Photo by Jakub Alaborski
Today I logged onto the computer and checked my email like I do every morning. I had a surprise waiting: an email from my good friend Karen in Jacksonville, Florida. (a.k.a. Aunt Karen to Murph, Kitty, and now Tabby. She’s also the mom of Tucker, the 80 pound wonder dog, Murph’s all-time best friend.)
Karen and her husband Michael are busy people. (They’re pet photographers who are usually either busy planning a shoot or traveling to one.) So I’m always delighted when she finds time to write.
Except, today’s news broke my heart. According to the News4Jax.com, a local TV station, article she forwarded to me, on Saturday around 2 a.m. a fire broke out at the Jacksonville Humane Society, destroying it.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. We didn’t find Murph at the Humane Society (he came from the city’s animal control shelter), however, like most of Jacksonville’s pet owners, you couldn’t help but be involved with the Jax H.S. somehow. They made it so easy and convenient.
We went for opening day festivities when they first opened their dog park. We often took donations to their Thrift Store, and at Thanksgiving we’d drop off dog food (or whatever else we might have found on their wish list that they needed). Not to mention their fundraisers, like the Fur Ball, a formal event where the pets were welcome too. (We had quite a blast going to that!)
Wayne, Murph, and I before leaving to Fur Ball. (Yes, Murph went too donning a black bow tie.)
To read that the beautiful facility, including most of their medical supplies and equipment, was completely wiped out with losses at $1 million was devastating. My heart is so heavy today.
Heavier even still because many animal lives were lost. 200 animals were there when the fire broke out. Unfortunately, before firefighters could get in, the roof caved in over the cattery, killing most of the cats sheltered there.
Firefighters had better luck with the dogs, though. Only two casualties on that front.
And the firefighters suffered themselves. Four had to be hospitalized because they were inside one of the buildings when the roof collapsed. It appears they’ll all recover, thankfully.
I can’t get out of my mind the fright and terror those poor animals must have experienced.
However, for every downside there’s an upside. The majority of animals were saved. The firefighters went above and beyond and treated the animals’ lives as precious as any person’s. And there’s the community, which has rallied to help with giving donations, providing foster homes, and volunteering.
I don’t have much to contribute, but whatever’s in my BMK Fund now and for the foreseeable future is theirs!
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