I do not know who you are, and I cannot imagine what possessed you to abandon an incredibly sick puppy at a mall in Brookfield. I am not sure what kind of thought process leads someone to think that turning a sick puppy loose in a mall parking lot in the middle of the night would be a good idea. Aside from the fact that the puppy obviously needed medical attention, the poor little thing could have been run over, attacked by wild animals looking for food in the dumpsters, or just suffered from exposure, as it was very cold last night.
No matter, I guess. When you put him in that parking lot and drove away while he watched and wondered what was going on, his death sentence was certain.
Last night at 4am our Humane Officer responded to a call from the Brookfield Police when they found your emaciated puppy at Brookfield Square. Your puppy was completely dehydrated, and incredibly sick. Our Humane Officer knew right away what was wrong with your puppy by the smell, it had Parvo. She brought your puppy straight to the emergency vet who tested your puppy, confirmed that it was positive for Parvo, and left him overnight for treatment.
This morning we transferred your puppy back to the shelter to prepare it to be picked up by a foster family for the long-term care it was going to need. By lunchtime your puppy passed away, as it was too late to save the little guy. The disease had taken its toll on his vital organs and he was too weak to live.
I wanted YOU to know that.
Because the police officers who found your puppy, the humane officer who rescued him, the shelter staff and the vet clinic staff who administered his medical care, all have to feel sick inside about the short life and miserable death of the poor little puppy that you could not even bother to take to a vet for vaccinations that might have saved its life, or for treatment when he became ill. We tried to save him. We did not even know him, or his name. But we did more to save his life than you did. He died with a stranger at his side wondering where you were.
You must have had him for a few weeks. He must have had a name. He must have been really cute, and done funny puppy things. You knew him, and you should have loved him enough to care what happened to him. Instead you took the easy way out and you chose to not know what happened to your puppy, by dropping him off and leaving him for us to take of.
For all I know, you think that this little guy was saved, and has gotten medical treatment, and is being taken care of by the nice family who found him. You know, the nice family who was shopping at the mall at 4am on a Monday night. Maybe in your imagination you think there was a happy ending for your puppy. Well, there was no happy ending, and his cold little body is in our freezer.
I hope that you remember him next time you think about adding an animal to your life. Remember that if you cannot commit to taking care of an animal for better or worse, in sickness and in health, or for richer or poorer, you should not buy one, adopt one, or otherwise take responsibility for one.
I hope you sleep well tonight. I know I won't.
