Raven's Diary

…til I say goodbye to Bentley!   The realness of sending him off to his new mommy is hitting me hard. I have a certain amount of calmness because his new mommy is amazing. She is perfect for him and he loves her. The excitement in his eyes and body language when he see’s her is utterly breathtaking to watch.

I cannot believe that in four months I changed his life and he changed mine. I am forever grateful to have felt that cry out to be saved and gave him the chance, as he is an amazing creature. Sometimes I wonder what on earth am I thinking? Why am I giving him away? He is the best behaved and so playful and so loyal. In such a short span of time he has trusted me with his all while I battle to control the rest of my zoo, spoilt rotten I suppose which breeds no loyalty LOL!

So today I find out I have 13 days til he goes Home…I’m nervous and worried and scared but I’m happy for him…I can’t give him what he deserves. He will be forever inprinted in my heart. That smile that I saw growing daily will forever illuminate my memory of him. His incredible intelligence will forever amaze me. And his Will to live and trust will forever inspire me.

This sounds like a eulogy…it is a form of departure…but I’m at peace knowing that I can visit and see him flourish with his new family.

Bentley you’re a superstar….Thank You!

It’s been quite a while I see since I’ve done an update on Mr Bentley! Things have been going real well and there hasn’t been too much to report on. He is still eating well. Still healing well. His coat has just about covered all those horrendous scars. The hair falling out issue rectified itself within days and his coat is now smooth and shiny and thick. He is so enjoying his daily walks and cries tremendously when we take the others before him.

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Today I saw a man, a black man, smallish built with surgical gloves blue overall; walk past me carrying two black bags…

In SA that’s not unusual; is it? A black bag has so many uses, from storing household rubbish to being used as a suitcase to being worn as a raincoat. Well as this man walked down the gravel road I focused on the black bags figuring out it’s contents. The shape was unusual, nothing I had seen before. It couldn’t be rubbish as it didn’t bulge like a rubbish bag would, well like mine usually do. I focused in more and then went ice cold, it hit me…there was a euthanized dog in each bag.

They must have been small as they only took up the space of the width of the bag. They must have been light enough for a smallish built man to carry one in each hand. What they were or what they looked like or what their story is I will never know. All I know is that they didn’t deserve the end they got. All I know is that an entity classified as human was the cause of their suffering. All I know is that an angel classified as a human being saved it from continued suffering.

That man and his fellow workers have to deal with this everyday, it’s part of their job description. Would you smile and be happy to go to work if your job description called on you holding a dog down to be “humanely” disposed of, then placed into black bags and carry those bags all the way to the incinerator? What does that do to a person?

There’s so much sadness in this world; why must higher beings be kicked down to our level, we as humans are not worthy of living on this planet, no wonder the world will come to an end and start over again. Hopefully the next earth will get it right!

Through my frantic search for a permanent home for Bentley by sending posters wherever I could, someone finally responded and actually rocked up for a visit. Hear my sarcasm…there were one or two that showed much interest over the phone but then didn’t rock up for appointment so I wasn’t too hopeful for anyone else. Anyway, the lady and her husband came and Bentley was very protective over his home so he barked a bit to warn them. But it wasn’t even five minutes and then he was lying down on the grass beside us and we all got to know each other. I started getting scared though as all of a sudden the immense pressure of responsibility came over me and it knocked me a bit, I wanted to hold on and not let go. The lady instantly fell in love with him though and I could tell by her stories of her other pets how much she also loves animals. This made me feel a little more relaxed. He can’t go immediately though they must first set up their new home so I still have a while to get used to the idea of having him go. Bentley will get another visit tomorrow and this time we’ll probably go for a walk….I’ve invested so much of my soul into him it’s going to be tough to let go…

…and his woofable mommy Joanne.

With my recent active role at Animal Welfare they extended me a special invitation to take some photo’s of Oscar’s visit to Port Elizabeth on his World Woof Tour. I don’t really have words that will justify how awesome Joanne and Oscar are in real life but I’ll try take you through my afternoon with them.

1pm Tuesday 26 October I meet Joanne with the very distinctive Oscar following closely. My first impression is Wow what a friendly jolly colourful (skinny) lady. Oscar was in his own world and sniffed around outside and took a pit stop ever so casually. Sam, a shelter dog that has adopted Nicky the home manager at Animal Welfare but is awaiting his forever home, played around with Oscar as if they’ve been buddies forever. Later on Nicky told me that the school they visited earlier that day saw these two running all over playing like two good old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long while.

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