Tuesday's Telling: Animal Abuse Awareness Month

I know abuse happens, but because my hu-mans love me so much, I have difficulty comprehending how and why it exists.

My hu-man recently read an article in the newspaper about a young German shepherd that had been tied to a backyard tree and left him without food or water until he was so hungry that he ate dirt.

According to the Orange County Register,

German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County is offering a $1,000 reward for information about the owners of the dog they named "Courage."

Someone saw the emaciated animal and brought him to an emergency animal hospital last week in Garden Grove. Veterinarian Dr. Bill Grant says the 3-year-old dog weighed just 37 pounds - less than half his normal body weight. He now weighs 41 pounds.

Grant says Courage faces months of recovery, but is recovering well. More tests will determine if Courage's liver and kidneys will recover from the advanced malnutrition.

The good news is, a good samaritan's actions helped to save this dog's life. 

The paper recently reported, that as of Monday, Courage weighed 46 pounds.  In addition, there is a long list of people who are interested in giving Courage a home.

While the dog is doing better, it will be another couple of weeks before Grant can be certain his internal organs will recover and he will survive.

Courage still has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but thanks to people who care and his will to live, he is doing much better.

So what went wrong? 

It is very difficult to know what went wrong.  It turns out, Courage's owner Kimberly Nizato is a 26 year old veterinary technician in Irvine -- it is she who was arrested in this case of animal abuse.  She was released on bail and in the meantime, is suspended from her job, with pay, because she has a child.  I appreciate the compassion of her employer, to consider the welfare of Kimberly's child, but I hope and pray that Kimberly would share the same compassion with animals and individuals in her life.


This was a difficult story to share, but in light of Animal Abuse Awareness Month I thought it was important to share...
Please do what you can to help stop animal abuse.  ~Zoe



Read more: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/04/19/1109416/vet-says-dog-has-gained-about.html#ixzz0leZvtm78