After spending two weeks in the Azore Islands, I turned on the TV for the first time since I had left the US, and the first commercial I saw was the tear jerking, snot slinging End Animal Cruelty Campaign with Sara Mclaughlin. That very same day as I was running errands with my husband, we made a beeline to the Bossier Parish Animal Control . Besides the vet, I had always avoided places with caged, sad eyed animals, pet stores were no exception .
Upon arrival, we told the lady at the front desk our intent, and a volunteer led us down a narrow hall to a dingy room lit with fluorescent lighting that echoed a cacophony of barks, howls and whimpers. My husband, walking ahead of me, looked back to find my eyes reddened and filled with tears. Upon this glance, I began crying uncontrollably like a blubbering two year old being weaned from his pacifier. After some encouragement, we walked past the fenced cages where eyes were peering up at us as if they knew what we were there to do. They were mostly sweet eyes, some scared eyes. In retrospect, I think maybe the sweet eyes were the oblivious ones. It reminded me of a scene from the Holocaust movie "Life is Beautiful" that depicts a young boy whose dad convinced him that what they were going through was just a game.
This first group were the older dogs, the dogs that, more than likely, no one would adopt. Although most of the dogs were "muts", I specifically remember a big hound dog with droopy eyes and ears like wings, he must have been at least 10 years old. Each dog we passed, I thought about what I would name him or her, I idealized about buying some land and adopting all of them, do you think I could get a government grant for that? I still wonder...
After having been taking through the emotional torture chamber, the volunteer asked if we would like to see the puppies. Need she even ask? The first one I saw was the first one we got. He is a Blue Heeler mix and he is perfecto, he likes to chew on my shoes, but other than that, he is perfect.
I feel in my heart, had we not adopted him someone else would have. However, by adopting him someone else will just be forced to adopt another puppy and so on and so forth. With the adoption, which was $50, we got a voucher for $50 off the cost of him being neutered. Animal adoption is not only cheaper then buying a dog from a pet store, but you are also saving a dogs from being euthanized.
