AN ALBUM OF RESCUES AND HAPPY ENDINGS
East Orange Pound
For much of its history, this dismal concrete block building was the end of the road, literally, for any animal brought there. It was a dog pound from the dark ages, located next to the junkyard in a rundown section of East Orange, New Jersey. No one came there to adopt, and the euthanasia rate was nearly 100%.
Some time in the 1990's a progressive director took over the pound, and began reaching out to rescue groups throughout the region, trying to get some of the animals into foster homes where they would have a good chance of being adopted. At this time, it was fairly innovative for kill shelters to reach out to private rescue groups for help. This practice accelerated with the advent of the internet and email and is now commonplace (although millions of dogs still die in shelters every year). In 1997, 1998 and 1999 (when the pound was closed down) Pet Adoption Network pulled hundreds of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens from this "death row" and placed them in loving homes. It is a part of our history of which we are most proud.
Although our East Orange era ended in 1999, PAN has continued to pull animals from kill shelters in NJ and other parts of
the United States. We have been consistently amazed at how lovable and good most of these animals are, some of them just hours
away from death when we rescued them. One of our main missions in PAN is to encourage people to adopt rather than buy a dog (or cat).
Here are stories about some of the animals we have rescued from East Orange and other places.
Fargo
How's this for before and after pictures? This large, young pit bull mix
was very depressed when he arrived at East Orange, and a PAN volunteer agreed to foster him. It soon became apparent
that this stray dog needed more than just cheering up. In the foster home, he was lethargic and had trouble eating.
We took him to the vet, who discovered a large sliver of bone embedded in Fargo's jaw. The injury probably
happened when he was eating garbage as he tred to survive on the streets. The doctor said he must be in excrutiating pain,
yet Fargo allowed himself to be handled and examined without so much as a grumble. Surgery was performed to
remove the shard of bone from his jaw, and he was neutered at the same time. You can see by the big grin how
much better he felt after his surgery. Once he had fully recovered from this horrible ordeal, Fargo was adopted by a couple
in Middletown who agree that he is the sweetest and most gentle dog ever. He insists on sleeping
cuddled between them in the bed at night, and has convinced them that adopting a shelter dog is the way to go!
Hannah and Her Puppies There was no central heating system at East Orange Pound. Employees kept a couple of kerosene heaters going on the coldest days
to provide a little relief for the animals. Hannah gave birth to five puppies at the pound in the dead of winter. Without a proper
bed to contain them, one of the newborn puppies rolled under the gate of Hannah's kennel during the night and onto the freezing concrete walkway.
This frantic mother badly injured her front paws during the long night she spent clawing at the chain link, trying to get to the puppy.
But he had died of exposure by the time the first employee arrived in the morning and discovered him. As soon as we heard this horrible
story, we whisked this little family away to a safe and warm foster home. Hannah was a wonderful mother to the surviving four pups and
they grew happy and healthy and found good homes through Pet Adoption Network. Below is a picture of Hannah looking shiny and fit
in her pretty pink collar, right before she was adopted to a family in Montclair, NJ. Zephyr This winsome husky mix arrived at East Orange Pound in the
summer of 1998. Her owners kept her chained in their back yard, and she was hungry,
filthy, frightened and pregnant. The owners finally had animal control come and take her to
the pound. Pet Adoption Network took her from the pound and placed her in foster care. Zephyr's lucky day came when Lee and Mary Cookson of Burlington
County found her on Pet Adoption Network's web site. Zephyr blossomed in their home, and went
on to become a star in obedience school, receiving her AKC Canine Good Citizen Award - on her first
try! According to Mary Cookson, "Zephyr is a sweet and gentle
companion to us, and a spunky and courageous playmate to our other dog. In short,
she is the perfect dog for our family." Quite a difference from her old life as
a back yard dog! Trudy This female Doberman with soulful eyes was left tied to the fence
outside of the shelter in the middle of the night. She was taken in by Pet Adoption
Network and adopted by Doreen Dougherty of Somerville. We will let Doreen tell the
story..... "Trudy is doing just great. Santa is planning to spoil
her rotten this Christmas, because she's been such a good girl! I've expected a lot
of her, and she's come through with flying colors. She's still a bundle of energy,
and she's had no health problems at all. We've discovered that she's really
just a big baby with a goofy streak. She's always ready to play, and has a whole
collection of toys that she keeps under various beds in the house. But she also
loves curling up on the couch with us. We've been unable to convince her that she's really too big to be
a lap dog, but we don't mind. She puts her head on your knee, and she looks up at
you with those big brown eyes and you just have to pet her. Having an owner who can't hear has added some twists to her
training. I was unsure at first whether I would train her to "hear" for
me, but she responded so well to learning other commands, I decided to give it a
try. She now alerts me when someone is at the door, or when the phone rings.
She has also turned into my alarm clock, although I didn't plan that, and didn't teach her
to do it. When the alarm went off, she came into the bedroom and started licking my
face and nudging me. The interesting thing is that she only does it for me, never
for any other family member. As you can see form all the bragging I'm doing, she's just turned
into my baby, and I can't imagine life without her. Trudy is everything anyone
could ever ask for in a pet. She gives me so much more than I could ever give her -
she's loyal, devoted, affectionate, helpful, and protective. I consider myself very
lucky to have found her, and I always will be grateful to the Pet Adoption Network for
making it possible for me to adopt her. Big Red Before.....
After..... One of the saddest stories from East Orange Pound, Big Red held
the unhappy record of having been at the shelter longer than any other dog. When we
met him in 1998, this large, lanky sweetheart had been waiting well over a year for a
home. Sometimes, when a dog has been in a shelter too long, he starts
to lose his will to live, and this was the case with Big Red. He was depressed and
had started picking at his food, and he lost a great deal of weight. When we
removed him from the shelter, you could count every one of his ribs. He was also
covered with pressure sores on his elbows, ankles, etc. from lying on concrete for so many
months. Red was spotted on Petfinder.com by Susan and Mike Johansen of
Sayreville. When they made the appointment to come and see him at his PAN foster
home, we warned them they might find his appearance a bit shocking. They fell in
love with him anyway. Just look at these "before" and "after"
pictures. A true happy ending!
