Raffle 2002 -- The Animals Need You!!

In day after stifling day of near 100 degree temperatures, we’ve seen a noticeable spike not only of misery and hardship for homeless animals, but of human cruelty as well. Tempers flare when we’re hot and uncomfortable, predisposing us to become cross with each other and, worse, to torment animals who cannot defend themselves. Seeing what we see people do to animals is enough to make one feel ashamed to be human. Ashamed and angry.

When newscasters issue the rare reminder to take care of pets in this heat, I wonder if any animals benefit. People who need to be asked to provide shade and water for their pets might well ignore even the most insistent reminder that animals, too, can suffer heat exhaustion and that prolonged thirst is as painful (and dangerous) to them as it is to people. By the time Alley Animals gets the call to intervene in an owner-based cruelty situation, often the animal cannot be saved because neighbors usually wait until they cannot stand to see (or hear) the torture continue another day. And, a living being can withstand only so much. Witness Cleggie.

When he heard the screams again coming from the yard next door, a teenager called us for help. The vicious torture of a little rabbit kept in a box in a hot yard had to stop. When he called us, the teenager said the person next door was trying to scaled the rabbit with boiling water. Up to this point the rabbit had been starved, smeared with a strong, unpleasant smelling soap, had his hind legs broken (which healed disjointedly without veterinary assistance). Who knows what other horrors he endured on a daily basis.

I wanted more than anything to provide a life for Cleggie. I delighted in watching him eat the fresh fruit and vegetables he soon developed an appetite for, and I couldn’t resist looking in on him frequently. When I ran my hand over his soft face and ears he looked as though he hoped I would never stop. He quickly learned to identify me as the food-bringer and would scramble toward me the best he could on two broken legs, knowing his reward would be a new variety of leaf lettuce or perhaps a delicious corn on the cob.

He was doing so well. He fur took on a healthy shine, he held his ears up instead of flat back against his spine, and he appeared to be feeling more at home each day. Of course I wanted him to feel at home and to know that life could be enjoyed; at the very least I wanted no more pain for this lovely animal who was probably bought at Easter.

Two weeks to the day after his rescue Cleggie died. I still feel a twinge when I think of him and though I try to assuage the sadness by remembering that he didn’t die at the hand of his torturer, that he knew two weeks of kindness, yet a residue of anger and sorrow mingle with the absolute assurance that no one in this world will ever again hurt him.

In considering whether or not to participate in our raffle, think of all the Cleggies still out there, and all those who don’t have names but who deserve our compassion and our best effort. Think of the animals dying of thirst, the thousands trying to get by in the streets with nothing but danger surrounding them, not the least of which is the human population Remember, if you will, that we travel the alleys six nights a week and we do not take a break even in the sticky-hot summer nights when ill-tempered people threaten us as well as the animals we’re out there to help.

The innocent are suffering worse than ever and we need your financial support more than ever in order to go on doing our work. Please join our efforts through the raffle -- every donation makes a difference, and a difference si what animals on the streets need more than you may ever truly understand without having seen their pain and misery with your own eyes as we do -- every night.