The story began at the Santa Maria Animal Center. Poor Halo had been taken care on a rainy night last month and left to fend for herself. Why people choose to behave in such a way is mystifying to us. There is no reason to act like this. Instead of waiting for the shelter to open, Halo’s owner decided that this was too much hassle to deal with and left the animal in the pouring rain.
The shelter was closed, so Halo was left to her own devices for quite some time. The poor dog had no clue what to do with herself. Just imagine how would you feel if someone took you out of your nice, warm house and dumped you off in the rain. In order to stay safe during the downpour, she found a nearby trash can to hide behind. She stayed out there until workers began to arrive the next morning.
What a resilient pup. She was not about to let the actions of her cruel owner determine her future. Halo was finally noticed and given the help she needed. Can you believe that she was able to remain dry, even after being left in the rain? The employees knew that she had been through so much. They hustled her inside as soon as possible and gave her a new place to stay.
We shudder to think of what would have happened if the employee had not shown up when they did. Halo could have been outside for a much longer period of time. The shelter workers were understandably furious when they found out how she came to be there. They decided that they would use the experience as a teachable moment. People need to know more about the proper protocols.
There is no reason to simply dump an animal outside of a shelter, even if you are in a hurry. These animals do not receive the proper care when they are deposited outside of your car. There are a wide range of facilities that are looking to help and they should not be ignored for any reason…no matter what. This is a key lesson that needs to be taught.
In fact, the shelter does not even want to pursue legal action against the parties responsible. All they want is for people to be more thoughtful when it comes to these sorts of things. Everyone has problems in life and sometimes we cannot continue to care for our pets. However, this does not give anyone license to toss their pets out into the street without warning. Be sure to pass this story along and contact Santa Barbara County Animal Services if you’d like to help this sweet girl find a home.
Source: Dodo