No Rest for the Weary

Doll and Connie McCool, longtime friend of Project Hope, completed a transport to Every Creature Counts (ECC) in Denver last week. They arrived last Friday with 51 cats and dogs. Everything went smoothly on the transport and below are a few of the animals who started a new life this week in the Denver area.

Annette


Blondie


Daisy


Juniper


Macaroni

Immediately upon returning from Denver, Doll was called upon to respond to a horse cruelty case involving four horses. The photos below tell the story. These animals were slowing starving to death. Doll negotiated the release of the mare, the placement of another horse with the "guardian's" brother, and the oversight of care for the remaining two horses by Raymond Watkins, Project Hope's farrier.

Slowly starving to death.

After leaving the horses, Doll stopped at the Tillatoba truck stop for tea and discovered a baby wren who'd fallen from a nest high above the fuel stations. There was no way to get the baby back to his nest and he was too young for his parents to care for him on the ground. Doll cared for him until night when she met a friend who is a wildlife rescuer who took the fledgling home for care.

Baby wren rescued from a busy truck stop.

Thumbelina was found badly injured. The vet who attended to her sent her to us without medicine, including painkillers. Her head wound, including her eye became infected. It was after hours, but Doll called our vet, Dr. Anne, and she instructed Doll to remove the stitches, put her on an antibiotic and get her in first thing in the morning. Doll did and Thumbelina is on the mend.

Trying to make Thumbelina comfortable.

The following 10 puppies arrived on Tuesday. The man who dropped them on us said he wouldn't be responsible for what happened to them if we didn't take them. We asked about the mom and his wife called back and left a message saying their mother had been shot and killed. At least these babies are safe now and will go on the next transport to Denver.

"When's supper?"

Finally, Acacia was one of the dogs who made the trip to Every Creature Counts this past weekend. This little darling was in the hospital for weeks after being rescued from the Winona, MS Pound.

Acacia just after arriving back from the vet's.

Doll had gone to the pound to speak with the Charlie Brown, the Animal Control Officer, about issues they were working on correcting. Charlie told her there was a small dog that didn't look well. When I got to her I noticed Acacia's body temperature was already low. She was in bad shape.

Acacia was diagnosed with parvo and would have died at the Pound that night if I hadn't rushed her to Veterinary Associates in Grenada. Dogs who survive parvo usually bounce back within days, but Acacia was so ill and emaciated that she required several weeks of hospitalization.

Saying goodbye to Acacia at Every Creature Counts.

Once she was fully recovered, Acacia took to sanctuary life with gusto. Saying goodbye to the adorable little girl we'd fallen in love with wasn't easy, but she is destined for a rich life of her very own in Denver.