Welcome to rough life For those of you keeping
track with the never -ending foster coordinator
saga I'm back No, I haven't run Melissa off just
yet. She is currently on a month -long vacation.
It's technically two vacations. She's going to
Alaska and then Belgium So we hate her. No, I'm
kidding. We're just very jealous But she only
has like a two day break between the two vacations.
So I'm just going to be filling in for her for
these next four weeks. I gotta say, I very much
enjoyed my quote unquote break these last few
weeks, but it has been so fun getting to be the
foster coordinator again and talk to all the
fosters. Those of you who are first time fosters,
Melissa is who you spoke to that helped get you
confirmed for this weekend's transport. But I
will be who is checking in on you during your
foster period and helping you along the way.
I'm Katie Keaton. I'm actually the transport
coordinator that sends the animals from here
in Mississippi on transport to Virginia. But
I am filling in for Melissa. So if you get a
text from a random area code asking you about
worms and poops, it's just me. Don't worry. Let's
get into these stories though. The theme is heavy
metal since Ozzy Osbourne just passed away. I
always try to do a theme that's got something
to do with something happening in the world currently,
just for my own sake so I can kind of keep track
of when a transport was. Obviously that doesn't
always work out, but this one was a toss -up
between heavy metal and wrestling, but I did
a poll on our Foster's Facebook page and this
theme won. By the way, if you haven't joined
our foster Facebook page yet, make sure you do
that. I tell stories and post when we need help
and just genuinely annoy everyone in there. So
make sure you join. No more tears and kingdoms
of the night are from our Alabama shelter friends
and you know what that means. no real information
on their backgrounds. They did tell me that No
More Tears was found one morning in someone's
empty in the ground swimming pool so they called
animal control to come get him and Kingdoms of
the Night was dumped in the shelter parking lot
overnight one night just absolutely skin and
bones. Lemmy wandered up to someone's house way
out in the county where they have no neighbors
anywhere nearby so they knew she was a stray.
Iron Maiden is from our town's lawyer and a very,
very wealthy family. They have neighbors with
aggressive, mangy dogs that they just let roam
around because they're out in the county and
we have no leash laws. And the dogs come over
to this family's house all the time. They...
They literally have one of the biggest most beautiful
homes in our whole town and this like gorgeous
yard with this beautiful pond and a fountain
in it and they can't have anything nice outside
because these neighbors dogs will just come over
and destroy it. So when they heard whining outside
the house one day, they just assumed it was one
of these dogs, but they eventually went out there
and they found this teeny tiny little pitiful
puppy. They were so terrified that the other
dogs were going to hurt it or at the very least
infected with mange. So they called us to come
get it right away. OK, listen, I did this to
myself, I'm fully aware, but there are a lot
of these names that I have no idea how to say.
So we're just going to try our best. Queen of
the reach, right? I don't even know we're just
gonna call her Queen She belongs to a lady that
wasn't able to give her the time that she needs
It's a doodle with high energy and she was shocked
to figure that out But luckily for y 'all I'm
recording this after transport so I can tell
you what happened at transport Usually I record
my podcast before I even leave to go to transport
So we messaged this lady, I'm not even kidding
you, three separate times today to make sure
that she was coming and she knew what time to
be there and like she had the address, she had
directions. This is not like an old lady, she's
young, she's got an iPhone, she can find it.
She said she was taking the dog to be groomed
this morning because she was very super matted
and she didn't want us to have to deal with that.
