EBHS Unleashed
Staff and volunteers of the Elmbrook Humane Society will be blogging about what's going on at the society, as well as other observations about life in Wisconsin.
The mission of the Elmbrook Humane Society is to promote the human-animal bond through adoption and education, to provide shelter to homeless animals, and to prevent animal cruelty and neglect. EBHS services the city of Brookfield, the villages of Butler, Chenequa, Elm Grove and Nashotah, and the towns of Brookfield and Delafield. EBHS shelters unwanted pets and strays, and rescues injured domestic animals and wildlife, provides resources for individuals with companion animals and provides Humane Education to schools and civic groups.
Visit our web site at www.EBHS.org.
Bark Humbug
Our 24 hotline received a call before we opened today from a woman who said that she had found a stray, black, pit/lab mix, a senior, who needed medical attention about 6 hours away up north. She got our number from a dog rescue where she first tried to give the dog. She lived in Milwaukee and wanted to know what to do with the dog. The staff suggested to this woman that she contact the local sheriff in that area, and see if anyone reported a missing dog, and to find out if there was a shelter in that area. Since they lived in Milwaukee, they were told to call the Milwaukee animal control facility, if they were unable to find the owners.
Then, this morning a couple showed up with the exact dog that was described on the phone this morning, a senior pit/lab covered in cancerous tumors. They said that they found the dog at Brookfield Square this morning. The man bringing the dog here would not give us his ID, and he kept saying that he hoped he was not going to get "bit in the a**" over this.
I was not made aware of the earlier phone call until these people left, but upon seeing the dog, I got sick thinking that if the first story was true, that they really found this dog up north, that I really should try and find the owner. This dog was not skinny, and though it had cancer, it seemed otherwise very well taken care of. This dog was loved for 10 or so years, and now it is going to sit here for 7 days all alone, and probably not be made available for adoption due to its health. There might be a family that is out there looking for a best friend that will never know what happened to it.
So I called the phone number on the surrender sheet and explained to this man that someone called in about this dog this morning saying that they found it up north. While it was possible that these people did dump the dog when they were told how to handle the situation, but, if it was his family that found the dog, could he please tell me where up north they found the dog so that I could attempt to find an owner. He said that it was not him, that he did not call, and that they found the dog at Brookfield Square.
OK - so I went and checked the call log from the 24-hour phone, used the reverse directory, and then discovered that the phone was in fact this gentleman's home phone number. I called there hoping that whoever called this morning would be there and more forthcoming about where this dog was found. No answer. So I called the cell phone of the gentleman who dropped off the dog, and explained that I knew that this was the dog that was reportedly found up north, and I did not know why he would not tell me where it was found because I simply wanted to try and find an owner. He then lashed out at me verbally saying that I was never to call him again, and that I did not know who he was dealing with, and that he found the dog in Brookfield. I said that if he cared enough to make sure the dog was safe in a shelter, that he could just tell me where he found the dog so I could help let it spend it's probably last Christmas with his family.
At this point, I think he threw the phone down and started screaming at the woman who was with him when he brought the dog here. "Why didn't you say what I told you to say?" "Why are you doing this to me?" and many other things that were barely intelligible, but nothing nice. So I hung up.
So now, I have a dog. A sweet, male, black, senior, lab/pit mix, with visible tumors all over it's body. A dog that will not be made available for adoption due to it's health. Does this dog belong to the couple that dropped it off? A relative of theirs that lives up north who could not afford medical care for the dog and asked them to help? Did they really find a beloved family member and take him 6 hours away to wait 7 days in a stray ward with no hope of being found? This dog deserves better than this. I am so angry and frustrated that I cannot help him.
This dog also has no microchip - and I hate to belabor a point, but if your dog loses a collar, it will always have a microchip and be able to be reunited with you - no matter how far it may get from home.
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