DO NOT STAND BY AND WATCH
"Someone help! Someone do something! This dog/cat/kitten/puppy is about to die!" It's a prototypical FB plea, and the type of message I get sent to me every day. "Danni, can you save it?? I can't because a) I'm tired; b) I have no room; c) I work too much; d) my roommate says no; e) I'm broke; f) I'm not there with it anymore; g) i'm allergic; h,i,j...)".
Guess what? That someone is you. If you see that an animal is suffering and you are concerned (which all good people should be), it is YOU who should help! Not "someone".
Tonight, a saga involving a very sad puppy ended, thanks to another pair of rescuers, my friends Anna Berg and her husband Derk. Someone posted on a Tel Aviv animal rescue forum that a puppy in Efrat, a settlement 80 km from Tel Aviv and only accessible by private vehicle, was badly injured and that the wound was infested with maggots (sorry to be gross). The woman needed help getting him to a vet in Jerusalem and was hoping someone had a car. Every night, the pup would come to her looking for help, and every night, the group in Tel Aviv was trying to figure out how the hell to get that dog the help it needed before it died. This dragged on for days until finally Anna and Derk got back to Israel from a trip abroad and went straight to get the pup and drive it to the clinic, where a vet was waiting to perform a major emergency surgery on a puppy that was, by now, fighting for its life because no one in or near Efrat could do what it took to get that dog the treatment it needed. The dog is still in surgery, hours later, and we are hoping he comes out on the other end. And, as usual, I am shocked by the general callousness of mankind, but inspired by the graciousness of a few heroes.
I wrote a letter to the group, and here it is. Next time you are confronted by a sad situation, please remember: that someone is you. It is not someone else who takes care of everything so that you don't need to get your feet wet. If no one steps up, it dies. It's that simple.
