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Animal
Advocates of B.C.
"Until he extends his circle of compassion to include |
In
Memory of Sara |
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In Memory of Sara (1991-2002) “God needed a special angel and
decided to call you home” You were called from our world of
memories, to a home of eternal rest, Just when your life was brightest, just
when your years were best, Silently, peacefully, you slipped away
during the early morning of that day.
On Monday, August 12, 2002, my beautiful Sara was taken from us to
journey to the Rainbow Bridge. I was unable to be with
her - I was on vacation when the heartbreaking news reached me. Her many
years producing litter after litter of puppies finally took its toll. My
only comfort is that her passing was swift and painless and she was not alone. A champion for all
backyard breeders and puppy mill mothers, Sara is a poster child for all the
misery that so many of these animals are forced to endure. During her two years and ten months with us, we only knew love. It was
a privilege to provide her with respite and allow her in her senior years to be a
gorgeous, goofy girl. Sara never knew hunger, never knew sorrow, and never
heard a harsh word while with me. Her days were filled with long walks, the
best food, companionship of other four legged friends including Buddy and Pepper, and
endless touching, stroking and cuddling. Her final years were joy-filled. My heart is heavy and filled with unspeakable grief at her parting.
I will always carry sweet memories of how she enhanced every moment of every day.
I was honoured to be her loving mom. Her final litter, born only weeks after
her rescue, will always allow me to be connected with her here on earth. Sara was
approximately 11 years old when she took her final journey - to the Rainbow Bridge. |
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On October 5, 1999 while at the local
recycling depot, I glanced towards our municipal dog pound and saw a lovely small
Rottweiler who looked as though she had recently been weaned from puppies. I drove to the pound to take a closer look, and as
the adoptive “mom” to a rescued Rottweiler/retriever and a blind corgi/collie
just happened to have some dog biscuits in the car. I
gave one to her and she happily took it to her den to eat in privacy. I called the pound the following
day to ask whether or not the dog had been claimed. Her
owner had been contacted, but refused to pay the $265 outstanding fine. Apparently she had left home a number of times to
forage in garbage and this time the fine was a bit too steep. I bailed her out, with the intention of having her
spayed and finding her a new home. She got
along well with my two dogs, and though she liked to chase the cats she didn't appear to
want to harm them. We named her “Sara
Jane” and she seemed to like her identity. |
Four days later, Sara began to pant and
drool. She also seemed to be straining an
awful lot, and I wondered what she could have gotten into.
By midnight she was beginning to slather and I thought she was developing a
reaction to her vaccinations (in particular rabies, since I had no idea when she had last
had her shots). At 1:30 in the morning I was
convinced she had an obstructed bowel so I called a friend to help me take Sara to the
emergency veterinary clinic. Ten minutes into
our journey Sara started to give birth! She
had nine puppies, of which five survived. My
regular vet was as amazed as I was to discover that Sara, whom she had seen only four days
earlier, had been pregnant. The emergency vet
agreed that, because Sara was so thin, she would not have suspected her of being pregnant
either! Thanks to the generosity of several
wonderful dog-lovers and adoption fees for the puppies, I was able to defray most of the
expenses of my ever-mounting vet and dog-food bills.
Despite the costs, I wouldn’t have missed this incredible experience
for anything in the world! |
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Sara’s tattoo indicated that she
was born in 1991. She had her final litter of
puppies at the age of eight. The vet suspects
she may have had as many as 12 to 18 litters. Although
I had initially planned on finding her a new home, after discovering she was so much older
than I originally thought, I decided to let her retire with us. Buddy and Pepper were happy to have her become our
latest family member and very comfortable with her sharing the “big-dog bed”. Her age, her breeding history, and the
fact that during her entire time with us she was either in heat, undergoing a false
pregnancy, or suffering from pyometra meant that spaying would have been extremely risky. Sara died of pyometra. |
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In my grief over
Sara’s death I reached out to many friends, including those I connected with over the
years who are also passionately involved in animal rescue.
One of the people I wrote to about Sara’s death was the first person I
contacted when Sara surprised me with her litter of puppies – Grace Acosta in Florida
who began the first Rottweiler Rescue. She
sent me a beautiful expression of sympathy and added: “You were Sara’s
Guardian Angel. Now Sara is watching over you
and it does not end here. You will see how
Sara manages to guide you to helping others.” So I waited – but
not for long. I received a phone call three
weeks later from someone who had heard I was involved with rescue. She told me the story of two dogs a friend of hers
was desperate to save …her friends name was Sarah. I told her to let Sarah know that
in my own Sara’s memory I would do whatever I could to help. |
The following week a skinny, matted
puppy was unceremoniously dumped on me by a neighbour who had received her from someone
who couldn’t keep her due to allergies. I
said I would be happy to take her in and find her a new home. A few days later I had her assessed by a
veterinarian who said she was underweight (she weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds) and
needed some TLC and fattening up. I called
her Lily and knew she was heaven sent by Sara who loved the little fluffies. A
week after Lily’s arrival on my door step, a neighbour approached me and told me that
he and his kids were eager to have another dog in their lives. I said “Scott, don’t worry about it
– over the next few weeks, one will probably land on my doorstop and that will be the
one for you.” A few days later she
called to tell me the dogs needed a home that night.
I remembered my chat with Scott and caught him as he was heading to his car. “Guess what Scott, your new fur-kids are
arriving tonight!” “We’ll be
ready for them” he replied … Pat called me the next day. “Vera, her name is Sara, Sara Jane”. Grace Acosta was right when she wrote
that “Sara is watching over you and it does not end here. You will see how Sara manages to guide you in
helping others.” |
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© 2002 |
