A Visit to the Shelter
On April 11th, 2007, I visited the Amigos de los Animales
animal shelter here in Mazatlan. I took these photos to give you,
the general public, some idea of what we have to deal with on a
daily basis.
Believe it or not, this guy with the bone sticking
out of his leg is a very lucky dog. Unlike humans, who when
run over by a car can expect if not assistance from the
driver, then at least assistance from others around, and
eventual prosecution of the driver; dogs and cats have no
such luck. They are generally left at the side of the road,
to bleed to death (relatively quickly if they are fortunate)
or to die slowly of thirst and hunger if they are not. This
guy was
very lucky. Someone picked him up and brought him
to our shelter here in Mazatlan. His leg is due to be removed later
today, and we expect him to make a full, through three legged,
recovery. By the way, dogs get around just fine on three legs, and
unless you look closely, you probably wouldn't even notice that a
leg is missing if the dog is out running around.
This bulldog
is suffering from a relatively mild case of mange. What is
mange you ask? It is a parasitic infection of the skin,
caused by tiny mites. There are two kinds of mange,
demodectic and sarcoptic. Demodectic mange is usually not a
big deal, and is generally not contagious, but passed on
from mother to nursing puppies during their first few days
of life. It is usually treated with medicated
shampoos.
The other kind
of mange, sarcoptic mange, also known as scabies, is very
contagious. It can also infect humans, pigs, sheep, horses
and other animals. These mites dig into the skin and itch
like crazy, causing the dog to scratch and bite the
affected areas. These areas can then quickly become
infected. These dogs need to be isolated from others, and
treated with different parasiticidal chemicals. So
while at our house, "a dogs life" can be a good thing, in
general the life of a dog in Mazatlan isn't one you would
wish on any creature you care about. Amigos de los Animales
is a privately supported shelter, and gets no government
grants or support of any kind. It currently costs about
$3000 USD per month to run the shelter, which includes
salaries, medical supplies, crematorium fees, food, bleach,
gas for the truck, and a myriad of other little expenses
that creep in. So please,
if you have a chance to help us out
financially or otherwise, please do so. It's guaranteed to raise
you karma quotient.
To leave you on a happy note, there are always lots
of cats available, ready and waiting to be spoiled by you,
their new human. All you need to do is grovel and give in to
their every whim, and then maybe, just maybe, they'll deign
to sit on your lap and purr a little.
Go back to Make Art, Make Money
Continue with Surround yourself with Butterflies 2009
All of the images below are "thumbnails."
To see the full size pictures, just click on them
Believe it or not, this guy with the bone sticking
out of his leg is a very lucky dog. Unlike humans, who when
run over by a car can expect if not assistance from the
driver, then at least assistance from others around, and
eventual prosecution of the driver; dogs and cats have no
such luck. They are generally left at the side of the road,
to bleed to death (relatively quickly if they are fortunate)
or to die slowly of thirst and hunger if they are not. This
guy was
very lucky. Someone picked him up and brought him
to our shelter here in Mazatlan. His leg is due to be removed later
today, and we expect him to make a full, through three legged,
recovery. By the way, dogs get around just fine on three legs, and
unless you look closely, you probably wouldn't even notice that a
leg is missing if the dog is out running around.
To leave you on a happy note, there are always lots
of cats available, ready and waiting to be spoiled by you,
their new human. All you need to do is grovel and give in to
their every whim, and then maybe, just maybe, they'll deign
to sit on your lap and purr a little.Go back to Make Art, Make Money
Continue with Surround yourself with Butterflies 2009
