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Archive for animal rights

Loving Animals means Loving Ourselves

By Denise Boehler
Monday, August 31st, 2020

I woke this morning to the blasting cacophony of gravel trucks on the highway and the screaming cries emanating from the flock of magpies invading our valley. After a restless night of graphic nightmares of dogs in the San Antonio shelter for the second night in a row, I felt as beleaguered as the magpies felt predatory on our barn swallow nestlings.

It’s been feeling impossible to help in situations over which I have no control, from which I feel removed geographically. And yet, I feel affected. Like all women (& enlightened men) in this rescue dog advocacy movement, my own love for dogs isn’t limited by loving just my own. Tapping into and being open to their love and vulnerability in a world at constant odds is what drives people into advocacy. In the process, while the heart and all its potential for wounding is at stake, the intrinsic risk and tormenting nightmares plague our realities.

Will the dog in harm’s way be saved by one of the seemingly endless rescues stepping up to save him or her, or will they fall victim to the ill-conceived policies born out of the cold constraints of our economically-driven, utilitarian society?

Quite simply, advocacy can be a painful place to live. One feels they are waiting in a kind of purgatory with a vulnerable animal condemned to die through no fault of his or her own. If we could crawl into the kennel and sit whining and barking along with them, I’ve no doubt many of us would. Being subject to the will of others who have fallen deaf to the calls for compassion or ignorant to new ways to see and treat a homeless animal can feel an exasperating pull on the tendrils of an aching, tender heart. What’s more, its effects are irreparable traumatizing to a mind already overwhelmed with a deluge of sociopolitical chaos and cultural turmoil.

The mind can only handle so much. Taking a break, however, can feel as essential as drinking a glass of water – just not for too long. Leaving off to tend to other needs in life, like relaxation and quiet, self-care and sustenance, can feel as though one is abandoning a helpless victim in the hour of need.

And yet, the need for a pause or a longer break is imperative in this movement. The heart needs time to process the emotional residue intrinsic to this kind of advocacy. The passion and love driving one through the front door, the frustration and helplessness in the waiting, the disappointment, anger and angst intrinsic in the loss. The stress and contempt arising for the people creating the situation, enforcing barbaric laws, or the sheer ignorance or worse, abuse, in which animals are nothing more than helpless victims.

I recently heard a dog trainer familiar with the dog shelter situation in California and clearly hardened through his own experience call women saving dogs at all costs psychologically disturbed. It’s the remark – delivered in the course of a Q&A for this trainer’s promotional video – that I felt deeply offended by. Not only for myself, but for the hundreds of women (and enlightened men) in this movement who feel nothing less in their hearts than love for animals in peril and an authentic need to save them. What’s more, having been at the receiving end of similar types of such misogynist insults, I felt the misunderstanding inherent in such a statement.

Affording him the benefit of the doubt, I understand what he was trying to say. That saving dogs must come with limitations and perspective. For certain, there is wisdom in observing such protections, for they expand our awareness of the possibilities for an older, overlooked, quieter dog in the corner, who may not get a chance when our attention is drawn to the more dramatically intense ones. Who speaks for them, then?

I believe there are enough people paying attention that they too, will find an advocate.

I digress. The point is, the heart gets tired, the mind, battle weary. When advocacy starts to feel like we’ve gotten into a civil war, it’s in the better part of our interests to take a health break and let the movement go on for a bit without one’s presence. Just for a little while. There are others – and there is also, let’s toss this one in – the phenomenon of faith. It feels severely absent in this movement, albeit for good reason. There is more harm and injury being done to the innocent and unprotected than any of us can remember.

Quite simply, it’s hard to do our best work when we feel beleaguered and assaulted by the deleterious effects of advocacy. We also stand the risk of incurring burnout and meltdown, not to mention an unhealthy dose of PTSD. When we feel so close to the edge, we must do everything we can to give ourselves the unconditional love and nurture that we heap upon these dogs in peril every day. We deserve such self-love, and our own voices of unworthiness must fall silent as we woo and coo ourselves into a more soothing, self-sustaining state of equanamity and peace of mind. To do anything less is to guarantee we will run out of the emotional and psychological wherewithal to sustain for the long-haul. And that becomes a loss not just to the movement, but to the dogs in need themselves.

Loving animals is, as anyone with such tender propensities will tell you, a blessing and a curse. Always, the same sensitivity opening us up to their needs travels the same road as the one that may deliver pain. There are times when it can feel like a head-on collision. And when that happens, we just have to step out of the car, look up at the expansive azure sky, and thank some divine presence for being here to help and lie witness to it all. We can thank fate and serendipity for uniting devoted hearts in the movement. Loving animals makes us more compassionate people sensitive to the needs of others, the trick of which is to always, first and foremost, love and include ourselves.

