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Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life.

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Today I just wanted to take a few minutes to explain how I got started doing this.

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I actually used to be an elementary school teacher.

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That's what I got my degree in and what I had always dreamt about being when I grew

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up.

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My junior year at college I had come home for Thanksgiving break and my mom was telling

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me about a problem that the no kill shelter was having in her town.

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A lot of animal shelters down here, and maybe up north too, I'm not sure, they have inmates

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from the jail working there.

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Typically they have like two or three actual employees and then five or so trustees from

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the town's jail that come to work every day.

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For whatever reason, the town had decided not to allow trustees to work at the animal

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shelter anymore and without warning they just stopped sending them into work.

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Which meant all of the work was left for the three employees, two of which were in their

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late 50s early 60s at the time.

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They were desperate for volunteers to help out.

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My mom and I started volunteering there and it was honestly the most depressing thing

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I have ever been a part of.

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Over time we would watch as adorable litters of puppies would come into the puppy room

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and over the next several weeks we would see a handful of them get adopted out by people

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who had no business adopting a puppy.

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We heard things like, I don't have to get them vaccinated because they're not a pure

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bred dog.

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Or yep, already got a tie out in a dog house ready for you.

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Or do you have any that aren't neutered?

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I want to breed my female.

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It was unreal.

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And the ones who weren't adopted were quickly moved from the puppy room inside to the loud

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and scary dog kennels outside where almost no one was ever adopted.

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Because think about it, you walk into the shelter and you see a room lined wall to wall

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with six foot high metal cages and two to four puppies in each cage.

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They're sweet, they're friendly, it's not loud or overwhelming in there.

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Or you walk outside where there are rows and rows of dog kennels.

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Big unsocialized dogs, two to three in a cage are jumping up barking at you.

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You can't hear the person you're with.

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You're afraid to stick your hand in the kennel to pet them.

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It's hot, it's humid, they're stepping in their poop and then jumping up on the chain

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links and it's falling out on you.

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Of course you're not going to adopt anyone out there.

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So it was awful.

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My mom and I cried pretty much every day.

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Our favorite animals either died of parvo or adopted to live life on the chain or banished

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to the outside kennels.

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And this is not in any way shape or form a dig on the shelter.

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They were doing everything that they could and unfortunately it's not illegal to keep

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your animals outside on chains or refuse to get them vaccinated.

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Their hands were tied and there was nothing they could do.

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And as a no kill shelter, they couldn't euthanize the dogs that had been there for years.

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Seriously, some were there for years.

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And because there were so many animals, they had to double up on animals and cages despite

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how loud and overwhelming it seemed when people came looking to adopt.

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Animal shelters are not the answer to the problem in the south.

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They're a huge help for sure, but they can't fix the problem alone.

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So when a rescue in Virginia reached out to the director of the shelter and asked to partner

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with them to transport some of the animals up north, we were all celebrating.

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The very first transport, they actually came all the way down here to pick up a van full

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of animals and drive them back.

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And then they quickly decided that was not going to be feasible long term.

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They then had us meet them in Nashville, which is about a four hour drive from us.

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The problem was the directors of the shelters were the 50 to 60 year olds who also ran a

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bed and breakfast full time and didn't have time or energy to drive a transport to.

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And their only other employee didn't have a license.

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So no worries, it was the summer before my senior year in college and I was all too eager

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to get these babies moved out of here.

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So I volunteered to drive for them.

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That's how I met Dr. Burton and Jesse.

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And that's how I got involved with Wolf Trap Animal Rescue.

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We would meet at the at midnight or later in a gas station parking lot and transfer all

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of the animals from my personal car.

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You would be surprised how many cages the Chevy Equinox can fit into whatever vehicle

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they were in.

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We would chit chat for a minute or two, stretch our legs and then both returned the way we

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came.

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We used to say it was like ships passing in the night.