So she texts us about 30 minutes before she's
supposed to be there at transport and it's a
picture of the dog in her car after it's been
groomed and she's like I'm setting off with her
leash and her collar and her rabies tag and we're
like super awesome. An hour and a half later,
we're done loading up. Like the transport's over
and she's still not there. So we text her and
we're like, are you super lost? Like what's going
on? And she goes, oh my gosh, I overslept. It's
three o 'clock in the afternoon. What do you
mean you overslept? We just talked to you. You
were in the car with the dog. She's like, oh
my gosh, I'll be there in 25 minutes. Okay, it
was gonna be so long that I told my driver just
go ahead and go and she's just gonna have to
meet you on the road somewhere because we can't
just let all these other animals sit in this
super hot van while we wait on her. Okay, here's
another one, Tarja. We're not even gonna attempt
the last name, but I'm pretty sure the first
name is Tarja. She wandered up to a business
in town. The guy that took her in has been so
worried about her and called multiple times asking
where she's going and being sure that we're a
legitimate rescue and making sure that she's
gonna get a good home. Youth gone wild and his
sibling wandered up to a lady's house. She called
us but we weren't able to take them right away
and they wandered off and then they showed back
up at another lady's house a few days later.
The next day, one of the puppies got ran over
by the mailman. So devastating. A few days later,
we had an opening for a foster and it was at
our jail that we're partnered with. And let me
just tell you, it is such a good thing that Jessica
was in charge of coordinating getting this puppy
to the jail because I would have absolutely taken
him home and foster failed with him. He is...
quite possibly the most precious thing in the
whole entire world. But so for new listeners'
sakes, you may be confused why I said the jail.
We have a program with our local jail where they
let the inmates that have been there for a long
time and are behaving really well foster a dog
for us. They love it. They love it. We love it.
But it's like seeing little kids on Christmas
morning every time we drop a puppy off there.
They are so happy. Hart and his brother were
dumped in a neighborhood where our vets, vet
tech lives. So this is not our vet Dr. Burton.
This is our Mississippi veterinarian. Coincidentally
though, she is one of Dr. Burton's students from
when Dr. Burton was teaching at Mississippi State
Vet School. So this is one of Dr. Burton's Students
turned lifelong best friend who helps us with
low -cost surgeries and then in return we help
her with puppies that get dumped on her This
is her vet tech. So she tried to catch them for
about two weeks and she was finally able to grab
this one She said as soon as she got him he just
melted and has been so sweet and so friendly
ever since but She's still trying to catch the
brother or or the sister. We're assuming it's
a boy The D litter of two were dumped in a box
on the side of a county road. I actually have
a picture of them with the box, so remind me
to post it on the Foster's page if I haven't
yet. It is really pitiful, but it's super cute.
The E litter of four were found on the side of
the road and brought home by someone. She posted
them on Facebook and every rescue was completely
slammed. she was able to hang on to them for
a few days until we had an opening and could
take them. For my OGs, you know that we have
litter names that we use down here so that we
can keep track of who we're talking about, like
Jessica and I, before they get their actual wolf
trap names. Well, this litter's litter name was
the no toes litter because one of the puppies
doesn't have any toes on one of his front paws.
The M litter of seven was found in a field when
we were having a ton of rain literally like like
a flood They were pulled by another rescuer who
posted them on Facebook saying hey like I took
these puppies in but I cannot keep them because
I'm totally out of room and I Actually had no
intent. I'm gonna be totally honest. I had no
intention of pulling these puppies because we
have no room either but one of my fosters commented
on there and was like I'll take them and I was
like crap I'm gonna end up with them but they
are super sweet so I'm not too mad about it.
The O letter of five is called the junker town
letter like junk. or town litter down here that's
their litter name because it was actually supposed
to be jumper town litter because that's the town
that they were pulled from the jumper town area
um but when Jessica and I were trying to figure
out what litter name we were going to call them
she was like I don't know let's just call them
the junker town litter but it was a typo and
I was like honestly that's more fitting than
what it's supposed to be, so we just rolled with
it. There's a super junkie house that has multiple
adult dogs that apparently just stay pregnant
year round. I'm telling you all of this because
you're going to hear me referring to the Junkertown
house a lot in the next few episodes as we attempt
to clear this house out of all the animals that
they have. So the mama of this litter that we
took on transport this weekend is supposedly
only 10 months old herself and left over from
a previous litter that she couldn't get rid of.
We are taking her. She is precious. I love her.
You're all going to love her. And I would have
preferred to send her with her puppies this weekend.
