Saving Annie for $200

Photo copyright Bobby Neary Sánchez, 2014;
all rights reserved.

SECOND UPDATE: THE POST BELOW IS RETRACTED. I HAVE REMOVED THE CONTACT INFORMATION, AND I AM ALSO WITHDRAWING MY SUPPORT OF THIS FUNDRAISER. THE PERSON IN QUESTION HAS SINCE ENGAGED IN CONDUCT THAT HAS HURT ME, WINGS, AND BOBBY, AS WELL THE PUPPY WE WERE IN THE PROCESS OF ADOPTING. I CANNOT IN GOOD CONSCIENCE SUPPORT ANYTHING RELATED TO THIS INDIVIDUAL, DESPITE MY CONCERN FOR THE WELFARE OF ANNIE.

UPDATE:  [DELETED]

You may already know our dear friend Bobby. He lives on a farm in Ranchos Guayama, Puerto Rico, where he does animal rescue, among a host of other good works. He's part of an extended network of good folks, including a number of professionals, such as vets, who give tirelessly of themselves to save Puerto Rico's abused and abandoned animals.

I've heard, first-hand, some of the stories, and a couple of the recent ones were horrifying. For folks who do rescue, the ones you can't save — the ones too badly injured to be able to survive — take another little piece out of your heart and soul and spirit when they go. We know this too well.

Which is why Annie needs to be given every opportunity to thrive. She's a success story, one of the ones who's going to make it. But the vet who unselfishly saved her life up front needs to be reimbursed for basic costs, and that's expensive, especially when you consider the shape this sweet girl was in. The total came to more than $900, and all but the final $207.02 has been raised and paid. 

But that still leaves $207.02. So I'd like to show you what happened to this beautiful girl, so you can see what the new photo above really represents. I'm putting it over the jump, because It's not something to read or view over breakfast; make sure you're ready for the image and the description, which are heartbreaking. If your spirit can't take that kind of imagery, but you want to know how to give, here's the Facebook fundraiser link [note: it's in Spanish]. 


Now, you've seen Annie above, as she looks today: still thin, and still a bit frightened, but on the mend, getting healthy, and very loved by her foster human. 

This is what she looked like the day they rescued her, just a few weeks ago:

Photo copyright Bobby Neary Sánchez, 2014;
all rights reserved.

She was found on June 14th, entirely by accident, by members of the rescue network who had received a call about two barely-alive new mother dogs and some 20 puppies that were trying to survive in the open in the summer heat. I'm going to excerpt a bit of the rescuers' own story below. They had gone to a nearby supermarket to get water for the mother dogs and newborn puppies when they stumbled over Annie. Now, you're probably not entirely sure exactly what you're looking at here, in terms of damage.  I wasn't, either. But this is what happened to this poor sweet girl:

And, just as we were leaving the overcrowded supermarket’s parking lot…there she was…a tiny little dog all curled up under the burning sun. Lying there…all alone…over some dry leaves! At first sight we even thought she was dead since she was only a bag of bones and totally still. To our surprise she was breathing. We immediately get her some food and she lift her head at the smell. She could barely open her eyes. Slowly she stands up to eat and then look at us and started wagging her tail. Her tail was in the flesh. Although she was covered with mange and her skin was burned due to the sun and heat we could immediately see her kindness. . . . 
Upon reaching Guaynabo we left Annie at the veterinarian. Her age was estimated at 9 to 10 months. She was totally dehydrated, with [sarna sarcoptica], ehrlichia, anaplasmosis, intestinal parasites, infection in her eyes and infected burns. The doctor mentioned that without immediate care Annie would have lasted alive around 48 more hours!!! The saddest part about all this is that Annie was invisible to hundreds of people who were constantly entering and exiting the supermarket in the middle of the day. If we didn’t find her she would have died of thirst and hunger and with a lot of pain due to her conditions and ever worse than that…she would have died all alone, completely ignore by us human beings. Buuuuuttttt….those horrible days for Annie are gone. We left Annie at the vet to start all her treatments and to begin a new chapter in Annie’s Life Storybook, the true life she was meant to have. 

Of course, this storybook ending would never have been possible without a kind and generous vet who put saving Annie's life above getting payment in advance. And as I said, most of it's been raised; only some $200 remains on the bill.

So if you have a spare five bucks (or more), please consider tossing it in the kitty. Here's the Facebook link again. If it gives you problems making the donation, let me know in the comments or via e-mail, and I'll put you in touch with Bobby to get you in touch with the rescuers directly.

This one's for Animikiins, the little guy five years ago that we couldn't save.

Chi miigwech.