Welcome to another Jack Flashback series: The year-end, month-by-month roundup of the biggest stories at GA JRT rescue for 2013.
What a wild ride it has been this year! We’ve had everything from heart-breaking losses to incredible success stories. One thing was consistent, though: Our online following increased greatly, which meant that our local support also grew beyond anything we’ve known before. We are still the small, country Georgia rescue we have always been and are still very much in need of local volunteers and fosters. We just get to share our stories with more people now and your support this year, especially these past few months (we’ll get to that later), has just been phenomenal.
Without further adieu, let’s get this series off the ground with January …
We’re not going to lie: 2013 got off to a rocky start. We were so heartbroken after losing our sweet Abigail to cancer on Christmas Day … and so leery of that old “it comes in 3” adage. Unfortunately, it proved to be true.
Chloe
On the evening of Jan. 3, Chloe left us for the Rainbow Bridge. We had tried for months and went to all costs to improve her incredibly fragile health. In the end, it was just too much and she was ready to go. We think of her often, but never have to ask ourselves, “What if we had done more to save her?” We couldn’t possibly have. What we do know is that she spent her final months surrounded by lots of love and attention, something she had clearly never had in her life. That was our mission when we pulled her from the kill shelter … and we never looked back.
Goodbye to the King
The loss of Abigail and Chloe was hard enough, but the one on Jan. 19 was heartbreaking … and very personal. We said goodbye to one of Mama Donna’s personal dogs and the “King” of the rescue, BB. He wasn’t just a former rescue; he was the rescue. For years, this precious man greeted new arrivals and “patrolled” the grounds, making sure everyone was safe and sound. He never met a dog he didn’t like, and they all loved him. Katie has done a mighty good job of taking over his role, but the king will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, sweetheart.
The Girls Go North
With the bad comes the good, and we had plenty of that the first month of 2013 as well. Katie and Gracie found their forever home together up north in Michigan. The vols all put their efforts together with help by some online supporters (thank you, Anne Ross!) and managed to move these sweethearts across the country to their new home with mom, Deb Zarish.
“The JRT Boy with the Stab Wound”
At the end of January, we went to the kill shelter to pick up a little JRT boy who had been stabbed. Who was actually waiting for us? A 40-lb. silly girl who had probably been injured by a fence or trying to get into or out of something. It was too late to turn back then: She was literally on her way to “the room” when we showed up and she knew we had come to save her … and we were going to.
Millie is all healed up now and has gone through her heartworm treatment. She is our “giant Jack Russell” and makes us all smile, but we would smile even more if she could find her forever home.
