I happened to be at work on a beautiful March day when I received a call from a client. She asked me if I knew of any no-kill shelters. I told her that I was not aware of any, and she began to tell me the story of a feral dog that was in her neighborhood and the eight puppies that she was taking care of. The small town in East Tennessee where this client was from became notorious for people dropping off unwanted animals. She told me that a little female dog and her eight puppies had been running loose in the neighborhood and no one had been able to trap them. This is when the story gets really sad. One of the neighbors who had a garden started shooting the feral dog and her puppies to try to keep them away. I said that I would take the mother dog and her puppies until I could place them in order to keep them out of danger. I gave her my cell phone number and told her to call me when she had talked to her other neighbor who had been feeding them and was ready to have me come and pick up the dogs. Two weeks went by and I hadn’t heard anything so I just assumed that they had found some other arrangements for them. On April 1^st, 2009 I had received a call that they were ready for me to come and get the mother, but unfortunately there were only six of the puppies remaining. On April 4^th, 2009 I picked up the feral dog that would become known as Annie and three of her puppies (we were unable to trap two of the remaining puppies and a neighbor decided to keep one of them). When I went to pick up the mom and the three puppies they had told me that Annie has been limping on one of her front legs. I just assumed that she may have been hit by a car as she was notorious for chasing them. After about a week of socialization, it was time for Annie and the puppies to make their first of many trips to the vet. The puppies checked out nicely accept for some intestinal parasites and ticks. Annie on the other hand was not so lucky. She had x-rays taken, and when the vet came back in the room told me that we did not have good news. The humerus on her left arm had been completely shattered by a bullet and would need to have her leg amputated. She also had bullet fragments in her chest and back, and the vet said that she was lucky to be alive. It has taken a lot of time and effort to rehabilitate Annie and her puppies from feral dogs to companions, but all of it was worth it. They are still learning to trust humans but in due time they will make someone luck people the perfect companion dogs.

Annie became the inspiration for this organization and it was only fit to name the foundation after her. Annie’s Angels is dedicated to rehabilitating sick, injured, abused, abandoned and neglected animals that would otherwise have been euthanized. The main purpose of Annie’s Angels is to pull loving dogs from animal shelters and give them the life that they deserve that they would not have had otherwise due to lack of funds.

UPDATE 5/18/09- Annie went to see a surgeon today about having her leg amputated and after looking at her x-rays decided that because she is such a young dog the bone fragments in her leg formed a callous over the broken bone and it has healed itself. She will walk with a permanent limp, not because she is in pain but because her leg is shorter than the other one. From time to time some of the bullet fragments may work themselves out causing abscesses, but for the time being we are going to leave the leg alone. In time, if it is determined that she needs to have the leg amputated then it will be done.  

-Heather Day