(Steeley's Before Picture)For several days in a row at the end of January, volunteers in the Corridor of Cruelty were trying to capture three puppies living under a house being remodeled. Luckily, one by one, each of the little bundles of fur were rescued but not before something quite sad and almost unbearable was discovered.
While waiting for the last puppy to pop its head out from under the dilapidated building, something different peeked out through the darkness instead. I was a block away trying to trap a dog in a Fiesta parking lot when I received the cell phone call from a volunteer stating that something almost monstrous was also living under the house. I was told it was a dog but it had no fur and its skin was winkled and its head was covered in a scab an inch thick and that it certainly must be on Death's door. While trying to comprehend what might be going on with this animal and preparing myself for the worst, I received another call back saying the dog had come out from under the house and had run across the street!
I quickly made my way to the spot and snapped one fast photo of the creature before it scurried away back to its hiding place under the house. I decided that this poor little dog was indeed not going to die - She was very much alive and breathing! She was simply a scared, young dog covered in mange. She obviously had been hiding for quite some time, and I can only guess that the sunlight and air actually hurt her raw and swollen skin. Gosh, how much pain she had lived with already all of her short life.
But as fate would have it, this day she must have decided 'enough was enough', and she just had to come out and scratch her back on the grassy patch across the street. Thank goodness for that! Because that photo I took saved her life.
I sent it out to the rescue networks, and Chris with Bandade Animal Rescue offered to take her if we could get her. Volunteers headed back out there that Saturday with a trap, the dog got in it, and Steeley was safely delivered to Chris on January 31, 2009 - The day the Steelers won the Super Bowl. That is how Steeley got her name.
-Story told by Deborah Hoffman
(Steeley's After Picture)With a little love, time, and money from Bandade Animal Rescue, she has made a full recovery.
Steeley is a very sweet, loving dog that has been adopted by Bandade's president, Chris Jenkins. Steeley loves her new home and has found her place as the best friend and sleeping buddy of Chris' nine-year-old daughter, Sadie.
