Safe to say everybody loves animals, right?
They are our best friend and faithful guardians, they also make this world a better (and much cuter) place!
Is it any miracle why many people have furry pals? Yet, at times, one just is not enough.
There are those who dedicate their whole lives to animals in need, ensuring they stay happy and have lived a good life. Well, Izaiah Perkins is one of those guys.
All Hands On Deck
Home is also Perkins — pets are more than just pets, but part of his family. Well, to hopefully bring as many of them joy and health as possible, he got himself a gig at the Maryland SPCA in Baltimore.
I can relate to those dogs a lot,” said Roy. Like us, they have good days and bad, likes and dislikes, friends and foes. When I go in and see all of them, there is almost a level of comfort that I belong right there with all of them,” Perkins said.
Perkins spotted a three-year-old Pit Bull named Nola only two months after her job there.
@zskiie The dogs at the shelter here are never put down unless it is a case of extreme behavioral issues or degrading illness that would diminish quality of life. She was aggressively unpredictable over months of trying to work with her with negative progress, she was just getting worse, even if its not visible in this three second clip. There is no such thing as a 100% no kill shelter, because these things are inevitable. The dogs are never put down to make space. End backyard breeding, fix your pets, and adopt dont shop, and stop letting them run around outside unattended. Be responsible so dogs like Nola dont suffer.
♬ rainy day – McKenna Barry
Nola was just a stray pup, roaming the cold harsh streets in ducking her head and keeping low to see if one day — just ONE DJ! — notice she even existed until she had arrived at the Baltimore shelter.
Perkins was unable to spent much time with her, however, as she had some behavioral issues in the past. Cleaning her kennel, enrichment, treats — ONLY through the door.
She has such bright eyes I could see it the minute that I met her. At first, she was stiff with fear and never wagged her tail or came over to greet me like these other two dogs would have done in one second flat,” he said.
He soon learned, however, that the reason for her being only permitted to be in contact with the behavior staff.
Things Don’t Always Go As Planned
She most definitely was not fond of being housed in the shelter. Hearing the other pups increased her anxiety, which made her a bit panicky and aggressive.
‘She had eyes as big as saucers, constant arousal. He realised that they hardly ever chilled out, either.
That is the case for many puppies. The shelters are very loud, and so stray animals that come in may not have the chance to decompress and get a sense of where they are.
While other dogs exhale when they are free after a few days in the chaos of the kennels, dogs like Nola just seem to fall apart. Perkins said the behavior staff did all they could, showing her remarkable patience and love.
Sometimes, time heals. But that was not the case with Nola. Over time, being in the noisy kennel affected her behaviour more and more.
She also turned on hoomans and added a few bites to her résumé. Despite this, Perkins did not throw in the towel.
It was just us staring at each other for, you know, ten minutes. There were times it felt like I’d breached a barrier to her, where I saw her eyes soften for an instant or she gave a fleeting wag of the tail,” he said.
However, things are not as simple as they appear and sadly the Baltimore shelter was ultimately unable to place her into a foster home. But this made staff face the most difficult decision — to euthanise Nola.
His job, Perkins sifted, was returning to clean a kennel that once housed an individual who meant so much to others.
Some part of me told myself that this dog would come back — she was just going for a little wander, but then reality hit hard. I find myself not delving too deeply into the ‘what ifs’ because ultimately all we have is here and now… and I can’t rescue them all. We still have her memory in all our memories… It just sad she got to that stage,” he said.
This is the reason we must be gentle to our pets. When they are given a healthy environment, they are the happiest creature. Whether we like to believe it or not, this is on every single one of us to make this world bereft of stress for them so that they can bloom and live life with dignity.
Those kennels and what happens in them are a symptom of human neglect. Maney concluded, “If we can avoid putting dogs like Nola in stress-filled scenarios where their quality of life is simply not able to improve, then responsibility is really the key.”
