Meet Honey.


Honey is an approximately one year old Rottweiler who was found abandoned, tied to a tree last Sunday.Ā  Yep, someone not only abandoned this gorgeous girl, but left her with little-to-no chance for survival by tethering her to a tree, leaving her with no way to get food or water, or to fend for herself against an attack from another animal. But Honey’s life was not meant to end that way. She was rescued by a good Samaritan and her story reached a local Rottie advocate, Amy McCoy. Amy networked Honey to a few out-of-state breed-specific rescues, and Wisconsin Rottweiler Rescue stepped up to take Honey if she cannot be adopted in the next week or so through Mid-America Rottweiler Rescue.


Now, you may be wondering, “what does this have to do with you, Emily?” Well, let me explain…

Amy McCoy agreed to take Honey into foster until she can be transferred to Wisconsin, but had to do some rearranging to make room at her house. The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City was kind enough to allow a space for Honey at their shelter, even offering to spay her, microchip her, and get her up-to-date on all of her shots (awesome, right?). Once Honey was a few lady-parts lighter, she was ready to be sprung from the Humane Society and taken to Amy’s home. Unfortunately, Amy was unable to pick her up before the shelter closed, so after some back-and-forth messaging through Facebook, I agreed to arrange for her pick-up and to babysit her for a couple of hours until Amy could pick her up from my house. My sweet bestie, Joanna, sprung Honey from the shelter, and a few hours later, Honey was off to Amy’s.


The reason why I am sharing this story is to illustrate how animal rescue takes lots and lots of people to be done successfully. Honey’s rescue was not possible without the good Samaritan who found her; the people who shared the story with Amy McCoy; the shelter workers and vets at The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City for giving her a place to crash and providing her medical care; Joanna for transporting her from the shelter; and Amy McCoy for fostering her until she can be moved to Wisconsin. Most likely, there will also be volunteers who will take up various legs of the journey to get to Honey to Wisconsin, as well. See? There were at least 10 (probably more) people involved in the rescue of this one dog! Amazing, right?


I’ve spoken with many people who think that they can’t get involved with animal rescue because they don’t have the time/space/money to foster a pet. Well, there is a lot more to animal rescue than fostering. Yes, fostering is a huge part of it, and an invaluable service to offer – but we just as badly need people who are willing to take an hour out of their day to transport a dog or cat from the shelter to their new foster home, who are willing to network a dog or cat who needs to be adopted on Facebook, or even people who are just willing to donate a few dollars (or more) to make all of this rescue stuff possible.

So, if you have been thinking about getting involved in animal rescue but have been reluctant because you can’t (or don’t want to) foster, please do it anyways! Shelters and rescues need lots of help and can give you a job that meets your comfort level and time constraints. Do it today.

Dogs like Honey will thank you for it…