Monday, May 25, 2009

Swimming pool shadows - Michael Vick



"From me (Donna Reynolds) - I admit I'm stuck on this one because I just can't get myself away from the swimming pool in Vick's yard. I first learned about it while riding in the back seat of a federal agent's car that sweltering Tuesday back in Sept 07. The agent was assigned with escorting us to the various Virginia shelters so we could evaluate "the evidence" otherwise known as 49 pit bulls - now known as cherished family pets: Hector, Uba, Jhumpa, Georgia, Sweet Jasmine and the rest. I'm not sure if sharing insider information with us was kosher, but you know how driving down long country roads can get you talking. I imagine she just needed to get some things off her chest. She said she was having trouble sleeping since the day they exhumed the bodies on the Moonlight Road property. She said that when she watched the investigators uncover the shallow graves, she was compelled to want to climb in and pick up the decomposing dogs and comfort and cradle them. She knew that was crazy talk, and she was grappling with trying to understand such a surprising impulse."

"Her candor set the tone for this entire saga. Everyone we worked with was deeply affected by the case. The details that got to me then and stay with me today involve the swimming pool that was used to kill some of the dogs. Jumper cables were clipped onto the ears of underperforming dogs, then, just like with a car, the cables were connected to the terminals of car batteries before lifting and tossing the shamed dogs into the water. Most of Vick's dogs were small - 40lbs or so - so tossing them in would've been fast and easy work for thick athlete arms. We don't know how many suffered this premeditated murder, but the damage to the pool walls tells a story. It seems that while they were scrambling to escape, they scratched and clawed at the pool liner and bit at the dented aluminum sides like a hungry dog on a tin can."

"I wear some pretty thick skin during our work with dogs, but I can't shake my minds-eye image of a little black dog splashing frantically in bloody water ... screaming in pain and terror ... brown eyes saucer wide and tiny black white-toed feet clawing at anything, desperate to get ahold. This death did not come quickly. The rescuer in me keeps trying to think of a way to go back in time and somehow stop this torture and pull the little dog to safety. I think I'll be looking for ways to pull that dog out for the rest of my life."

"So that's where I'm at.  A second chance for Vick?" [SL Bill Plaschke: Don't be fooled by the 'new' Michael Vick ]

"An HSUS sponsored spokesman for ending torture? In my mind's eye Vick is still in the shadows at the side of that pool. As many times as this scene plays out my head, he hasn't yet moved towards that dog to pull him out. Not there yet." Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Rio Dulce and Arnicia



"It does not require many words to speak the truth." Chief Joseph. RIO - RIO DULCE actually - is a male 1-2 year old Pit Bull who fell on Hard Times. Last Thursday he ended up in my car on the way to the Spay Neuter Clinic at the Humane Society of Catawba County. RIO needs a home asap. Arnicia is a lady who lives in my hood. Who remembers - everything. She came by on Mothers' Day to say hello and give me some love. Said she'd been thinking about me. Knew I was probably having a bad day. Her smile and her eyes and her spirit are like sweet rain. And RIO DULCE - well, that means Sweet River in Spanish. Nothing is random. Thank you to NACAR's Ryan Newman and his wife Krissie. Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

I stand and watch her


"I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails
to the morning breeze and starts for the
blue ocean. She is an object of beauty
and strength. I stand and watch her until
at length she hangs like a speck of white
cloud, just where the sea and sky come
to mingle with each other."

"Then someone at my side says:
'There, she is gone!

'Gone where?'"

"Gone from my sight. That is all. She is
just as large in mast and hull and spar as
she was when she left my side, and she
is just as able to bear her load of living
freight to her destined port."

"Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone
at my side says: "There, she is gone!"
There are other other eyes watching her coming
and other voices ready to take up the glad
shout: 'Here she comes!'"
Anonymous
"Gone From My Sight"
Hospice and Palliative Care
Charlotte Region Sphere: Related Content

Followers