He came into our lives when he was only five weeks old. He was just orphaned and needed a home quickly. His mother was killed only hours earlier, and my wife, Salette, drove across Tucson through a summer monsoon to pick him up, along with his two brothers, and to find fluids to treat their severe dehydration. Salette worked with an organization that placed orphans in foster homes. At the time, all the foster homes were full and we ended up with three tiny boys. One of the boys died, despite my wife's best efforts to save him. The other, a gorgeous boy with blue eyes, was adopted within about two months. The remaining orphan had a severe upper respiratory infection that had to be dealt with before an adoption process could proceed. Because this little guy didn't get his mother's milk long enough, his immune system wasn't strong. We ended up adopting this young fella and became his mommy and pop.
He grew pretty quickly after getting better. He grew to be very athletic adolescent and a natural leader. Although he was the youngest, he was always in charge and the others accepted that. Almost fully grown, he came down with a serious fungal infection known in the southwest as Valley Fever. He lost a lot a weight and as a fever almost every night, but he is improving.
Most who have read my earlier diaries will know that I have a son with leukemia, but the baby I'm currently referring to is Booger, our youngest dog.
We called him Booger because the respiratory infection was so bad his eyes would be glued together each morning due to the heavy mucus build up seeping from his eyes. He is our baby and now, and he is sick, too. Jesse and Booger sleep together now, comforting each other and mutually sharing their discomfort.
Salette directed one of southern Arizona's largest animal rescues, and she was also involved with a national pit bull rescue. We have four pit bulls now. One lives with our daughter. We were hooked on these lovable dogs when Penny came to our lives. They are affectionate and very lovable.
I write this to let you know about the millions of puppies and kittens who die waiting for a home. You may be wondering why a candidate for U.S. Congress would bring these issues up, but there is legislation that can help turn the tide, and the cost of doing nothing is quite staggering. In Pima County alone, up to 20,000 dogs and cats are killed each year in our local shelters. Here's a photo from The Tucson Citizen showing a county worker disposing of pets at the Tangerine Road landfill:
The county spends $215 on every animal that it handles. Nationally, between four and twelve million dogs and cats are killed in shelters each year.
This problem has two root causes: breeding and buying. All companion dogs and cats should be spayed or neutered as early as possible. And people who want to bring a dog or cat into their lives should adopt from a shelter or rescue group instead of buying. The worst place to get a dog or cat is at a pet store, where animals often come from large commercial breeding facilities known as pet mills, where the conditions can be horrible.
Local legislation can help tremendously. Pima County joins many other progressive communities with its differential licensing, whereby people whose dogs are spayed or neutered pay a lower licensing fee each year.
But there's also plenty that Congress can do to help these very vulnerable creatures who share our lives. Some pending legislation that I would support:
- Antifreeze Bittering Act of 2005, Bill Number: S. 1110 & H.R. 2567, which amends the Federal Hazardous Substances Act to require engine coolant and antifreeze to contain a bittering agent in order to make the fluids unpalatable to animals and children.
- Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act), Bill Number: H.R. 3858, which requires local and state emergency preparedness authorities to include companion animals in their disaster evacuation plans. During Hurricane Katrina, we saw the tauma experienced by evacuees who are forced to abandon their animal companions and the subsequent suffering the animals endure. There are also serious health and safety risks to emergency workers that are exacerbated by the abandoning of pets. Many of these problems can be mitigated through proper planning.
- Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005, Bill Number: S. 1139 & H.R. 2669, which extends animal welfare protections to address the sale of puppies and kittens over the Internet and through newspaper ads. Many of these baby animals cross state lines and consumers have no opportunity to view the conditions where these animals were bred, which was the original intention of the Animal Welfare Act.
- Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, Bill Number: S. 382 & H.R. 817, which upgrades current penalties by authorizing felony-level jail time for violations of the federal animal fighting law, and prohibits interstate and foreign commerce of cockfighting weapons.
For Booger and all the pups who aren't as lucky.
