Santa Maria

This week’s adventure was one that took an unscheduled 2 hours out of my day - but an adventure that I’d gladly give to again. Allow me to share the adventure with you...

**Writers Note: This story includes graphic descriptions of a hurting canine friend. Good people will find this very sad. The reader’s discretion is encouraged**

After dropping the kids off at school, picking a few things up at the grocery store, and then making a surprise visit to see family, my beautiful wife, Jenn, and I began to make our way home through one of the many routes available to us. Jenn is driving, and we are moving along a very busy eight-lane road when we spot a dog limping up ahead on the sidewalk. (Writers Note - This story, is about that dog and we will call him “Santa”, or Saint, and you’ll see why as you read on).  The closer we come to Santa, the worse he starts to look. 

So, with our heart-strings plucked, we pull into a gas station and I get out to take a better look at him. From my view, he’s hurt and it looks very bad. His ear is torn, ribs show through his fur, and the right front leg is terribly mangled with approx. 4 inches of dried out white bone completely exposed. His paw is severely rotted, barely connected, and it is dragged lifelessly as he limps on this stump of a leg.  I make my way closer to him, but he is understandably scared and hobbles away, headed north. I make pursuit, and Jenn pulls the car around following behind. 

As he limps away from me, he suddenly cuts left across four lanes of north-bound traffic, arrives at the median, and then he crosses the four lanes of south-bound traffic.  I follow him the entire way flagging cars to slow down so he doesn’t get hit. He arrives at a building that seems to be familiar to him, and parks himself near an unused doorway. I wait with him a safe distance away and say to myself “now what...what do I do?”

Jenn meets up with me and parks on a side street just a few feet away (the side street is called Santa Maria).  At this important moment, I am so very thankful for smart phones! She and I conduct searches for the Humane Society, make some calls and get transferred to Detroit Animal Control (DAC) and are then placed on a list for “emergency pick-up”. However, because of the rough financial situation that Detroit is in, there is only one driver that covers the entire 140 square mile city of Detroit. With the countless stray cats & dogs spread over acres of urban prairies, development and blight, this “emergency pick-up” may not actually happen until tomorrow.  These good people have a very busy backlog of work and if I walk away, Santa probably won’t stay put and DAC may never find him. So, we stick around and think of more options to help poor Santa. 

Since Santa is on the property of this office building, Jenn heads inside to explain what the circumstances to the office folks,  and their concern drives them to come outside and brainstorm more options with us.  We start calling area veterinarians to inquire if an emergency service is available to collect Santa. No such luck. So, we try bribery (offering $50, or even $100 to anyone wanting to make a quick buck) and no such luck there either. We then start calling private animal control companies, critter control, and others in a similar business - but we can’t get any traction.  

As we were thinking through some options, the office folks bring out some of their own lunch, fresh water and even their trash cans to sort of barricade Santa in a safe place - making it less likely for him to get away.  Finally we get a break: a phone call comes in from a concerned nurse at one of the local animal clinics that I spoke with earlier.  She was on her lunch hour and offered some help. She arrives and between the handful of us there at the moment, we try to capture Santa. However, after a few attempts with the nurse’s leash and “treats”, the dog grows angry, growls and is not going to let us help. He is very threatening now, so I distract him giving a chance for the nurse to back away. The nurse suggests a better idea with some different tools, and she sets off to retrieve it. 

Meanwhile two ladies driving down the road see Santa in his bad condition, and out of concern they stop to help. While we were exploring our options, the nurse friend returns and the handful of us make an attempt at him with a catch pole. After a couple of attempts with it narrowly missing Santa, he gets spooked, and he evades us - hobbling over the trash cans, and taking a nasty spill on the sidewalk. He makes his way toward the busy road, but I route him back to the building.  He cuts left, and makes for the side street.  The handful of us block his path choices and he scuttles his way under the vehicle belonging to one of the ladies, parked on Santa Maria Street.

Now, with the office staff, the two sisters, the animal nurse, Jenn and I, we try to get this poor dog out from underneath the vehicle - but he is not having it. He barks, shows his teeth and refuses to cooperate. Honestly, I can’t blame him. I can only imagine what has been done to him by humans in his life. Varying kinds of stress, or abuse, or maybe torture are real possibilities here. How would he know that we are here to help? It makes me wonder how many people are in a similar situation like this dog? People who are chained to addictions, crippled by abusers, are homeless, angry, or depressed, carry their burden in different ways. I can appreciate Fr. Greg Boyle’s comment that says, “stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgement at how they carry it” (from his book Tattoos on the Heart).  Santa has a huge burden to carry, and he is carrying as best as a four-legged creature can with no safety net. 

Realizing the rock-and-hard-place that we were in, it wasn’t hard to feel discouraged by the situation. Then, all of a sudden, as if sent by angels knowing our cause, the good people at Michigan Anti-Cruelty arrive just in time. Now, equipped with the right talent, and some professional-grade tools to catch this dog and then safely transport him to shelter, it only takes the next 15 minutes to lasso him out from under the vehicle. 

After this long 2-hour ordeal, our team finally earned success and 
moved Santa into a secure crate with a blanket.  We rejoiced in the fact that whatever the outcome now, Santa will be far better than if he were left exposed - literally rotting away. Fresh meals, a secure environment, warm shelter, pain medicine and caring people would now nourish him from here on. 

Sadly, Santa was humanely put to sleep the morning of Saturday April 13, 2013. However, we can rejoice knowing that Santa received undeserved grace from total strangers on Santa Maria street. It was right and just that his final experience with people was from those who genuinely cared for him and physically embraced him (literally) as he passed into the next life. 

There are so many lessons to read from this unexpected adventure. The grace Santa received (whether he knew it or not) is one that we all have a chance to experience - regardless of the burden we have, or how we carry it.  Take time today to ask God how you might be used to share grace with the environment around you. It may be a stray dog, an abandoned home, a next door neighbor, a community center, a homeless person “downtown”, or someone close to you - like your spouse.  What or whoever it is,  remember to take the time you have been given and share it gracefully.