But these puppies were a last minute add on,
like literally last minute, like yesterday, because
one of the puppies in this litter has such a
humongous hernia that needs immediate attention.
we needed to just go ahead and send the puppies
as soon as possible and get the mama on the next
transport because we do need to do um i hate
calling it testing but we do test adult dogs
more before we send them just to make sure they're
good dogs and you know kid tested dog tested
you know not going to send a dog to you that's
going to like i don't know kill your Pomeranian
or something. So we just like to have adult dogs
longer than we do puppies just to make sure they're
good dogs before we send them. Anyways, there's
a lady who lives across the street from where
all of these dogs live. She is actually the junker
house, if you will. They're both junker houses,
but the video that you probably saw on the fosters
page That's her house, the junker house. She
feeds all of them. And then these five she kept
in her house just to keep them safe. Her house
has no air conditioning, none, like not even
a window unit during our triple degree heat index.
Like it's it's unreal. There are a total of three
litters, we think. We don't actually know for
sure, but I kind of doubt that these five are
from the same litter. It doesn't really matter
because I'm certain that they're all related
somehow. neither of these ladies have much money
or resources to be taking care of all these dogs.
The lady across the street that's been doing
the most caregiving said that she actually had
to go without cigarettes the last couple of days
just so she could buy dog food which like I know
is funny but like think about that like that
is that is really sweet of her to be like I care
more about these animals having enough food than
I do about you know. Making sure I'm not stressed
out because I don't have cigarettes obviously
we left them a ton of we gave them so much food
So they don't have to worry about buying dog
food anymore, but another funny note In this
story is that I asked the first lady who actually
owns the dogs if she knew how old they were and
She said they're 80 days old because they were
born right before I went to jail So there are
about like seven or eight more puppies still
at the first lady's house that are gonna have
to be caught this next week And then the mom
from this litter I think we I think we know the
mom of this next litter that's coming and then
I think there's a German Shepherd Somewhere in
the mix that we're gonna try to get to so maybe
eight more puppies and three adult dogs maybe
The bee litter of four are also from our Alabama
shelter friends who we love dearly but never
have detailed stories. These were picked up as
strays. That's all I was told. And then there's
a lot of cats on this transport. We've got victim
of fate who was found in a Baptist church drain.
A friend of my mom's called her and asked if
we could help. My mom was like, yeah, but you
know, like we're tied up here. We can't go get
it. So she managed to pull it out of the drain
and then kept it in an igloo cooler until my
mom could go over there and get it. Under a glass
moon is an owner surrender, kind of. A lady with
way too many cats messaged us to see if we could
help her. She had taken it in as a baby when
its mama died and she bottle fed it. She is very
appreciative and she has way more cats than she's
supposed to and she's super terrifying that her
landlord is gonna make her get rid of them. Ghost
Love Score was found as a baby with no mama and
one of our fosters took it in and bottle fed
it. James Hetfield is an owner surrender. The
mama is an orange tabby. So the lady just assumed
that it was male and it didn't need to be spayed
or neutered. And then he had kittens. Three of
them actually disappeared and were killed. This
is the only one that survived and we did go ahead
and spay her mom for her last week. Prince of
Darkness is Jessica's literal pride and joy.
So a lady found him when he was about three weeks
old. He was super tiny. And she called Jessica
on Facebook Messenger, but she was in the middle
of some work and she couldn't answer. So the
lady went to Jessica's parents house. That's
how you know you live in a small town when people
are like, oh, I can't reach you a full grown
adult. I'll go to your parents house. So they
went to Jessica's parents house to try to get
Jessica's. phone number because they called her
on Facebook. So they wanted her actual phone
number. Jessica's mom told her that she would
text her, but she needed to just go ahead and
take the kitten to the shelter because Jessica
was at work. See, if that was my mom, my mom
would be like, oh, well, first of all, I don't
answer my phone anyways, but my mom would be
like, oh, here's her phone number. Here's her
address. Here's the login to her security cameras
if you want to see if she's home. Jessica's mom
is like, here's the boundary. My mom's like,
we have none. But so the lady took the kitten
to the shelter and the shelter wouldn't take
it Because even though she found the kitten in
the city limits Which they are required to take
if it's in the city limits this lady herself
lives in the county So we're like, yeah you picked
up this kitten in the city limits But you should
have just left it there and you should have called
us instead because we would have had to take
it then So she sent Jessica a picture of it on
Facebook and it is just this teeny tiny little
kitten with its eyes matted shut. Jessica said
she just sighed and rolled her eyes because she
has very little willpower over a pitiful kitten.
