Wall-e the Survivor Dog
Both Amanda Kloski and Marcia Machtiger have been emailed by my blog team for comments. So far, however, the team unable to reach them… I’m sure many people would have a few questions for them – what would you ask?
The blog team has also tried to reach local animal shelters in Sulphur, but were unable to. Those animal shelters are mostly run by volunteers, and they can take many days to return calls. It would be nice to know if Wall-e has already been adopted…
Here is an excerpt from his adoption website:
Adoption applications are being sent to those who requested them – the deadline for the applications will be midnight, March 17th (St. Patty’s day) themed after Wall-e’s shamrock design on his bum…. They will need to be sent to both Amanda at wildheartsadapt@yahoo.comand Marcia at mgmmachtiger@netzero.com so we can go over the applications together. References will be checked and home studies on the final possible adoptive homes will be performed to help ensure the best possible home for Wall-e.
There will be a strict Adoption Contract which will finalize the process. We have received almost 3,000 interests in Wall-e yet our other dogs are still waiting for just one family to look at them and take them home to love. Please remember these other guys and the many dogs in your local shelters that desperately need homes. We hope you all will consider the other dogs that truly do need saving at this time, and not just Wall-e….
It’s very good to hear how thousands of people want to adopt Wall-e now… This sweet little mumu, like many other mumus, don’t deserve to die just because they become an inconvenience for us.
Look at Wall-e’s case as an example: his life was spared by chance, and now someone will care, love and provide him a home. In return, Wall-e will be a loving companion for someone else… but what about those dogs who didn’t survive the lethal injection? What is the difference between them and Wall-e? Why don’t the 3000 potential homes consider the other needy dogs?
We have learn to widen our scope of care. Not just to our mother and father (which, of course, should be done without saying)… but to all living beings including animals.
I leave you with one more tale of a euthanasia-surviving dog…
Tsem Rinpoche
Underdog: Hundreds seek Okla. pup back from `dead’
Published – Mar 02 2011 11:42PM EST | By KRISTI EATON – Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Hundreds of people from the United States and Canada want to adopt an Oklahoma dog that survived an attempt to euthanize it.
The puppy was one of five stray dogs that Sulphur animal control officer Scott Prall put to sleep Friday – or so he thought. Prall found one of the dogs alive on Saturday in a trash bin set aside for dead animals and took it to veterinarian technician, Amanda Kloski.
“He was prancing around. He heard me drive up, and he looked up and saw me,” Prall said Wednesday.
He said he initially found the stray dog near the animal shelter Friday and tried to kill it by injecting the dog with two lethal doses of a sedative in a foreleg and the heart. Each dose should have been enough to kill the dog, and the second injection was meant to ensure it worked.
Kloski noted the dog’s survival on a pet adoption website, drawing the attention of Marcia Machtiger of Pittsburgh, who donated $100 so Kloski could board the dog for a week.
A girl from Sulphur named the puppy Wall-e, after a Disney movie character, and Machtiger posted Wall-e’s story on her Facebook page.
She and Kloski are sorting through hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from people wanting to adopt the lucky dog.
“So many people are interested,” Kloski said. “Now we’re going through and trying to find the adoption applications for the best home.”
Wall-e will be placed in a foster home at the end of the week while the search for a permanent home continues. Both Kloski and Machtiger said they have never seen so many people want to adopt one animal.
Machtiger said people are interested in the puppy because his story is unique.
Source: http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/1110/3611218/Underdog_Hundreds_seek_Okla_pup_back
_from_dead?cmpid=RRWMHero
Dead dog walking: Michigan Rottweiler survives botched euthanasia attempt
October 14, 2010 | 6:49 pm
A suburban Detroit man whose Rottweiler was given a new leash on life after surviving a botched euthanasia attempt said he has neither the heart nor the money to try the procedure again.
Redford Township resident Matt Olivarez, 27, said he’s in a tough spot: facing possible home foreclosure while at the same time trying to do right by Mia, an 11-year-old pooch that he feeds by hand, partly because of her spinal problem that makes walking difficult.
Olivarez said he took Mia to the Westcott Veterinary Care Center in Detroit on Saturday to alleviate her suffering. He said Westcott officials speculated afterward that the drug dosage wasn’t strong enough or had been watered down.
He now shudders at the thought of almost burying his beloved pet alive.
“I don’t know if I could do it a second time,” Olivarez told The Detroit News for a story published Wednesday.
Olivarez said he returned to his garage Sunday morning and noticed Mia missing from where he’d placed her on a pile of hay the day before. He’d planned to bury her in his grandfather’s backyard.
Instead, he turned to find her standing on all fours, staring at him.
