I am sitting here on my couch with my senior foster Sycamore. To be honest, fostering has surprised me in a lot of ways. I’m looking forward to writing about the experience but safe to say, it’s been quite the roller coaster ride of emotions. I’ll be sad to say goodbye to this sweet boy,
Last week I wrote about what I’ll remember from the second year of blogging. Featured in that post were eight absolutely adorable puppies, all of whom came from Texas. While it’s not uncommon for animals from different states to end up in Chicago, the way they came here is an interesting story.
One of the (many) things I love about ALIVE Rescue is that they love feral dogs. They’ve had a couple through the years that they’ve been able to rehome. Most recently, they brought Tala into their care. Tala was trapped on the streets of Chicago and taken to Chicago Animal Care & Control. Terrified of people, she shut down and ALIVE knew they had to help her.
Tala became an ALIVE pup on March 22, 2018. She did very well with other dogs but after almost a year, she still was petrified of people. Deciding adoption would not suit her, ALIVE drove her down to SARA Sanctuary in San Antonio, Texas.
SARA Sanctuary is an all breed, all species shelter that welcomes animals of every temperament. Currently they have 750 animals in their care. They have pigs, cows, donkeys, horses, cats and of course dogs. You can volunteer with them and visit with their animals. Currently looking into a visit myself.
What’s really cool is their program of taking in animals from other organizations. The deal is, if you bring a dog to their sanctuary, you must take 10 back with you. It’s a way for everyone to win. Since it’s much easier to get animals adopted in the northern states, this partnership is key in saving so many lives.
ALIVE went down on January 25 to bring Tala to her forever home. They were supposed to come back with 10 dogs but, they did better. ALIVE brought back 20 animals from Texas, including this cute litter and their mother. That’s 21 lives that ALIVE saved.
I love creative solutions in the rescue world, and I love that ALIVE went beyond what was expected to help more animals in need. The dedication to helping as many animals as possible in any situation is one of the things I admire most.
If you’d like to donate to SARA Sanctuary you can do so here. You can help ALIVE continue to save animals in need by donating here.
Huge thank you to Violet and Indigo studios for letting us use their space and letting us let these little monsters run free. Also, Fluorescent City designed this backdrop.
THE RESCUES:
You’ve already met these cuties but make sure to take a look at the rest of the animals that ALIVE has available for adoption here.
THE STYLE:
Thank you again to The Dress Reserve for lending me this beautiful dress. If you have any upcoming events, be sure to check them out!
All photos: Margaret Rajic
Wow how amazing!! I love that they don’t limit rescue to dogs only and focus on saving as many lives as possible! And I’m going to have to pull a Joey Gladstone here (original Full House style) and tell the puppy in the last photo in the puffer vest to CUT.IT.OUT because ohhmyygodd that’s ways too cute!
I Cannot even with that last puppy pic. WHO IS SHE EVEN?!