Letter To You, Who Rescues Stray Animals

“You can be called a lot of things: protector, caregiver, defender, crazy about animals, or just simply… crazy.

We know who you are. We know what it’s like to walk past a sick, abandoned, injured, bleeding, rotting or starving little animal on the streets, on the roadsides, on the curbs, in parking lots, near the garbage, in vacant lots, and just can’t pretend that not seen.

We know how it is. Put away that little cardboard box (or that box, or several boxes), find that old sheet or cloth, run back to the place where the animal is, put it in the box. Thinking about how to explain to the family that you got “another animal to take care of”.

After this moment, when the grateful look of the dog or cat makes it all worthwhile, the difficult part begins.

We know what it’s like to arrive overwhelmed at a veterinary clinic. First, we try the one closest to home, or the location where the rescue took place. We arrived suspiciously, a little shy, holding our cardboard box.

Clinic attendants know what’s in the box. A rescue. Again, a rescued stray animal. Dirty, infected, full of ticks, scabies and fleas, reeking of pee, filthy, hungry, abandoned. We can’t handle any more.

We’ve already given too much care, we have bills to pay, the drugs are expensive, the exams too, the operating room can’t handle it anymore. The internment isn’t either. And why, if, in the end, almost always, they die, or need to be euthanized.

We know what your fears are. They have names. Distemper, Tick Disease, Leishmaniasis, Rabies, Cancer, TVT, Generalized Infection. We know the word you can’t bear to hear: euthanasia.

We know how it is. Is bad. It’s difficult. It is suffered, it is discredited, it is criticized, it is frowned upon.

Will they attend me?

You are sitting in the veterinary clinic, with your little cardboard box in your lap like a gem and praying that everything will work out, as you wait for a client with a healthy dog ​​to be seen, smiling and happy. She pretends she doesn’t see you. The attendant takes longer than usual.

But finally the client has to go. And it was your turn. A man in a white coat comes from the hallway and looks at his box. Don’t look at you, look at the box. And he turns his gaze back to the attendant, talks about everyday matters – which patient will be coming, which has rescheduled, asks to order something.

Exit again and disappear down the hall. At this point, you’re already nervous, wondering if it wouldn’t be better to have gone to another clinic, more popular, which is “famous” for accepting stray animals, rescued ones, the ones that no one wants. And why would they want to?

But you walk confidently to the reception desk without even being called. Leave your box on the chair or take it to show the attendant, explain that it is a rescue. “Poor thing,” she says.

Then, he explains that Dr. So-and-so is undergoing surgery and it could take a while. You have to explain again at work or at home that you’re going to be late. Accepted another ransom.

the last rescue

Sitting in that chair, lonely, thinking about how you got into that situation again, you feel frustration, helplessness, fear, and then anger.

“Why did I go to rescue another animal?” After my last rescue died, I promised never to rescue any again.

We know what the pain of losing a stray pet feels like, even though we know we did the right thing. Despite the medications, transfusions, hospitalizations, treatments, surgeries, all the investment and our prayers, the campaigns on the internet, on whatsapp, on Facebook, despite the raffles and the cows, the little animal died.

And we wonder if it’s worth continuing.

It is worth it!

If you think your work is useless and if you sometimes feel like an idiot for rescuing stray animals while the whole world doesn’t seem to care, we’d like to say that many of us do!

We are many people around the world who love animals and just can’t let them suffer without at least trying to help them.

But we also know that you don’t do anything alone. It’s good to get closer to other people and especially to serious shelters and associations, which take care of rescued animals with love and ethical commitment.

You’ll find that you’re not alone, and that you can count on help restoring the lives and joy of your furry friends. They deserve a chance and you are the angel who wants to give them that.

We only have one thing to say: Thank you! Your gesture will never be forgotten and it will make a difference in the hearts of many beings… human beings too”.