“Are you still my dog?” he said, saying he felt like he was living a scene from one of the scary movies he enjoys. “It was like a scene from ‘Pet Sematary.’ “
Olivarez purchased Mia, the only member of her litter to survive, around the time his first child was born. She was intended to be a companion for his sons, now 8 and 9. Olivarez tried to explain Mia’s resurrection to them Tuesday night.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “It’s not something I planned for.”
Meanwhile, Olivarez is seeking a new owner who can give Mia proper care.
“I’ll keep her until I figure something out,” he said.
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/10/dead-dog-walking-michigan-rottweiler-survives-botched-euthanasia-attempt.html
UPDATE: 23/3/2011
The blog team got in touch with Amanda Kloski and asked her a few questions. This is how it went…
1. Tell me something about yourself. How did you come into your given profession and what motivated that choice?
I suppose it is just the one field I have always had an interest in and felt that I belonged since I was a little girl. I guess I am naturally drawn to animals and have always sought out positions where I could work with them. When not working in an animal care position I’d volunteer.
When I moved to Sulphur back in October, I learned that in less than 30 days 30 dogs had been put down – healthy dogs… So I made a trip out to the shelter and my heart sank when I pulled up to a large electronic gate with a STOP sign on it.
There was no other signage, and even people who were working in buildings nearby hadn’t known that there was a shelter… I had to call the animal control officer to make an appointment to actually see the dogs as no one else is on staff aside from him.
The next day I made it past the gate to find a shed with 10 cages, some cages were holding multiple dogs. I asked Scott, the animal control officer, if he’d mind if I took pictures and started a petfinder page for the shelter. He didn’t mind at all and has called me every time a new dog comes in or is picked up. He also meets me up there on his own time so I can pick up animals for transport.
What’s so amazing and touching about these dogs is how they don’t wallow in self pity at their situation. If you walk up to them, their tails start wagging and they rush the cage hoping to make contact with you. They are truly resilient creatures. .. All animals are. Their ability to bounce back, adapt and move forward- to just let go… It’s incredible. Some of these dogs are in horrible conditions, yet they still find a way to wag their tail- As if to say I’ll be okay, all I need is someone who cares.
2. Tell me a little bit about the home that Wall-e has been rescued by?
Well he is still with me; he goes to work with me every day and then home with us (my son and I) every night. When we go out of town he travels with us. It’s going to be VERY hard to let him go, I’m very nervous about his new home and hope that I make the right decision. I hope that he ends up where he is supposed to and where he will be loved unconditionally and not exploited.
I have cried a few times just thinking of it. I’m doing everything that I can to find him the best home as quickly as possible. But at the same time I can’t just rush into it. Marcia and I are going through the applications and will compare our top picks then get home studies on the finalists.
3. How do you personally plan to encourage the 2,999 applicants who won’t be adopting wall-e to adopt another dog?
With each application sent out we reminded them that of the thousands interested in Wall-e, only one family would be bringing him home and that we hoped the rest would open their hearts and homes to another less fortunate shelter animal that is not safe like Wall-e is.
We still have dogs at our shelter that are running out of time unless adopted or fostered. I am in the process of starting a non-profit organization, Wall-e’s Friends, and on our Facebook page we list the other dogs still waiting for a family to adopt them or even foster them.
4. Have you ever dealt with anything like this before?
No, never. When I pulled up that morning and Scott told me that one of the puppies had survived the euthanasia the night before, I freaked out and was even nauseous, thinking is he suffering? Is he dying slowly? But Scott said, “No, he’s just hungry”. And he was, I went to his cage to find him jumping up and down and wagging his tail… I scooped him up and loaded him into my car with the others I was picking up and had the Vet look him over and listen to his heart. He has been fine so far.
I do have these horrible moments where I get so scared that he’ll suddenly fall ill, and then I see he’s fine and tell myself to quit freaking out.
5. How many newspapers and TV stations (approximately) have contacted you so far about the story of Wall-e?
“Good morning, America”, “Channel 9” out of Oklahoma City, and “Channel 10” out of Ardmore. There have been a lot of reporters call in but with so many calls and emails I wasn’t able to get back with everyone fast enough. I’m still sorting through emails and calls.
6. There was another situation like that in Detroit in October of 2010. People have made the comment that failed euthanasia attempts are due to poor training of the people doing the injections, what do you think about that?
Well, I don’t have a medical background or pretend to know the body’s process in this situation. It has never been an area I’ve cared to learn more on or focus on… but I would assume that even if a vein was missed, that the body still has to absorb the substance just like any other injections. For Wall-e to have survived 2 full doses being injected into his little body, I can only think that God wasn’t ready for Wall-e to leave here just yet.
