Letter – 𝐓𝐨: 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐉𝐮𝐝𝐝

“𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐑.𝐂.”

On Tuesday of last week, my husband visited 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐤 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 with my two roommates to adopt a kitten. While they were there, my husband saw 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 since we have been together. He had to meet him.

Before walking into the kennel area, he was told to 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 because they were not allowed back there. I found this very strange because I have never heard of a shelter that does not allow phones or photos. 𝐈𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞.

As soon as he entered the kennel, he was 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥. It was not just a typical animal smell, but one that made it clear the waste was not being cleaned or disposed of properly. It was overwhelming.

After meeting the dog, my husband put him on hold so that I could come back and meet him myself. On Saturday, I went to the shelter, signed some paperwork, and was taken to what they called the “𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐚𝐫𝐝.” It was barely that, just a few patches of fake grass surrounded by a chain link fence near the entrance.

As I played with the dog, I noticed he was 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 a bit as he ran around. I mentioned it to the animal control officer, but they brushed it off and said it was 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 They told me I could give him some cough tablets if I wanted to help. Despite that, I fell in love with him and decided to adopt him.

When I let the officer know, they led me through a screen door into the kennel area where the dogs were kept. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 I have ever encountered. I grew up around farms, so I am no stranger to strong smells, but 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭.

I followed the officer to the small cell where my dog was being kept, and I call it a cell because that is exactly what it felt like. 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 with just a cot, food, and water. In some, I saw up to two dogs sharing the same cramped space. As I walked past, dogs barked, whined, and cried out. It was heartbreaking.

Then I watched in complete disbelief as 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠 I was adopting back into his cell. He did not want to go. The dog in the cage next to his began lunging and snapping through the fence, and I genuinely feared my dog would be hurt. A second officer came to help, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫, even though he was coughing heavily from what was clearly an upper respiratory infection. I stood there in shock. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞.

To make things even worse,𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. It felt like an enclosed porch with only a few large fans blowing hot air around. It was about 80 degrees and breezy outside, and it was still uncomfortably hot in there. I cannot imagine how unbearable it must get in the middle of summer.

After bringing my dog home, his condition worsened quickly. His kennel cough, or what they called an upper respiratory infection, got so much worse. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐩, 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. To think about all the other dogs still in that building, sick and struggling in those conditions, absolutely breaks my heart.

The feeling of that place stayed with me for days after adopting my boy. I started doing some research and was 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐲 surrounding this facility. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬, the 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚, and the 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.

I have seen the videos and read the statistics, and it is clear that 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞.”