365 Days of Change: An Animal's Best Friend

(Photo: Handout, Daily Mail - UK) 

365 Days of Change: An Animal's Best Friend

DAY 5 - LOYALTY (August 25, 2012)

When I first read that an injured German shepherd named Missy (“Lucky” by Washburn) was left behind by owner Anthony Ortolani to face death on a 13, 000 foot craggy area on Mount Bierstadt in Colorado, I was incensed, and put a few semi-restrained comments on my Facebook.  At the time, I was under the impression he had not called anyone to assist in trying to save her.  He had.  He called the local police, who told him they didn’t have the resources to save his pet.  That’s where he allegedly stopped, and controversy started, over whether Missy should be returned to him or adopted by Scott Washburn, the hiker who found her still alive eight days later – hungry, dehydrated, with labored breathing and bleeding paws.  He too, had to leave her behind, unable to carry the 100+ pound dog, but he did what most of the rest of us outdoor enthusiasts would also have done: he quickly kicked into action!  He did not give up.  Nor did Missy, who held on during those eight days. 

Why would Ortolani, an able-bodied hiker, not have done the same over the span of those long, miserable days?  My receptivity to his defence, ends there.  If he was able to monitor things online, he would also have been capable of organizing something online!  Someone did.  
          

Washburn mobilized a rescue group of seven strangers who hiked up to where she was last seen (and remained) and they carried the dog in a specially made backpack down to safety and into a veterinarian’s care.  The rescue took 9 hours.  Missy's Rescue Story.  To sign the petition asking the Colorado courts to award Missy to the Washburns in the upcoming ownership hearing, click on Missy's Future.    

 

It is well understood that animals love us, stand by us, wait for us, and get ridiculously butt-shaking excited when we come home to them.  The message is: you are the center of my universe.  Maybe we are.  Even in cases where serious abuse occurs, some tremendous creatures still show owners loyalty under the most undeserving of circumstances.

I do not hate Ortolani.  I don’t know him.  What I do hate is clearly proven animal abandonment.  What I do know is that his loyalty towards Missy is tepid.  Loyalty really doesn’t work that way.  You’re in, or you’re not … especially with animals.  And they only understand it from one viewpoint, God bless them.  Be a forever owner.  Be loyal.  

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."  - Josh Billings