In January of this year my daughter wanted to volunteer for Casey’s Safe Haven dog rescue. In her love for animals (especially dogs) she had no idea (nor did I) just how much her kindness would change my life or the lives of those we saved. Rescue has been such a rewarding experience that brings me pure happiness and I have her to thank for this experience.
When we started with Casey’s the goal (that we thought was unattainable) was to rescue 100 abandoned, neglected dogs and puppies and find them loving homes. In the beginning we rescued what were considered “safe” dogs. They were adults that had been neglected, but we were fairly certain that they were “healthy”…which to us meant that they did not have any life threatening illness. The first “big” transport of dogs that we brought to Illinois was a total of 5 pups…and we thought we were in WAY over our heads!!
As winter 2013 blended into spring, we started taking a few puppies with their mommas. This is risky because newborn puppies are fragile and may have health issues. We had our successes and a few failures, but all in all the pain of losing some to illness was overshadowed by the immense feeling of having saved more than we lost. We were on track to meet our goal of 100!
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As summer and fall arrived we decided that we could (and should) do more. It was time to take on pups that were looked over by other rescues and ran the risk of living our their lives in a shelter cage, or worse…some call them “unadoptable”, but in our rescue, there is no such thing! We took on: dogs with heartworm disease; a sweet love “Bambi” who had her leg broken in several places and was emaciated; a dog that needed repeated eye surgery; very old mommas with puppies; hunting dogs let loose because they were too old to work; and a very timid old boy that had scars all over his body and we suspect he was used as a bait dog; a dog that was shot in the leg; and a beautiful old girl that had a lump that may have been cancer. On top of that were up to transporting 20-30 dogs at a time!
Those that had physical injuries, needed surgery, or had Heartworm were treated and those that were timid and neglected were shown love and learned to trust. We had horrible days and weeks where we lost tiny puppies to Parvo after trying so very hard to save them. We lost pups to Distemper that broke our hearts. We cried and were angry and discouraged, but we NEVER gave up! We continued to seek out foster families to save more.
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We have met the most wonderful, kind, and giving people in this past year and cannot thank you enough!! Thank you to our fosters who give their time, homes, and love to these sweet dogs and are some of the most selfless people I have ever met. Thank you to the families that adopted from us and are phenomenal…we love you all!! Thank you to the generous people and businesses that have given donations, allowed us to use space, and helped us promote our rescue we could not save these pups without you. And a special thank you to our dedicated volunteers who give many hours to help at our events…you clean messes, walk dogs, get water, haul supplies, and make sure all of the pups are cared for and comfortable…and yet you do this all in the background without special recognition. You are the most gracious, charitable and dedicated group and we are honored to have you!!
This year we met our goal of 100…in fact we rescued 308 as of today and have found homes for 287!!!
Merry Christmas and Rescue On!!!!