Namaste, and thank you for reading.

Categories : Help Save Animals, Of Dogs
Tags : Animal advocacy, animal rights, animal welfare, Consciousness, County Shelters, fostering, fostersaveslives, high kill shelters, Homeless dogs, homelessdogs, Mutts, rescue, rescue dogs, shelters, SpayNeuter

On the Path of the Love Trail: Life in Rescue Dog Advocacy

By Denise Boehler
Wednesday, August 26th, 2020

Toby was saved by the rare event of adoption at the shelter

About two months ago, I got into rescue dog advocacy. Loving and caring for animals is my raison d’etre, a sacred and selfless lifelong calling.

Besides which, I preferred it to the monotony of waiting out the pandemic. Perhaps you resonate with such sentiment.

As I step further in, however, I’ve found this to be a very challenging way to help animals from

Rockefeller was saved by Bella Vita Rescue

afar. It’s all via the internet and on the telephone. This kind of advocacy involves high stakes at-risk animals in shelters across the country needing help before the clock strikes twelve, taking them along with it. Time is always of the essence and loss feels as eminent as a sunset.

And yet, there is beauty and hope to be found in people coming together, united by nothing other than the common bond of hearts in love with dogs and aided by technology. Dogs who have been cast aside or abused by others, in pain, neglected and uncared for by their trusted two-leggeds, or just never cared for after they grew from puppyhood. It feels to be a crazy, emotionally weighty and tenuous movement at times, and yet, it’s all there is to help the true victims in our society in a state of rapid decline. We network, communicate, advocate, coordinate, and in cases where the dogs are geographically situated close to the rescues able to pull them (for the privileges must be applied for and the rescues must be financially supported), physically extricated and placed onto the safe couches of foster care. From there, they transition into furever homes, often after training and any other attendant needs are met.

I’ve met some awesome people. Fellow rescue dog advocates and networkers — Rhonda from Pawsitive Gratitude, who updates me daily on dogs in need of sharing and networking, supports and encourages my involvement — and Sheryl, founder of Pet Pardon, an app designed to track pledges for “condemned dogs” by rescues and advocates wanting to support them.

Flynn, saved by Central Texas Ruffugees & Denkai Animal Sanctuary

Are there wins in this movement? To be certain, YES, ABSOLUTELY! Bella Vita Rescue stepped up this past week to rescue Rockefeller, a long-haired German shepherd on the kill list with Devore Animal Care Services in California. Flynn is safe in Denkai Animal Sanctuary’s foster care coordinator’s living room up here in Colorado. After being at risk of death for his burn injuries and infection at the San Antonio Shelter by Central Texas Ruffugees, he was personally transported with six other puppies en route to 4P4L outside of Denver by the founder, Marla and her husband.

Then there’s Tyson, the blind and deaf fifteen-year old Staffordshire terrier dumped by his owner for age-related decline after a lifetime in their home, pulled by the gentle hand of grace into foster care by the Philly Bully Team. Cereberus, a two-year old boxer/Staffordshire terrier mix, was pulled out of San Antonio’s jaws of death before the Saturday morning Ten O’clock termin

Tyson, saved by Philly Bully Team

ation date by Rescue Pets Serving Vets. Pledges were made and donations honored in the process, all of which are given by those loving on these sacred bringers of light and love in the world. More financial aid is always needed for the rescues involved, and grants during this time of Covid-19 feel in short supply.

It’s all a movement in process — created out of necess

Cereberus, saved by Rescue Pets Serving Vets

ity and born of love and passion for animals. It’s geographically expansive, uniting animal lovers all across the states, many of which drive and fly all over this blessed planet to cradle the furry bodies in need and transport them to safety. Omar, with Alpha’s New Life Adventure, brings along his own dog with every transport out of Texas, and volunteer pilots with Pilots ‘n Paws fly the precious cargo of homeless pets into new homes each hop they get.

I feel heartened every day for the unification and success of this movement and the ability of a small group of people to effect change in the lives of the most vulnerable and innocent. All dogs want at the end of the day is s bit of food, lots of love and a warm place to rest their heads at night. Is that so very different from any one of us?

Categories : Help Save Animals, Of Dogs, Of Ecopsychology
Tags : Animal advocacy, animal rights, animal welfare, Bella Vita Rescue, California, Central Texas Ruffugees, Colorado dog rescue, Denkai Animal Sanctuary, dog rescue, high kill shelters, Pawsitive Gratitude, Pet Pardon, Philly Bully TEam, rescue dogs, San Antonio Animal Care Services, San Antonio Pets Alive, Texas

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