Wow, animal rescue and shelter fosters.....the last I did that was 3 years ago and never again.
Until that point, I ran the gamut from Guninea pigs to the Percheron mare we had for close to 10 years. Some people referred to my place as the "Zoo"...seriously.
My last "rescue" was a 3 year old wolfdog named Zoey. She was in Texas and we met the rescue people in Grants, New Mexico. It was a SNUFU of all SNAFU's. We had been lied to about her history, she was actually in the rescue's data base as a pup, the owner's lied about her reason for being given up, she had been chained from 6 months on, "red flagged" at 2 different Petsmarts as being "dangerous, do not handle", she was out of a rescue where she was the only surviving pup out of an inbreeding, and she bit and/or attacked every single person, including the owners, on the way from Texas to New Mexico, at which time she was tranqu'ed.............we picked up a drugged up animal.
The first morning she was here, I took her around the property. She "double tapped" my lower arm before Ontos, my male WD, dropped and rolled her, she just about tore the muscle below my elbow off. Brought her back in the house and she went into "game trail guard". Ontos would NOT let us near her. No sanctuary ponied up to take her, I refused to let the rescue group even THINK about placing her in another home, (the owners had said she was safe with kids, OMG) and we were the one's who ultimately had to put her down that evening. All of Zoey's history slowly came to us over the next week.
This was the first time I had ever been bit. I have never been kicked, struck, bit, or attacked by any of the 100's of animals that have come through here. I was raised on a farm/ranch, and know animals.
That was the end. I didn't get over that for months. Occasionally, I notice the scars on my arm. The owners should have been held accountable, they had not been properly screened and had no business having a WD. For that matter, Zoey should never have been adopted out when she was originally rescued.
Sorry to put that out there, it's been almost 3 years to the day, AURGH! Zoey was gorgeous, but the heroics to keep her alive when she was rescued as a newborn pup were for not. There was a reason why Nature allowed her litter mates to be born dead or die soon after, and the rescue should have let Nature take it's course with her too..........she was suffering from a brain tumor, whether from the inbreeding or DOCUMENTED abuse by the owners.
Nuf said about that. Be careful out there, fellow rescuers and fosters! Do your homework cause a lot of places just want the rescue numbers without giving you the entire background, and don't bother to follow up.
