I know that many people who see my FB posts and read my blogs must wonder things like,”What is her deal?  Why can’t she let some of this animal stuff go?”

My love for animals has been strong since I was a little girl.  I didn’t play with dolls.  I played with stuffed animals.  We played pretend school with a diverse classroom of dogs, cats, bears, and rabbits – NO dolls.

I was lucky to grow-up in a family who allowed me to have any kind of pet, from turtles to dogs to hermit crabs to gerbils.  Our house always had critters.  We raised orphaned ducks and nursed a goose back to health.  My life was filled with animals and I loved it.

I had no doubt that, regardless of my journey in life, animals would always be a part of it.

However, because of my passion for animals, I got involved in animal rescue.  Starting with a wildlife refuge, and eventually, finding myself in an Amish barn surrounded by dogs so scared and sick and helpless that I became physically ill.

At the wildlife refuge, I witnessed a popular area theme park decide to euthanize all of its animals in 24 hours unless rescues stepped in to take them.  We took a fox.  We named him Sydney and he became my fox.  I walked him and played with him.  And, I was always reminded that his life meant nothing to the theme park and yet, in just days, meant everything to me.

At my county animal control, where I worked for a few years, I witnessed the euthanasia of so many dogs and cats whose lives meant so little to their owners that they were just dumped without any concern of what would happen to them.  There were dogs 10 – 14 years old dropped off at the gate because the owners didn’t want to be the ones to euthanize them.  I saw how the loyalty of a dog could be easily erased by a selfish human being.

At the puppy-mill auctions I witnessed a type of greed I couldn’t begin to fathom.  Dogs who were once only loving pets to me bought and sold like products.

Everyday when I wake up, I spend the first 10 minutes snuggling with all of my rescued dogs and cats on the bed.  Each day I look into their eyes and I am reminded of the cruel world we live in.  In Thorp’s eyes I see such sadness.  A dog aged beyond his years from pure neglect.  In Penelope’s eyes, I see a yearning to make-up for all of the years she spent nursing puppies and not playing with toys, something she does every day now.

Every pet we have is a reminder of the harsh world we live in.  The harsh world I try to change everyday with my posts and my blogs.  I wish I could just let it go, but things aren’t changing fast enough to let a day go by without trying to teach the millions of people out there who don’t believe such cruelty exists.

When I was a little girl I loved animals simply because they brought an amazing joy to my life.  Today, I seek to give all animals the kind of joy they brought me.