The Face of the Forgotten

 Do you see her? She's in the chair behind the table. Not her chair, not her home; but maybe a safe spot for a few minutes. Maybe a place where someone might give her a morsel to eat, anything just a piece of bread but please she is starving and sick.

 This little child has touched my heart and shaken my soul. When I first saw her I thought she might be displaced and injured from the flooding caused by Matthew. I followed her only to find that she had been scrounging and begging for food before the storm and some of the neighbors thought she was dumped. I could see every rib, her tail hung limp behind her, one eye was missing  and she cried the most heart wrenching pleas for help.

The picture above is a scene from the flooding just two blocks from where this baby struggled to survive and it is only one example of the devastation all over Eastern  North Carolina. I wanted to hold her and feed her but I couldn't bring her home. My own fur kids may not have appreciated another dog and she was in no condition to be introduced to my own group of bouncing crazy and often times jealous kids. I posted her picture on Facebook and I asked if there was anyone that could help. I knew there were rescue groups that would be as concerned as I but I also knew that they were full and overflowing with so many homeless from the flooding.
  I had followed the shelters and rescue groups and I knew the shelters equipped to house 20 to 30 dogs and cats were now set up with temporary enclosures and filled with more than a hundred animals each and more arriving all the time.   This baby needed help, her missing eye was infected and there was a lump under chin. I was contacted by Odin's Orphans, a local rescue group and they agreed to take her if I could catch her.

 Once I could get a quiet minute alone with her she came right too me. I will never forget the look of fear on her face and the trembling as she inched forward and ate ravenously from my hand. The leash was on her in a second and she walked uncertainly by my side to my home.  A volunteer from Odin's came to get her but in the time we waited  she started wagging that skinny little tail. She ate dog food and treats and smiled and hugged me and kissed me and snuggled in my lap.

She has what appears to be scars on her body, the tip of one ear is missing. I cannot imagine what she has suffered. Day after day I see post after post of lost dogs, possibly stolen dogs. Now these posts have nothing to do with the flood, it goes on in Eastern N.C. and in areas all over our country. These kind, sinless souls need help. We must stop the abuse, there are many kind people and those that work tirelessly in rescue but the needless abuse and neglect must stop.  Please adopt or volunteer and if you can donate to help these suffering lost animals. I can't go on anymore right now, it is just too heartbreaking. I have been updated today and at this point it appears that she will make it. She is getting medical care and testing and she is in the hands of the most wonderful people. Please hug your own fur kids tight and reach out to the lost ones.   And THANK YOU to ODIN'S ORPHANS and the others that worked so hard to save her,