So we got the eyes cleaned out, we started meds
and then by the end of the weekend she said she
realized it hadn't pooped in three days. He was
in and out of the vet for like a week getting...
cleaned out, if you will, but he still wasn't
like pooping on his own. So she brought him home
on a Thursday and the vet told us that we needed
to prepare, that this is probably just something
neurological and it's not gonna get better and
we will have to euthanize. So we were not ready
to give up Jessica especially was not ready to
give up So he and Jessica spent the next several
days doing laxatives and enemas and then booty
baths because it was very messy and Then one
morning she saw a glorious little turd in his
crate The next week was still a little messy
and luckily I got a front row seat to all of
his poops because she sent me pictures of every
single one in our group message with my mom.
He is a great little pooper now and super friendly
and cuddly. Jessica says he is pretty much perfect.
Crazy Train and her two kittens are owner surrenders.
We took kittens from this lady last year and
she refused to give us one of them. I am pretty
sure this is that kitten and now her kittens.
Her main cat doesn't like this mama cat. There
is actually one more kitten that they said they
couldn't catch but she's gonna work really hard
to try and trap it and then we'll go get it and
we'll tame it and send it on transport. The Eflora
4 came from a lady with a bunch of cats that
she's trying to get under control. This mama
is super feral and she can't catch her. One of
the siblings went on the June 14th transport
that was riding. She couldn't catch any of these
though, they were so feral. A friend helped her
get them and then she took them home to foster
and a couple of them had patchy skin so they
went through the whole ringworm treatment for
like the last four weeks just to be sure that
They're totally clear. Oh, and then they were
also treated for an upper respiratory infection
So luckily because they had to go through all
of that. They have been very well socialized
and they're very sweet now The S letter of five,
two of them were found at our city park one night
when it was just super, super hot. And then the
other three were found the next day in the same
spot. A lady took them home. She kept them in
her half bath because she and her son are super
allergic to them. She kept them for a couple
of weeks until we had an opening to take them.
This is what Jessica says. The orange one is
annoyingly friendly. But the others are still
fairly skittish, but they have come out of their
shell a lot since they've been with Jessica.
We started them out at the doghouse and she's
been slowly bringing them over to her house so
she could work with them. They love to run and
play. And fun fact, they can turn on the bathroom
faucet, which Jessica discovered a couple of
nights ago at bedtime because they flooded her
master bathroom and then they got demoted back
to the doghouse. But they they turned the water
on and I guess the stopper was in. I really don't
know how this happened. Just so you can explain
it better to you. But it filled up her her bathtub
or her sink and literally completely flooded
her bathroom. And then there's 10 cats that all
start with the letter A. None of them are related.
None of them are litter mates. I don't even think
they're actually the same ages. But they're all
from our Alabama shelter friends because they
are so overcrowded right now They're closed for
intakes so you cannot bring in an owner surrender
The only way that they will take in an animal
is if they're called by animal control to pick
it up as a stray Because legally they have to
So that's what everyone does. If you decide you
don't want your cat that you've had since it
was a kitten and you live in the city limits,
you call the shelter and you say, uh, there's
a stray here in my yard and they have to come
and get it. So all of these have that same story.
