What is Rescue?

I’m still trying to figure out what it means. It seems to mean different things to different people. When a person calls and says they “rescued” an animal from a bad situation, but then they want to get rid of it, too – how is it that they rescued anything? They are a middleman, a pet sitter, a way station – they rescued nothing. I know it is just semantics, but it’s a new pet peeve of mine in an ever-growing list of pet peeves. Actually, saying they are fostering the animal is more appropriate. That’s the term I’ve used when I had a puppy I couldn’t keep — I was allergic, but didn’t want it to die.

I took in an adult pit bull named Sandy once, then figured out I was allergic. So, I just kept her until I found a home. But, I did the work in finding the home. I didn’t pawn her off on a rescue. Honestly, no rescue would take her. Believe me I tried as I was sneezing and breaking out in hives from her saliva. Eventually, I found a great home for her.

Years later, just days after my third greyhound, Ajax, died, one of my volunteers showed up with a pit bull puppy. I knew I couldn’t keep him, although he was about as adorable as a puppy can get! I kept him through housebreaking and then found him an amazing home. He lives pretty close by, but I haven’t been to visit him. I see updates on Facebook every now and then, though.

Years later, I was attending an event at someone’s home and I met a woman who adopted a pit bull as a puppy. As the conversation continued, I realized she was the adopter of my pit bull puppy. Suddenly, I was surrounded by the entire family as they thrust their cellphones in my face with lots of photos of their beloved dog.

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Read more by Holli Friedland.