Animal rescue Ireland - Buster and Bella

I am sharing the words of one of the center workers so that people can realize the hardships involved in running a center like this.

This is not a post to judge or slander but an honest post from the heart....

“Most mornings we arrive to work like anyone else no matter your occupation. With a routine in place and for us the knowledge we are lucky enough to be in a job we love....most of the time.
But then we have mornings like this morning.

A staff member arrived to our gates a little before 8am. She found a bag of food at our gate and a letter blown further across the road.

She quickly scanned the letters first couple of lines and thought it was a donation of food and a thank you note to us ...she carried on up to kennels eager to start the morning routine.

Another staff member came through our gates at 8.15 and onto our kennels.
A 3rd staff member on a day off but deciding last minute to head to work to give a hand, arrived (late 😀) at 8.30am.As she turned the bend before our gateway she spotted a dog frantically running up and down the fence of a field beside her, lead attached...and she knew.

Because you get to know the signs....you can see straightaway the terror in the dogs eyes and your heart starts to sink....and break.

Getting out, taking a quick photo, she watched the brindle dog run terrified...then she spotted the second dog....who ran into another field, again she could see the terror in his eyes.

Another photo...the reason we take a photo before we do anything else is so we then know and can share exactly what dog we are searching for should they remain uncaught at that time.
Quickly calling the other 2 staff members down to the road, they tried to coax the dogs...but we knew straightaway it wasn't going to be easy.

It was then the letter was mentioned so up to find it and at least we had 2 names...no time to read the rest.
It quickly became apparent after half an hour of coaxing and blocking their exit to the main road we were in for a long wait.

With 40 dogs still awaiting breakfast and letting out. 2 staff members had to return to our kennels, leaving just one person keeping an eye on the 2 dumped dogs.

YOU see it's not just about the dumped dogs ...Our mind does and has to think of all those waiting for us in our sanctuary, some awaiting medication, some needing to go to the vets. Who are relying on us to feed and clean them. Who are helpless without us.

To cut a long story short....it took us over 3.5 hours to catch these two terrified dogs.
Many people talk about cctv cameras at our gates....But then will these people not turn and dump their dogs further away from our gates?

Many people think that by dumping a dog at our gate makes the owner a more caring person?
Let me try and explain how it actually feels to be the person trying to catch such a dog dumped at our gates.
YOU see once you have seen the dog, that's it. Especially when you have seen the terror ...you know there is no way you can give up on it.

And believe me, there's a panic deep down inside you because you know the odds are stacked against you when the dog is in a state of such terror.

When you know one wrong move can send the dog a few hundred yards onto a main road or a few hundred yards the other way into fields filled with livestock....

And all you want to do is reassure that dog you are there to help...that safety is just inside the gate ....if only they could understand that.

YOU see we love dogs. They are our passion our life and we feel every emotion possible in situations like this. We are meant to be their protectors yet we feel helpless as we watch them run terrified....

And when she doesn't know how to walk on a lead and loses her mind because we are desperately holding onto her lead....we cannot let her go now...so we have to watch her fear...her torment, knowing it is now us who is causing it....Unable to lift her because her fear is so great she struggles and tries to bite....she has no choice ...we are causing her to but we need to keep her safe.

When we have no choice but to haul and drag her to safety, hoping and praying the second dog will follow, hoping and praying she can forgive us once we reach the outdoor run.
As a dog lover, do you know how hard it is to have to be tough and virtually man handle a dog into a safe, enclosed space? Let me tell you ...it hurts you deep inside...because again, we should be the ones taking away fear and pain. Not inflicting more.

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3.5 hours later, we can now turn around and focus on the dogs waiting in our kennels. We can now at 12 o clock start on the jobs we would normally be starting at 8.30am, had we not had 2 dumped dogs at our gates.
And the letter......yes...we have read it....

To be honest....it was a letter all about how you felt ....and whilst we understand your feelings of despair ...we now hope you have a better understanding of ours, because this morning, we felt like that too....and of what unnecessary trauma you have put your dogs through.

YOU describe Buster as everyone's friend...? Today Buster was full of fear aggression...because of the terror of being dumped.

Bella has obviously had quite a few litters. She continued to urinate in fear at our touch.
Both dogs today, no matter how far they ran in fear, wanted to get back to our gate, because that's where they last saw you, they thought you would come back, and it breaks our heart to see them looking up the road hoping.
There were options, they may not have been options you wanted, they may not have suited you, may not have been quick enough or easy enough but we feel you already knew all that, which is why you chose to abandon your dogs on a lane outside our gates with no way of knowing if they would be safe or alive today.

We are not unapproachable, we are not monsters, if we saw first-hand your true love for your dogs, we would have done all we could to have helped you.

We are not judging you but merely letting you know how we feel, our view.

We put our heads down today in despair...frustration ...sadness and tiredness....we doubted ourselves during those 3.5 hours today because we felt like we were failing your dogs.

Dumping of animals is illegal. There is simply no excuse for anyone regardless of their situation to leave any animal abandoned to their own fate. It is cruel and barbaric and it never fails to amaze us how "silent" people are. Somebody knows these dogs, yet not one call today.

If we are to ever stop the abandonment of animals in this country then we need to speak out for those who can't.
Please understand this from our view. We are now overcrowded, stretched physically and financially and we hope this post allows you to understand how the dumping of dogs at our gates affects us too. Affects our dogs already in kennels but mostly affects those who you dump....

Bella and Buster...”

Thanks for reading this post and hopefully it gets people to think about their actions just a little bit more. This is just one example of many dogs and many rescue centers. It is probably happening in every country in the world and is something that I would love to put a stop too. Hopefully as a people we can.

Any profit, that can be created through sharing these posts will be used to support the brave efforts of the shelters in caring for these animals. I would hope that going forward they could generate enough STEEM to make a big difference.