They were just all strays. And since they were
all kept in the same crate, which I don't know
how to explain this to people if you haven't
been to a shelter, but like they have these big
metal crates and And so when you're cleaning
out one crate, you shouldn't do this. This is
not recommended, but this is what shelters do,
which is why shelters are just a breeding ground
for diseases. They will take the kittens out
of one crate, put them into the other crate with
the other kittens, clean that crate, and then
just grab all the kittens, put them back in the
clean one, clean out the dirty one, and then
just split them in half. So all of these kittens
have been together. but not all in the same crate
at the same time. There's no overcrowding. They're
very well taken care of. But for the sake of
names, we just went ahead, and since they all
have the same story too, we just went ahead and
kept them all as one group. Plus, I had already
used 23 other letters and I literally could not
name them separately even if I wanted to. So
it was either name them all one letter or cut
them from transport. So that's all the stories
this week. And because I thought this was going
to be a shorter episode, which I am just now
realizing it's not at 22 minutes in, but I've
already decided that I want to talk about this
because I've been talking about it with pretty
much everyone down here that will listen to me.
So I want to tell you something that happened
at a local shelter here a few days ago. This
is a shelter that we've worked with before, but
not regularly, just every now and then. volunteer
at the shelter was mauled to death by two dogs
at their shelter. It was reported that these
dogs had previously attacked four other times.
I don't know if that's four different people
or like four different instances or this same
guy four times. I don't know. But they also said
that they had taken these dogs in in January.
and they have never even been able to give them
their rabies vaccines because they're so aggressive.
Now, I am the absolute first one to tell you
that euthanizing a dog is not the worst thing
you can do to it. There are some dogs that you
just absolutely cannot handle. Anyone, anyone
can handle or train or quote unquote fix and
leaving them to rot away in a kennel 24 -7, 365
days a year. for their entire life is no life.
So when this story first broke, I was like, this
is insane. Why would they have done this to these
dogs? They should have euthanized them months
ago. I was so mad until I heard the whole story.
And luckily, luckily I have learned and I didn't
run my mouth. saying all of that about how they
should have euthanized them until I did all my
research because as it turns out... These two
dogs and actually a few others were seized from
a dog fighting ring in January. The owner is
currently in jail and they are prosecuting him.
But because everyone is innocent until proven
guilty, the shelter cannot legally do anything
with these dogs, whether that's adopt them out,
you know, if they were friendly or euthanize
them or send them on transport or anything. until
the court ruling, because especially with the
way Mississippi animal laws are, this guy could
very easily walk free and get all of his dogs
back. So, you know, you can't adopt out somebody's
dog and then be like, oh, we were wrong. We don't
have your dog anymore, though. So the shelter
was forced to hold on to them this whole time
while jumping through all the legal hoops and
going to all the hearings and all of that. Obviously,
now those two dogs have been euthanized and I'm
not sure about the other ones. I also don't know
if they'll be able to up this guy's charges to
murder because it's, it's absolutely his fault
that this man is dead. But I haven't heard, I
haven't heard anything about that yet. It was
reported that the shelter volunteer was either
putting a bowl of food in the in the kennel or
a bowl of water and when he cracked the door
open, one of them started to run out so he put
his leg up like blocking the opening, and when
he did that the dog bit down on his leg, jerked
him to the ground, and pulled him inside the
kennel where it and the other dog in the kennel
mauled him to death. Like what a absolute horror
story for this poor precious man, for his family,
for those sweet shelter workers who had to witness
this. Oh my gosh. It's also being reported that
this man was pretty severely special needs and
that he really just liked being with animals
more than he did people. Same. So volunteering
at the shelter was one of his favorite things
to do and he had been there for years. I am,
I'm literally sick over it. I cannot believe
that this happened. So I hate to end on that
note. but I hated it even more to start on that
note, so I figured I should put it at the end.
But thank you so much for listening. Thank you
even more for fostering. Thank you for helping
us get these dogs out of here as fast as we can,
because obviously Mississippi is not a good state
for animals. Thank you for loving and supporting
Wolf Trap. Truly, you will never know how much
all of you mean to me. I'm just so grateful for
you guys and how awesome you are to Wolf Trap.
It's a rough life, but someone's gotta do it.