As of late, Tucson has been hit by some very rough things. Ya, of course there's the typical drug problems and murder problems but there is now a new problem; something that we now call the Dog Patch. You may think it sounds nice but it's quite the opposite. The Dog Patch is an area south of town that has been known to be a dumping area. We have just recently found out that this area is actually a dump site for more than just trash. It is a dump site for unwanted animals, dead and alive. I found out about this horrible problem when I was looking at the local Pet section on Craigslist. Someone had posted something about it with gruesome pictures of a horse carcass. My rescue agency that I work with had joined in and was asking for volunteers. I volunteered to help find live dogs out in the patch. On Sunday my partner and I went out in search along with a group of 5 other people. The lady who was with us had been out there very day since the past Monday in search of live animals. So far they had helped save 3 dogs and a horse. When we got out there, we came upon 4 dogs, three pug mixes and one rat terrier. The female pug and the female terrier were both pregnant. We managed to catch them and the lady in charge told us that these four must have been dropped off within the past 24 hour as they had not been spotted before. By this time we had come upon countless animals, at least 5 dead horses, 1 dead calf, 1 goat, and countless dogs. There were dead dogs every 50 or so yards. The stench was unbearable.
You might be wondering why I felt the need to share this with the Tripawd community. First because I know that all of you are dog lovers and you would all be able to relate to how I feel when it comes to not understanding how someone could be so cruel as to drop off dogs to let them starve to death in the desert. Secondly because there was a relevant part of the story that related to tripawds. There was a dog that was found that had four legs but was only able to use the front two. He was captured last Saturday and taken in. He had been found using his front two legs while dragging his hind legs and his butt on the ground. The poor guy was terribly emaciated and looked horrible. Unfortunately after a day the young guy had to be put down as he was attacking all the other dogs and humans that were near him. While it is a horrible story, I just want to thank all of you for what you do. This poor dog was most likely dropped out in the Dog Patch because of the fact that his back two legs had stopped working. If it had been you guys, you would have taken better care of this dog and not let him die. I hope that whoever is doing these horrible things dies a terrible death.