Foster Feature: Tommy Boy, By Melanie DeAeth
I have been doing rescue for most of my life and have watched things evolve and change over the years. One of the best things that has happened in rescue is social media. The ability to network and find a home for an animal by sharing their picture and story has led to rescue transport and placements across the country. This has helped save a lot of lives.
True Blue Animal Rescue has a Rescue Animal In Need page called RAIN Networking. When our foster homes are full, and that’s more often than not, we can’t take the animal into our rescue so we post them on the RAIN Networking page. From there others can share their picture and story and the animals find homes!
The first time I saw Tommy Boy was on Facebook. The close up of his eyes haunted me. Meanwhile, a friend and fellow rescuer, Casie Cooper, filled me in on his plight. This sweet boy was found near death and brought to the Fort Bend shelter. Shelters cannot rehabilitate dogs because they don’t have the space or the manpower. He made it to someone before he died but he was doomed because he ended up in a kill shelter that couldn’t rehab him.
Lucky for Tommy Boy, Bridget Love, a shelter volunteer, saw him and decided to do something about it. She got some pictures and proceeded to find someone to save him. The first rescue that offered didn’t have space or a foster home so they started raising funds to board him. There is a boarding place that accepts rescue animals long term but they need six months board in advance so this rescue was trying to raise $2500 before his shelter stay was up and he was tagged for euthanasia. Within a week there was $1000 in his fund. Still not enough to send him to the boarding place but enough to give him a voice and enough to cover his vet bills and give him a chance. That’s when Casie called me again and reminded me about this sweet dog who I couldn’t stop thinking about. There were a lot of people who donated to help Tommy. He wasn’t just one more starving and abused dog anymore he had a voice and I couldn’t ignore him or his sweet expression any longer.
We made arrangements for Tommy Boy to come live at my house. He took a freedom ride from Fort Bend shelter with Bridget to Casie’s house. From there my son, Cory DeAeth, picked him up and brought him to Brenham to live with us. He has puncture wounds, ear infections, eye infection and he’s very skinny. Once he gains weight he’ll be neutered and will go up for adoption. Meanwhile, you can follow his progress on Facebook page, A Walk With Tommy Boy. Like the page so you can see his progress and cheer him on.
Tommy’s story reminds us that it takes a village to do rescue and that it’s up to all of us to do what we can to put an end to abuse neglect and overpopulation. Don’t look the other way or think someone else will save this animal, do something yourself. The reward for rehabilitating a rescue animal is worth the effort.