Benay and her darling Sophia

Benay from Washington Island, Wisconsin spent 5 weeks at RLRR and was kept very busy. During her watch, we saw some of the greatest volume of animal intake and placements.

We had 70 dogs/puppies and 5 cats, and 2 ferrets placed in October and 60 dogs/puppies and 20 cats/kittens placed in November.

In addition to her daily chores, she was busy running animals to the vet which included 34 neuter spays and 6 major medicals.

As Benay drove away on November 14, she looked out her rear view window with a tear in her eye and a heavy heart. Beside her was her dogs Zen and Hopi Dog, and Sylvester the cat which she adopted from the shelter and--- close beside her, the ashes of Sophia.

She had hoped that little Sophia, the juvenile shephard mix would ride out with her, but a few days before her departure, Sophia crossed the rainbow bridge, and it certainly broke Benay's heart.

Sophia was brought to the shelter late one night by Polly. Sophia had been found at the Redby dump and had an infection in her sinuses, was starving, and had mange.

Despite her condition, she immediately began to draw close to Benay, and loved her so much. She was on antibiotics for 8 days and began to show improvement. It wasn't long that Benay moved her into the cathouse where she was so happy.

After day 8 on antibiotics, Benay came to realize that there seemed to be more to her problem. She had a vet appointment, and during that visit, the vet discovered that someone had put a gun in her little mouth and blown a hole in her palate!!

She had shrapnel in her neck, that had already healed suggesting the injury had happened about a month ago. Yet, little Sophia with her strong desire to live had survived this at the garbage dumpster and also the starvation and mange.

The vet said there was no hope, and even though the injuries were so severe, little Sophia was happy all the time she was with Benay.

Needless to say, we were all brokenhearted, and today I talked with Benay, and she still grieves this dear angel.

A kind hearted supporter of Pet Haven donated $500 in memory of Sophia to help other abused and injured animals. We thank you for helping Red Lake animals.

Karen