Baked Puppy

It was nearly 100 degrees when a Good Samaritan spotted a box sitting in the parking lot at Rolling Oaks Mall near Macy's Department Store. Out of curiosity she walked over and looked into the box only to find a puppy baking in the afternoon heat.

The Good Samaritan carried the box into the mall and called the San Antonio Police Department for help. An offer responded and took the box and puppy to the Animal Defense League. We named her "Macy" in tribute to where she was found. She was greatly overheated, dehydrated, and very lethargic.


There was no way to know who had dumped her there. Fortunately no one ran over the box. And thanks to the Good Samaritan, Macy is on the road to recovery.


Who knows why someone would dump a perfectly fine puppy in the middle of a parking lot? but someone did so.

Too often people see animals as objects. Failing to see them for who they are. People with fur. And four legs.


Thanks to WOAI TV's report on Macy, Kami rushed to ADL the morning after the TV report and offered to foster her. What a wonderful commitment. Fosters literally save lives every day at ADL. And for Macy that means she will have time to recover in a home rather than a kennel.


There's not a lot of difference between animal abuse -- burning, cutting, hitting, hurting dogs and cats and dumping a baby in the middle of a parking lot to roast in the summer sun. Folks who do those things should be punished. But they are rarely identified so they are rarely prosecuted. And isn't that a shame.

(c) Ron Aaron. 2008

Burn babies.

It happened again. This time two companion animals were severely burned.

One is a beautiful little three-year old dachshund mix we named Parker. No one knows who did it, but one or more humans poured acid on his back. Just like Gracie who we rescued a month or so ago. Parker's burns were serious.

He wandered into a man's yard. The Good Samaritan immediately saw that Parker was in trouble and he brought him to the Animal Defense League for treatment. The man said he'd never really been a dog lover. But Parker touched his heart. Once our veterinary staff treated him the man offered to foster Parker and said he hoped to adopt him. Now there's a happy ending for one little guy.

We named the cat Mango. He is an orange tabby cat. Like Parker he is also three years of age. A woman spotted two teenage boys torching his tail with a cigarette lighter. The woman yelled at the kids. They dropped Mango and ran off. She brought him to ADL where our veterinary team had to amputate his tail because it was so badly burned. We're looking for a foster home for Mango.

We are hopeful someone will come forward to help identify the perpetrators in both these cases. The likelihood is the perps are teenage boys or males in their early twenties. They are the usual suspects in cases of animal abuse. And as most folks know, people who abuse animals frequently go on to abuse humans too.

Perps often brag about their "work." So odds are one or more people know who burned Parker with acid and who torched Mango. But knowing and coming forward are two very different things. People are often afraid to identify perpetrators for fear of their own lives. But without someone identifying the actors in these cases they will continue to abuse and torture animals.

They must be stopped.

(c) Ron Aaron. 2008