Stray dog finds shelter for her litter in Everett
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Sarah Weiser/The Herald Shannon Delgado, the manager at the Everett Animal Shelter, pets Star, a shepherd mix, at the Shelter on Thursday.
The call came into 911.Vicious dog, owner unknown.The stray had been hanging around rural property near Granite Falls and sleeping under the house for a few weeks before the March call.The dog was vicious and aggressive, the homeowner told an animal control officer. It bit his adult son. The animal control officer noted the dog was a female shepherd-Labrador mix on an incident report. She wore no collar. There were signs she’d recently given birth. The officer flashed a light under the house but couldn’t find any puppies. He used a catch pole to capture the mama dog and placed her in his truck for the long ride to the Everett Animal Shelter.
This kind of call often doesn’t end well. Aggressive dogs aren’t fit for adoption. Those brought into shelters are often euthanized. This dog story doesn’t end that way.
Shannon Delgado’s biggest worry was for the puppies.
Delgado, the Everett Animal Shelter manager, has worked with animals 14 years. When she first laid eyes on the mama dog in late March, she noted the physical signs of a nursing mother. Young pups aren’t yet ready to fend for themselves. They need their mother’s milk and they need it frequently. That first evening at the shelter, the staff quarantined the mama dog in a kennel. She came in scared, body quivering, tail tucked between her legs.
The next morning, the animal control officer arrived with a welcome find: the puppies. Eyes barely open, the five pups were soft, squiggly and fat as butter. Four shared their mother’s toffee-colored fur. The fifth, a male, sported a chocolate coat that suggests Rotteweiler. When mama dog caught sight of her progeny, her tail thumped wildly. The staff placed the puppies inside the kennel, and mama dog sniffed, licked and inspected all five. Then she flopped down on her side to let the hungry puppies nurse.
The animal control officer watched for awhile to make sure all was well. By then he had questioned the man who was bitten and learned the bite didn’t break the skin. He asked the shelter staff to remove the dog from quarantine. It’s not unusual for nursing mothers to be protective of their babies, especially with strangers.
That’s what Delgado thinks happened in this case. Mama didn’t want anyone near those babies. “She’d probably been on the run awhile,” she said. “When she had a place to bed down, that was her area of protection.” It took several days before the dog learned she could trust the shelter staff. Delgado started by cracking open the kennel door, and throwing a bit of hot dog in. By the end of the second day, the mama dog trusted enough to take a bit of hot dog from her hand. “I knew when I opened that door and she didn’t lunge or growl that she would be fine,” Delgado said. The staff named the puppies Moon, Rain, Wind, Cloud and Sun.They named the mama dog Star, since she gave birth under the sky.
Other stories don’t end well. Working at the shelter can be stressful and sad — sometimes because of the way other people treat animals, and sometimes because animals can’t be saved. “It’s extremely rewarding because this is what we are here for,” Delgado said. “We are here for that extra bit of work to make them adoptable.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
So if I post a blog on all of the animals that Everett Animal Shelter is going to kill then they all live? This is the momma & the litter that I told everyone about that they went out & trapped the mother & left the puppies out there to freeze to death, but I see public mockery ( and Kenneth Harmer’s Tender Heart) sent them right out, they KNEW there were puppies out there were 4 other rescues INCLUDING MYSELF who knew the momma had pups & that is why she was showing aggression. I have the emails going back & forth.The fact remains until I ridiculed them publicly they left those pups out there overnight. They knew the pups were under the trailer & I was the only one little enough to fit under there to go get them.After they killed Blaze the dog that the Ellis’ wanted to adopt this might’ve have been that “one step too far” After reading this story about stars & moons & lies I guess now I don’t have to ask why there was no story about it in the Herald.You are supposed to be OUR local paper, you are not run by the shelter, by the city, by politicians… Or are you? Now it makes perfect sense why you do plenty of stories slamming Pasado’s but not the shelter, so you allow the abuse of the animals there to continue.
Like: Why didn’t you investigate the fact that Everett’s non-profit has 110K in assets yet they put down 82 cats? Most of which weren’t showing symptoms when they could’ve quarantined them in groups, but instead of letting go of a few dollars they just put them ALL down.
Debra you said you wanted to do a story about their policy on Pit Bulls, American Bulldogs, Mastiffs & anything they perceive to be a terrier mix there but you had to gather more facts… No thank you, judging from this story you’ll make it seem like they have a day at the spa before they are killed.
I wrote about this story on March,26th, I am glad (I don’t care if it was ONLY because they got a black eye about killing Blaze) that these dogs got to live, so now I know how to save dogs again from there. Public Humiliation. I don’t whether to be sad or disgusted, or surprised
May 9, 2012 4:01 am Brandia Taamu
Animal Law News & Abuse 
Animals know. Their body language says a lot. Sigh.
Publicity seems to be the only thing that works.
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I know :~(
The problem with these folks is that all the publicity in the world can not give them a soul… No matter how badly they screw up the City will pay big outside lawyers to clean it up, their resources are unlimited thanks to the tax-paying citizens in Everett.
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Reblogged this on Taamu v. The City of Everett.
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