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A few months later for a number of reasons, my mother and I actually decided it was best

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to stop volunteering with the animal shelter we were at.

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However, I still got a phone call a few days later from Dr. Burton asking how many animals

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we would be sending on transport and wanting to schedule a transport day.

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I told her I was no longer volunteering there and was sorry I couldn't help.

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And for whatever reason, I'm sure I was just trying to be funny.

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I said, but if you want me to wrangle up 25 animals, I'd be glad to meet you anyway.

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I wish I had a video of my face when she said, yeah, we can partner with you because I was

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absolutely shocked.

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Up until this point, the animals that were coming to Wolf Trap were coming from other

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501C3s who would do their own veterinary care, put in their own money, and then Wolf Trap

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would just take over the care when they got them.

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But for me, a 21 year old elementary education student who had no money and no idea what

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she was doing, I didn't think they would ever go for that.

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Dr. Burton would reimburse me $500 per transport just to cover the van rental and gas.

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And she paid, of course, for all of the healthcare of the animals that they needed prior to

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getting to her.

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But I still had to pay for food, toys, potty pads, gas from running around and picking

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everyone up, and things like that.

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So by no means was this a money making gig for me.

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I wasn't even breaking even.

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But it was an answer to a prayer that I had prayed for years.

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Oh, and fun fact, for several years, all I asked for for my birthday and Christmas gifts

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were dog grades because I needed a bunch and I didn't have any money to buy them.

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You might be wondering where I found these animals.

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And honestly, for a long time, I was trying not to find animals, but they wouldn't stop

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finding me.

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We would go out to eat at a restaurant and there would be 50 or so people there and a

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main G pitiful homeless dog would walk past everyone else and walk right up to me.

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Or a neighbor would knock on my door and say, I found these two puppies in the ditch between

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our house.

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They're not mine.

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Will you take them?

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And Lord have mercy.

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Do not let the church find out you're doing anything involved with animals or they will

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swarm you.

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It felt like every Sunday I was being asked to take some critter.

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I could do whole transports with just the animals I got from my church members.

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I would be tagged and post on Facebook from all over northeast Mississippi.

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Things like we had a pregnant stray wander up and give birth.

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Our neighbor's dog knocked up our dog and now we have puppies.

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I found a box of puppies on the side of the road today and I can't bring them home.

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You couldn't even go to the grocery store because people would have a sign on their

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car that said free puppies and a tiny little crate with eight to 10 puppies stuffed inside.

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All this to say.

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Dr. Burton had little confidence in me at the beginning that I would actually be able

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to produce 25 or more animals for her once a month.

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But she quickly realized that would be the least of my problems.

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So life went on.

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One Saturday a month I would do transport with them.

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There were two other shelters at the time that they were also doing transports with

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and those were two other Saturdays a month too.

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Eventually they chose to cut ties with those shelters for various reasons.

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By the time I graduated college and took my first teaching job I went from doing transports

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once a month to twice a month.

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By the end of my first year teaching they wanted me to go up to three times a month.

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I told them I just don't have time.

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I'm working a full time job and volunteering with this full time job.

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I've got fundraisers and school events on the weekends.

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I just can't give up three weekends a month every single month.

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Dr. Burton said, hang on I'll call you right back and hung up on me.

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She called me back a few minutes later and said, have you signed a contract to teach

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next year?

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No.

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I talked to Jesse.

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We will match your teaching salary if you'll come on full time with us.

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Full time?

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Quit my job?

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Forget my lifelong dream of being a teacher?

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Just give up my career?

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That's crazy.

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That's so risky.

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You can sleep in as late as you want every day?

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Done.

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Sold.

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It's that easy for me.

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And thus baby Wolf Trap South was born.

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I'll tell you all about what we actually do down here at Wolf Trap South but that'll

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be an entire episode of its own.

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But that's a little bit of the backstory on how I got to where I am today.

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It's a rough life but someone's got to do it.