Let’s Help the Shelter
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Jet with his new pack in Massachusetts. (I suppose Jet will vote Democrat from now on, but hey, we’re still glad Teresa found him a good home.) -
Honey
To the Editor:
Supplementing Les Mallory’s letter in the last issue of The Record, let me recount my recent experience with the Gardenia Janssen Animal Shelter in La Grange.
As dog lovers like so many of our friends in Fayette County, we’ve run, over the years, what one could call an adhoc rescue operation. When we encounter a stray dog we try to find its owner. Failing that, we’d adopt the dog ourselves. Up until recently the count had become two returns and six adoptions. But then a 70-pound Irish Wolfhound puppy we named Jet showed up at our gate, starving. Puppies are cute, but a 70-pound puppy with paws as big as dinner plates, who was still growing was just too much for us to handle at our ages.
I got in touch with Teresa Brown, the Executive Director of the Gardenia Janssen shelter, and she found Jet a home with a younger couple in (of all places) Massachusetts. Next, she found us a beautiful Black-mouthed Cur called Honey to replace Jet. All this was done smoothly and professionally. During these transactions I visited the shelter several times and saw how clean and well-managed it is. But the most heartwarming experience was seeing how Teresa’s young people loved their charges and how the dogs loved them in return.
My friend Les made several good points about how the Gardenia Janssen shelter serves our communities. But he didn’t focus on how it serves the dogs. An abandoned dog has little hope of survival, much less a decent life. Without human care, it will almost certainly suffer a terrible and painful death. That’s the real reason Teresa and her people work so hard to rescue, care for and find permanent homes for them.
You can help by taking these steps:
• Adopt a pet and give it a good home.
• Support the Gardenia Janssen Shelter financially
• Donate needed items like pet food and cleaning supplies.
• Volunteer
• Support Les Mallory’s call to increase funding from municipalities that benefit from the shelter’s work.
You’ll feel good knowing you’re giving life to man’s best friend.
Tom Hill Fayetteville