Rescued

A raw October wind was blowing off the St. Louis River upstream from the USG plant the day she was rescued. A kind-hearted man and his wife, after trying unsuccessfully for days to catch the little black and white dog, called Friends of Animals in Cloquet for help. Every time they approached the dog she ran behind her dead companion, guarding it with barks and growls.

We will never know for sure how the two little dogs ended up by the railroad tracks that parallel the river by USG. It is a remote possibility they ran away from their owner, but unfortunately, it is more likely they were dumped. She had a black electric cord tied around her neck that was secured with a double knot. It was chewed in half, and the other half was tied to a tree. She was probably tied there so she couldn’t run after the cowards who left these dogs to fend for themselves, or to die of starvation. Out of sight out of mind. Unfortunately it isn’t unusual for people to decide their pets  no longer fit their lifestyle.

The live-trap, baited with canned pet food was set, and Friends of Animals rescuers, Margaret Mell and Tracy Bennett, settled in for a long wait. Live trapping animals, whether they are cats or dogs, requires considerable patience. By the time Friends of Animals gets them they are often wary and suspicious of humans, and rightly so. Sometimes they are hopelessly and irreversibly traumatized so the only choice left is to euthanize them rather than risk a serious injury to humans.

The rescuers didn’t have long to wait this time. Even though the kind man and his wife had fed her, she was still hungry enough to take the risk of walking into the trap to get to the food. Now captured and afraid she barked and growled again, but by the time they took her out of the live-trap at the Cloquet Animal Hospital, the little dog wanted to be held and hugged. Alone for how long we don’t know, with only the cold dead body of her companion for company, she now leaned into the embrace of someone who cares.

This little black and white Schnauzer-Dachshund mix breed was estimated to be 2 or 3 years old. She had only 3 legs, and judging by the raggedy stump it appeared she may have chewed the leg off. Was she caught in a trap? Did a train clip her? We will never know.

Scrawny and dirty, and weighing only 13 pounds, a prominent backbone and ribs told us she had been scrounging for food and just surviving. Her dead companion was the same color and was possibly her offspring. It had very short hair and the cause of its death may have been from hypothermia. 

Those of us who work with humane societies sometimes forget there are good people out there. Much too often we are looking through tears and feeling with broken hearts for the injured or homeless animals abandoned by an uncaring society. We at Friends of Animals knew beyond a doubt that someone would adopt this precious, happy little dog that we named Maggie, and she was indeed adopted. She is in a loving forever home, not in spite of her imperfection, but because of them.

Armida Turk