Current Photo Friday theme: Family
I can’t believe our rescue group is coming up on 10,000 dogs and cats rescued from the streets and pulled from kill shelters to travel to adoptive homes in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. TEN THOUSAND. I’ve photographed almost every one of them, but this little family who I met when only a few more than a hundred had been transported has never left my mind or my heart.
If you saw Adora, a staffie mix, on the street, you might have crossed to the other side. She’d lived a tough life as a homeless survivor. Her patchy hair and a few scars made her look a little scary. But when I greeted her and her three newborns, I discovered that she was the sweetest girl and proudest mama ever. She seemed to understand the busy scene around her on transport day was good news for her family.
As it turned out, Adora had a serious illness, and I believe she stayed strong as long as she did to make sure her babies were safe. Once they were all living in a caring home in Colorado, she was able to let go peacefully, knowing her three little ones would never know the hardships she’d endured.
If I photograph ten thousand more dogs and cats for the rescue, I will wish for each of them families like Adora’s, who’ll provide them long lives filled with love, and gentle goodbyes graced by dignity and compassion.
Now you’ve got my eyes all drippy.
It’s an occupational hazard–when your occupation is loving animals.
Wonderful heartwarming, yet sad, story – but her little ones are happy and they will carry on her story whenever their story is told.
Thank you. It’s always comforting to me, too, when a dog’s last weeks or even days are spent in a loving home instead of in a shelter or on the streets. Finally they know that all humans won’t fail them.
This is why I love dogs so much. 🙂
They are my great teachers.
You see, this is why I couldn’t do it. My heart can only take so much.
I hope they know how loved they are.