Thursday, September 9, 2010

In memory of Santos

RLRR had 15 intakes on Friday, August 13, and the last one that night was a little husky I named Santos (which means "Saint" in Spanish) and he was the most horrible inhumane sight I had seen in a long time. I just fell in love with him and rekindled both deep compassion and great sorrow.

Apparently run over by a car 2 weeks ago, Santos was left to lay in a heap of dirt only skin and bone- too weak to stand unless you propped him up. Our friend Tony saw Santos and brought him right out to the shelter nearly dark after work.

We did all we could for him, and he could not eat, only tried so hard to drink. He would lay and lap water and more water.

His intestines were starting to decompose and he would scream when you tried to feed him, only continued to weakly lap water. I sub-cu fed him 200 mL of ringers, and was hoping I could get some boiled rice and hamburger- but he could not take it, nor puppy milk, nor nutrical.

In the morning I could no longer take his pain and suffering, and after chores I took him to the vet where they concurred there was no hope. He crossed the Rainbow Bridge at 10:30 am on Saturday August 14.

Every once in a while a Santos crosses our path, and reignites our compassion and understanding as to why we take this very tough path of animal rescue- I know you all understand.

We thank Dr. Bruce and Sandy Mack, faithful donors who made a $300 donation in his memory which will be used to rescue and help more animals. We shall not forget Santos and the reason we keep on with clinics and rescue. Santos' story validates it all.

Peace- Karen

5 comments:

something clever said...

My God, I've got tears in my eyes, just reading the account of Santos, I feel like I was right there, witnessing his pain.
To think his life was short and full of pain, just breaks the heart.

Anonymous said...

Karen, stories like this are so hard to hear, and each one breaks my heart. We cannot save all of the animals, unfortunately. Blessings and peace to you as you mourn the loss of Santos. You ended his suffering, which is another way of saving him.
Twyla

Anonymous said...

Santos is one of those precious little angels that you tuck away into your heart forever....always to be remembered. We love you, Santos.

mteacup said...

So sorry Karen. Thank you for all you did for Santos and all the many others that you help. It must be so hard to keep going sometimes when all you see is abuse and neglect and heartache.

Jo Tallchief said...

Little Santos experienced love before he crossed over - from Tony and from Karen. He was humanely euthanized instead of laying in the dirt to suffer. When everything seems to be heading down the path of evilness, I gather my strength from the universe - oh, yeah, and "what goes around, comes around." Thank you Tony and Karen for taking care of little Santos.

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