Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life.
Today I just wanted to take a few minutes to explain how I got started doing this.
I actually used to be an elementary school teacher.
That's what I got my degree in and what I had always dreamt about being when I grew
up.
My junior year at college I had come home for Thanksgiving break and my mom was telling
me about a problem that the no kill shelter was having in her town.
A lot of animal shelters down here, and maybe up north too, I'm not sure, they have inmates
from the jail working there.
Typically they have like two or three actual employees and then five or so trustees from
the town's jail that come to work every day.
For whatever reason, the town had decided not to allow trustees to work at the animal
shelter anymore and without warning they just stopped sending them into work.
Which meant all of the work was left for the three employees, two of which were in their
late 50s early 60s at the time.
They were desperate for volunteers to help out.
My mom and I started volunteering there and it was honestly the most depressing thing
I have ever been a part of.
Over time we would watch as adorable litters of puppies would come into the puppy room
and over the next several weeks we would see a handful of them get adopted out by people
who had no business adopting a puppy.
We heard things like, I don't have to get them vaccinated because they're not a pure
bred dog.
Or yep, already got a tie out in a dog house ready for you.
Or do you have any that aren't neutered?
I want to breed my female.
It was unreal.
And the ones who weren't adopted were quickly moved from the puppy room inside to the loud
and scary dog kennels outside where almost no one was ever adopted.
Because think about it, you walk into the shelter and you see a room lined wall to wall
with six foot high metal cages and two to four puppies in each cage.
They're sweet, they're friendly, it's not loud or overwhelming in there.
Or you walk outside where there are rows and rows of dog kennels.
Big unsocialized dogs, two to three in a cage are jumping up barking at you.
You can't hear the person you're with.
You're afraid to stick your hand in the kennel to pet them.
It's hot, it's humid, they're stepping in their poop and then jumping up on the chain
links and it's falling out on you.
Of course you're not going to adopt anyone out there.
So it was awful.
My mom and I cried pretty much every day.
Our favorite animals either died of parvo or adopted to live life on the chain or banished
to the outside kennels.
And this is not in any way shape or form a dig on the shelter.
They were doing everything that they could and unfortunately it's not illegal to keep
your animals outside on chains or refuse to get them vaccinated.
Their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do.
And as a no kill shelter, they couldn't euthanize the dogs that had been there for years.
Seriously, some were there for years.
And because there were so many animals, they had to double up on animals and cages despite
how loud and overwhelming it seemed when people came looking to adopt.
Animal shelters are not the answer to the problem in the south.
They're a huge help for sure, but they can't fix the problem alone.
So when a rescue in Virginia reached out to the director of the shelter and asked to partner
with them to transport some of the animals up north, we were all celebrating.
The very first transport, they actually came all the way down here to pick up a van full
of animals and drive them back.
And then they quickly decided that was not going to be feasible long term.
They then had us meet them in Nashville, which is about a four hour drive from us.
The problem was the directors of the shelters were the 50 to 60 year olds who also ran a
bed and breakfast full time and didn't have time or energy to drive a transport to.
And their only other employee didn't have a license.
So no worries, it was the summer before my senior year in college and I was all too eager
to get these babies moved out of here.
So I volunteered to drive for them.
That's how I met Dr. Burton and Jesse.
And that's how I got involved with Wolf Trap Animal Rescue.
We would meet at the at midnight or later in a gas station parking lot and transfer all
of the animals from my personal car.
You would be surprised how many cages the Chevy Equinox can fit into whatever vehicle
they were in.
We would chit chat for a minute or two, stretch our legs and then both returned the way we
came.
We used to say it was like ships passing in the night.
A few months later for a number of reasons, my mother and I actually decided it was best
to stop volunteering with the animal shelter we were at.
However, I still got a phone call a few days later from Dr. Burton asking how many animals
we would be sending on transport and wanting to schedule a transport day.
I told her I was no longer volunteering there and was sorry I couldn't help.
And for whatever reason, I'm sure I was just trying to be funny.
I said, but if you want me to wrangle up 25 animals, I'd be glad to meet you anyway.
I wish I had a video of my face when she said, yeah, we can partner with you because I was
absolutely shocked.
Up until this point, the animals that were coming to Wolf Trap were coming from other
501C3s who would do their own veterinary care, put in their own money, and then Wolf Trap
would just take over the care when they got them.
But for me, a 21 year old elementary education student who had no money and no idea what
she was doing, I didn't think they would ever go for that.
Dr. Burton would reimburse me $500 per transport just to cover the van rental and gas.
And she paid, of course, for all of the healthcare of the animals that they needed prior to
getting to her.
But I still had to pay for food, toys, potty pads, gas from running around and picking
everyone up, and things like that.
So by no means was this a money making gig for me.
I wasn't even breaking even.
But it was an answer to a prayer that I had prayed for years.
Oh, and fun fact, for several years, all I asked for for my birthday and Christmas gifts
were dog grades because I needed a bunch and I didn't have any money to buy them.
You might be wondering where I found these animals.
And honestly, for a long time, I was trying not to find animals, but they wouldn't stop
finding me.
We would go out to eat at a restaurant and there would be 50 or so people there and a
main G pitiful homeless dog would walk past everyone else and walk right up to me.
Or a neighbor would knock on my door and say, I found these two puppies in the ditch between
our house.
They're not mine.
Will you take them?
And Lord have mercy.
Do not let the church find out you're doing anything involved with animals or they will
swarm you.
It felt like every Sunday I was being asked to take some critter.
I could do whole transports with just the animals I got from my church members.
I would be tagged and post on Facebook from all over northeast Mississippi.
Things like we had a pregnant stray wander up and give birth.
Our neighbor's dog knocked up our dog and now we have puppies.
I found a box of puppies on the side of the road today and I can't bring them home.
You couldn't even go to the grocery store because people would have a sign on their
car that said free puppies and a tiny little crate with eight to 10 puppies stuffed inside.
All this to say.
Dr. Burton had little confidence in me at the beginning that I would actually be able
to produce 25 or more animals for her once a month.
But she quickly realized that would be the least of my problems.
So life went on.
One Saturday a month I would do transport with them.
There were two other shelters at the time that they were also doing transports with
and those were two other Saturdays a month too.
Eventually they chose to cut ties with those shelters for various reasons.
By the time I graduated college and took my first teaching job I went from doing transports
once a month to twice a month.
By the end of my first year teaching they wanted me to go up to three times a month.
I told them I just don't have time.
I'm working a full time job and volunteering with this full time job.
I've got fundraisers and school events on the weekends.
I just can't give up three weekends a month every single month.
Dr. Burton said, hang on I'll call you right back and hung up on me.
She called me back a few minutes later and said, have you signed a contract to teach
next year?
No.
I talked to Jesse.
We will match your teaching salary if you'll come on full time with us.
Full time?
Quit my job?
Forget my lifelong dream of being a teacher?
Just give up my career?
That's crazy.
That's so risky.
You can sleep in as late as you want every day?
Done.
Sold.
It's that easy for me.
And thus baby Wolf Trap South was born.
I'll tell you all about what we actually do down here at Wolf Trap South but that'll
be an entire episode of its own.
But that's a little bit of the backstory on how I got to where I am today.
It's a rough life but someone's got to do it.