The Story of Sal

Published On - May 25, 2018

Juliana Castaneda Animal Stories, News, Rescue

 

I don’t know what to say. I feel like I can’t leave the house. I’m always afraid I’m going to find animals that desperately need help.

Driving to the town from the sanctuary we saw this dog looking weird, and walking weird like totally lost. We stopped the car to check and he was extremely weak, with deformed looking front legs. We just took him to the vet and yes, his front legs are deformed, he is blind, deaf, and has a venereal disease.

After a good bath and tons of love

 

I’m not looking for this, actually. I have to cease new rescues and stop until at least the campaign I’m running succeeds. But I can’t ignore someone in need. My eyes are open, my heart is open, and I can’t pretend they are not there.

We are waiting for the results of the second test. Meanwhile, he is at the sanctuary, happy and warm receiving the medicine for his kidneys and all the love he needs and deserves.

UPDATE

Unfortunately, Sal passed away. We did everything to give him the best life possible on his last days. This is one of the hardest aspects of running a sanctuary: the departures. His story will remain here, also we wrote another one describing his last days with us.

 

Imagine that you are alone, old, deaf and blind, with sores all over your body.

There was a time when you had a family, but you don’t have a clue where they are now. Your surroundings are as hostile as always, in fact, it´s riskier than ever. However, you keep surviving, keep walking, holding on to the last bit of life you can, because you got no other option. You can make sounds with your mouth, but no one willing to help will ever understand, so it’s useless.

What kind of hope can you find in such situation? It seems too hard not to give up to fear and despair. However, amid so much disappointment, a stream of light appears when you least expect it.

Although you mistrust the hand that carried you in the beginning, it still sets you apart from the place you used to be, with the only sense left, you try to figure out what is going on. There are strange scents, unknown vibrations.

The journey continues, inexorable. The smell of the world begins to change, you feel new presences. There are creatures like you and some others you don’t recognize. But this new place has something different, you don’t perceive the scent of fear, nor loneliness. You can now see that everything it’s not always that bad, hardship it’s not eternal. It was worth to resist alone in the uncertainty.

Days pass by, but now they are something else. The sores continue to live with you, but there is no more anguish. You spend restful and cozy nights, food is always there, and you feel someone beside you all the time, taking care of you. You can catch the whiff of unknown creatures. It reminds you of other days when you were young and chased them with joy. You feel the caresses, but you can´t associate them to someone´s face. In spite of feeling love through them. You don’t want to say good bye to those magic moments but there is something that grows inside you and calls you, letting you know that there is not much time left.

But none of that matters, because the life that you had was worth to live, so you could end it on this place, far off of this world´s hostility, away from the apathy of its inhabitants and the cruelty of fate. It was worthful to get through all the trials from the universe to only arrive to this place where you were able to inherit something you did not know it existed. Where you are not going to be alone in your last breath.

The sores grow, you don’t understand what is going on. Despite this, you know there is someone looking at you, that cares for you, and without any hesitation is weeping for your departure. It becomes a relief while facing the doors that lead to the end. The deserving rest will come.

The darkness changes.