A Touching Day with Donna from Stray Rescue

Last Tuesday my wife Kristen and I had
the opportunity to spend the day with Donna from Stray Rescue. She told us about a puppy she had rescued a few weeks ago – she sad seen the
pup’s parents. So, we went back for them.

Their dwelling was long abandoned (with
most of the houses on that street); an old brick house collapsing, moldy and rotten. There were huge holes in the
floor requiring careful footwork to make it into the building without dropping to the basement below. Dogs barked
inside guarding their “home.”

We went up the staircase, walking over
old clothing and debris and rotted wood. Chunks of missing ceiling allowed light inside, and the momma dog cowered
in a back room. As we approached, she fled to a tiny closet. Donna opened a can of hot dogs and began tossing them
to the terrified pup, talking to her softly while continuing to move closer.

Kristen heard movement behind us and
looked up to see the male dog apprehensively coming down stairs. He seemed unsure what to do – protect his home or
go with us. I took a slip leash and tried to relax him, and myself (he was a strong black pit):

I went up the stairs to coax the papa
dog down. He wouldn’t eat the hot dog I offered but let me slip a leash over his head. He pulled back. But I gently
talked to him and walked him down the stairs and out the house.

Outside he relaxed, then wagged his
tail and closed his eyes as I scratched his head and petted him. The side of his neck was an open, oozing wound,
punctuated by a deep hole in his ear. He did not seem to care, things were changing for him – petting, leash, car.

Momma dog was hesitant to leave the
closet. She did not yet trust us, and her facial scars and broken teeth told us her reluctance well placed. We
eventually carried her down the stairs and over the gaping holes in the floor to the yard with her companion. Once
in Donna’s jeep heading back to the shelter, she rested her tired head in my lap and closed her eyes.

we settled Sam and Diane into their new
apartments at Stray Rescue (after shots and medical attention) Donna got a call from a concerned neighbor about five
to seven puppies running loose in East St. Louis. We made our way across the bridge and Donna relayed how difficult
it can be to catch puppies, especially if they are hiding in a wooded area or without their momma.

We spotted three pups in the backyard,
but they darted into the weedy tangle of bushes and trees. We began to comb through the overgrowth looking, and
listening, for the puppies. They ran from us.

Donna suggested setting a trap – a
large wire kennel with a door that would close when their weight triggered it. She poured out a can of dog food and
we waited.

Two puppies
approached the trap and enthusiastically began eating, but their weight did not trigger the trap to shut. You could
see their ribs protruding above their bloated bellies and they dashed back into the thicket. Donna made a few
adjustments to the trap and we waited again, successfully confining two pups.

Two more trap settings yielded three
more puppies. The five babies huddled together in the back of Donna’s jeep terrified. At stray rescue they got
medical care, food and water. We named the ten week old puppies after Missouri rivers and took them to our house to
foster.

Spending a day doing this made us
appreciate the hard work done by folks rescuing animals in St. Louis and everywhere. Hard work that usually doesn’t
yield the success we had. Click here to adopt a puppy from stray rescue.

Gary Burger

Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO

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