Monday
May 17, 2010
Camp
16: private property after the “animal rescue shelter”
Last
night we didn't sleep well in the bitter cold above 9,000 feet. We fed Wolf some tuna and tortillas, he
scarfed it up in an instant. We walked
through dry and dusty terrain, mostly on old roads beneath the power lines. As the day wore on it continued to get hotter
and Wolf had a tough time keeping up. He
would run ahead and quickly dig a hole in shade of trees and bushes. As we hiked past he would follow and then run
ahead and dig another hole. On the map
we saw that there was an animal rescue shelter on the same road we were walking
on! Convinced we had found a solution we
found the place and it had a cooler of water at the end of the driveway for
hikers with a note that said, “Enjoy, but don't linger too long as the dogs
will run down and may try to follow you.” We walked down the lane leading to
the house and were immediately surrounded by about 50 barking, growling
dogs. That wasn't even including the
ones locked in the pen beside us that were following us along the fence line
and going nuts! It was disgusting and
terrifying! Wolf turned around and high
tailed it back toward the road as several dogs chased him. Eric turned around to go retrieve him and not
really knowing what to do, I continued toward the house. A man came out to meet me, seeing that I was
quite intimidated and a woman followed, obviously upset that I was there. It was feeding time apparently and they let
50 some dogs out during feeding time.
Don't ask why, I have no idea,
I'm actually quite frustrated as I sit and write this. Cats sat in the windows and covered the couch
that sat outside on their porch.
Appalled, I explained that we had found a dog and were hoping to drop
him by as we are hiking the CDT and couldn't take him along. The man asked if I thought I could catch him
and I reply that I have no idea as he was scared off by the barking dogs who
chased him back down the driveway. He
gave me a leash and said to go ahead and walk back and he would drive and find
us in 15 minutes and take the dog if we could catch him. I took the leash with no intention whatsoever
of giving these people my dog. Yes, by
now I am quite fond of our little companion and although the man was nice
enough, I was not leaving this cool mellow dog with these people and their 300
animals. I turned and walked back, the
dogs nipping at my heals, throwing out my trekking pole on occasion to ward off
the growling mutts. By the time I got to
Eric and Wolfie I was so mad I could have spit nails! These people should have been on an animal
hoarders show. It was an absolute
nightmare. So here I lay, after dinner,
with a very hungry doggie companion, wondering what we're going to do with him
once we reach Pie Town. Hopefully we'll
find some help.
No comments:
Post a Comment