Wall-e’s only estimated to be about 5 months old and he’s already a SuperDog for shelter animals everywhere. Imagine what else he will do in his lifetime. What he will do for one extremely LUCKY family…
7. Have you been successful in any efforts you may have had to use your media attention to put the spotlight on the other dogs that need homes? Has the media given you time to speak about other dogs? Or do they just want a sensational story? If so, how does that make you feel?
Wow- I’m so glad you asked this question. In every interview I’ve tried to reach out about all our other dogs, even had the promise of those dogs being shown on air, but at this time Wall-e is the spot light, and understandably so. I just wish that every shelter dog had this many families interested in adopting him or her. They are all so special and they all need homes.
The most crucial fact to Wall-e’s story is probably how important it is for people to spay and neuter their pets so we don’t have such an overcrowding issue in our shelters. There are many wonderful low-cost spay and neuter programs available now. Vaccinating is also SO important to help keep disease and unnecessary death and suffering off our streets and out of the shelters as well.
In the bigger picture here, had Wall-e and his siblings not been abandoned in the first place, they never would have been put in the situation they were put in to begin with. It’s going to take everyone doing their part to fix this problem and it’s going to take city officials changing their thought process on this problem and willing to invest now to save (both lives and money) later.
I do get sad a little when I look at all these homes that only want Wall-e, when he’s safe, he’s not going to be euthanized, but our other dogs are…
8. You mention on the adoption website that Wall-e has a shamrock shape on his bum. St. Patrick’s Day was just the other day… Does Wall-e have real Irish luck? What do the others say?
Well, there’s no denying he’s one lucky pup. But I have to say that there’s more to this than luck. His shamrock pattern is amazing though- I’ve never seen anything like it.
9. How many animals would you guess need homes in the Sulphur area?
More than I can count. You can’t drive too far around here without seeing multiple dogs or cats wandering the streets. Our shelter in Sulphur only has 10 cages and we sometimes have 5 dogs in one cage…
UPDATE: 27/3/2011
The blog team received some photos of the Animal Shelter in Sulphur itself. Do take a look at where they euthanize dogs, and where Wall-e, the miracle, was discovered…
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This is a miracle, I think it kind of indicates that Wall-e was not meant to die so early, I hope this strong lil fella gets a good home. Thank You Rinpoche and blog team for working so hard to get in touch with Amanda, I hope more people will support her cause.
This is indeed very amazing. I personally, would never ever put down dogs as I believe that the dog’s Karma has to be lived out or else it will have to suffer for another life.
I remember a story similar to this in which the dog was euthanised and placed in a freezer. A few hours later, a pounding was heard in the freezer and the dog was alive.
Thank you to Rinpoche and the blog team for sharing this amazing story and contacting the owner. Amazing!
Wall-e is such a pretty dog. What a survivor! I hope no one tries to put him to sleep again.
Years ago, I was “given” a 2-month old Chow-chow puppy to look after. I named him Timmy. Timmy was tiny and wouldn’t eat from the day I got him so I took him to Dr Prem who diagnosed him as suffering from Parvo’s disease. His blood count was ridiculously low. Nothing could be done as Timmy was too young and too weak to be vaccinated or given any proper medication to fight the disease. We all thought Timmy would not last 48 hours. I kept feeding Timmy every few hours with liquid food by using a syringe and somehow he was still alive after 4 days but he was in such a state that he couldn’t walk, or even open his eyes or swallow on his own. Strangely, he would still manage a little wag of his tail on hearing my voice, even though I only had him for a day before he got sick.
By day 5, Timmy was literally only skin and bones and that is when I agreed to put him to sleep. Till this day, I think of Timmy and regret putting him down. From a Buddhist perspective, I should have let him live out his karma so it doesn’t have to be repeated. I kept Timmy ashes for years and only decided to have it released during one of my first few outings at Kechara Animal Liberation.
The No-Kill policy is there for a very specific reason.
I’m worried about my cat who is now 16 years old. He has had some health issues but nothing significant, except his arthritis which is visible when he has problems walking. Strangely I’m worried about his mental health. He has gotten more and more dissatisfied, indecisive, demanding, and desperate over the past few years, more noticeably now. For example he’ll meow nonstop to go outside, then meow to come back in 20 seconds later, meow for food, then not eat it, and this is constant. The food problem is bothersome because so many cans go to waste, which is all meat that came from other animals…. He is very nourished though and does eat a lot so that is not a problem. Has woken me up every single night the past week. Tried showing him attention or even saying mantras, but most of the time he gets up to beg when you approach him. It’s bothersome because I think he’s going to have serious health problems in the near future, and I don’t want him to take rebirth has a hungry ghost.
Very helpful hearing Rinpoche’s views on euthanasia because I was always uncertain, thank you. In the US euthanasia is very common, and the Christian perspective is the pets “go to heaven” so “no problem,” so I anticipate a battle when the time comes for my cat. Thanks for the story Martin I will keep that in mind.