limited. The recent burglary has been very taxing on us, mentally as well as financially. We have many "rescue" animals and could not see anyway possible to keep this UnLucky Boy. We tried so hard to find a place for him. We even tried to get him into a rescue organization in a neighboring state. Every where we looked the answer was the same. They all say, we are all full up. They say we have currently 75 dogs in kennels and have euthanized 25 this week alone. They say that the current status of the economy has increased the number of pets needing homes and reduced the donations received to help these unlucky animals. In our part of rural America, people don't seem to be able to make ends meet financially. I often wonder how people who can't afford this or that for their animals or even their children CAN AFFORD to smoke cigarettes and drink beer and gamble at casinos. After many, many phone calls it became clear that the future of this UnLucky Boy was not looking good. Starving to death is a long process of slow misery. We couldn't just ignore his plight and let him continue the starvation process. A employee of the nearest humane society agreed to "bend the rules" to let us take UnLucky Boy to the vet that they use for "putting down" animals at their expense for the lethal injection if we would agree to pay $25. for the disposal of his body. It wasn't a good solution but after much discussion we couldn't find a better alternative. We caught UnLucky Boy and locked him in our horse trailer. We gave him plenty of dog food and fresh water. We spoke to him kindly and petted him gently. We made him a big breakfast for his last meal. He thoroughly enjoyed a giant serving of thick, juicy country ham and soft scrambled eggs. Normally, with a starving animal you would give them only limited amounts of food at a time, but his time was running out and I wanted him to enjoy a feast like he'd never known before. I was supposed to be a the vet's office at noon so on the way I stopped at a house where I'd heard that they'd adopted a dog from another vet in town. I knocked on the door but no one came to answer it. I stopped by the library and talked to anyone who would listen about this UnLucky Boy. One person even went outside to the truck to look at him. She said she wanted him but she wasn't able to adopt him. I made every last ditch effort to find someone to take him and started to cry when I saw that the time was nearing for his appointment with the vet. I know that many people would have been embarrassed to cry in front of strangers over a dog that they'd just met this morning but I was not embarrassed. I was upset and feeling defeated that despite our best efforts and good intentions that this UnLucky Boy who was only a half grown and half starved pup was going to die in a matter of minutes. I tried to talk these two ladies in the parking lot of the vet's office into giving him a home or to at least take a look at him. I pleaded "Don't you know anyone anywhere and assured them that I'd drive as far as necessary to deliver him to some good hearted soul that could provide him a good home. By time I entered the vet's office at the appointed time it would have been impossible to hide my tears and red, irritated eyes. They again, assured me that I was doing the right thing. That this poor creature was going to spend his last moments with a full belly and the gentle touch of his "executioners" instead of being hit by a car, tortured by cruel people or slowly starving to death out in the woods during the heat of the summer. I'd never taken an animal, mine or anyone else's animal to be killed by lethal injection. If this UnLucky Boy had been old or sick or mortally wounded, this might make some sense to me. I took his photo while he was enjoying his breakfast. I made myself photograph him, to remember, when I'd really rather forget. But I know that I won't forget and can't forget. We work very hard to save any helpless animal from becoming just another victim of human irresponsibility. We advocate the spaying and neutering of pets to reduce the number of animals that will meet a similar fate as this very sweet and loving UnLucky Boy. If this is how you feel when you "DO THE RIGHT THING......let me tell you, at this exact moment, I'd like to give up on the whole idea of doing the right thing. Let me ask you, HOW COULD THIS BE RIGHT ????