Dog with Painful Blind Eye on Death Row, Life Changed Forever After Shelter Sends Out SOS
Many shelters and rescues do their best to provide services to their communities in order to stem the increase of unplanned litters of puppies and kittens. Despite the push to spay/neuter pets, and even free surgeries, the number of unwanted animals is still staggering.
No one likes the thought of having to put down these pets, and some groups have been able to become no-kill, but it’s only through the support of their respective communities that they can stay afloat and continue their no-kill status.
The Southern Oregon Humane Society is one of those shelters. They have even been able to go beyond merely taking care of their own and have started reaching out to “kill” shelters to take some of their animals and give them a chance.
The SoHumane calls this program “the Saving Train,” and it has been a success so far.
“The objective of the Saving Train is to save as many lives as we can, while alleviating companion overpopulation through spaying and neutering,” the About page on the humane society’s website reads. “In addition, by bringing animals to the SoHumane facility, the other shelters we work with have more space available in their facilities for displaced pets in their communities.”
“This includes the public shelter in our own community, which in 2012 began transferring animals to SoHumane in an effort to reduce their euthanasia rate. According to one shelter in Northern California, their euthanasia rate went down by over 30% in 2010 due to the efforts of the SoHumane Saving Train.
“The success of the Saving Train at securing a caring and committed home for all of the animals brought to SoHumane relies on the local community’s support. Because as a no-kill shelter the animals now have all the time they need to find a new home.”
One of the pups who has come their way is a little tan Chihuahua mix named “Odin.” Odin had a rough past, finding himself in a Northern California shelter after the Camp Fire.
Odin wasn’t the only misplaced pet, and shelters were crammed to capacity with nowhere to turn, causing them to have to start putting down some animals just to have space for others, according to KDRV. Odin was on the list to be euthanized.
SoHumane heard about this problem and stepped in to help.
“They sent out SOS emails to other humane society’s asking for help with the excess numbers of animals in hopes to save them from being euthanized,” SoHumane said in a statement, according to KDRV.
Karen Evans, SoHumane’s executive director, knew that even though Odin would require a lot of TLC and wouldn’t be an easy dog to place, they needed to take him anyway.
“We knew the community would want us to save him,” she said.
Thankfully, Odin caught the eye of a local animal ophthalmologist, who offered to do the necessary surgeries (fixing him and his eye) for free.
“He will recover from both surgeries at the same time, which means he will be that much closer to meeting his forever home,” SoHumane said.
“Dr. Bliss and Dr. Jessie are all done with surgery for Odin and he will be ready to adopt in two weeks!” Bliss Animal Eye Care wrote on Facebook on March 13.
With his eye all taken care of, Odin will hopefully find a new home during one of their upcoming adoption weekends.
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