A Hound and a Senator
His face pulled my gaze to the Facebook post. It was one I’d seen countless times, a post that never fails to make my heart clench in a combination of fear and nausea.
The photo was of an older Walker Hound, his face already white with age. Urgent Plea. Eight year old Tanner”, Male, 8Yrs 0 Months tri colored Hound Dog 1094524.
The hounds always get me, especially the older ones. Maybe because when I first started volunteering in dog rescue, they almost never got of our local county pound. Hunters would dump them there, sometimes multiple dogs at a time, and people didn’t see them as pets.
I’ve adopted several over the years, most of them Heartworm positive when they came out of the pound. Heartworms do not have to be a death sentence, but it is expensive to treat, and rescues sometimes cannot afford to pull dogs who need treatment.
It just so happened that the afternoon I saw Tanner’s pictures was also the afternoon we were taking my oldest daughter to college for the first time. So I was a mess anyway. The thought of Tanner being left at a shelter where he had little chance to be adopted or helped by a rescue made me miserable.
But a wonderful thing happened for him. The Franklin County Humane Society agreed to help Tanner and posted a request for help from donors to sponsor his heartworm treatment.
And here’s the power of social media and the opportunities to reach others through sites like Facebook. Virginia State Senator William M. Stanley saw the post asking for sponsors for Tanner, and he stepped up to offer help.
This afternoon, Senator Stanley went to the Roanoke Regional Center for Animal Control to welcome Tanner back to the outside world and see him on his way to the Franklin County Humane Society Adoption Center.
I’m not going to dwell on the sadness of an old dog being left at a kill-shelter. I’m going to dwell, instead, on the fact that good will always rise to the top if given the chance.
Thank you to the Franklin County Humane Society, Senator William M. Stanley and all the volunteers and donors who reached out to help Tanner. I think you are awesome.
