I live in a fairly quite area. A few lots down is a guy who runs a fire works stand, so every now and then he sets off a fireworks display that can be seen and heard within the area. When I first arrived at my mothers place, maybe two weeks after I was here, there was the display of police choppers and police cars. Seems a field of "herb" was growing in the area. Problem solved, and we haven't seen any more police choppers flying around. But I am more then sure that didn't take care of the problem fully, the "growers" , most likely, just got smarter.
One of the biggest problems I see out here is, it has become a place to drop off unwanted animals. Dogs and cats roam around with no place to go. Finding refuge under the houses of unsuspected homeowners. Getting meals often from trash cans.
Today, while working out in the yard with my sweety and my mother, we seen the cause and effect of such unwanted animals. The term Wild Dogs brought on new meaning.
We were cleaning out the flower beds {seems to be a weed friendly place}, and setting the flower pots on bricks until they mature. The benefit of this move, is we will enjoy the colorful blooms as they grow and mature.
Mom has always wanted a water fall that starts in the corner of this flower bed, and falls down slate rock and into the concrete area in front of the flower beds. She talks about it, and you can not only see the water fall, but hear it as well. Making this flower bed a home for the flowers, never crossed our minds.
I was pulling weeds when I hear the loudest squelching sound ever. It was the sound of the neighbor, 2 lots down, pig. Our own dogs were barking and racing to the fence. I turn around to see what the pig was screaming about, when I saw it. I yelled to my sweety "B A B Y,T H E D O G S !!!" He turned and thought I was talking about our dogs.. so loudly I say "T H E I R, T H O S E D O G S I N T HE D I T C H" as I point toward the neighbors ditch.
Right there, in plain site, was four dogs attacking a small black pig. The squelching screaming sound was horrible, the poor pig was defenseless and being bitten all over by the dogs. In a flash my sweety began running toward the dogs in attempt to save the helpless pig. following behind him was my mother {although she wasn't running} and myself. Paul made it to the ditch {no one even thinking about the fact of there being 4 wild dogs and one human, not until afterwords}and scared the dogs off. The poor little pig ran toward the property in which he lives, and hid next to the fence under cover. The owners of the poor pig never came out to see about the animal. My mother and myself thought the little pig would be dead by morning.
When we all seen TWO little black pigs, we jumped for joy. The pig who had been attacked made it through the night. In the pictures above, the female pig was the one attacked... she is the one in the top picture looking at the camera. In the second picture, she is on the left. If you look at her left hind leg, you can see the large mark where she was being eaten. How she lived, is beyond me. But I am so thankful to she her running around, limping.. but alive.
As for the dogs.. Well two of them were picked up by the Humane Society. My biggest fear, if they could attack a pet pig, was the four dogs attacking a small child. The dogs were obviously hungry, they must have been dropped of in the area, because you can see they are healthy and wore a collar. Unfortunately, they got the bad end of a deal from their bad owners.
Yesterday, my sweety and I ventured out to the local feed store. Now, I know nothing about horses, but in the same lot as the two small pigs is a horse. I have been watching this horse for a week, day in and day out the horse eats grass. The area in which it grazes is more then thin on the grass side, which happens when the animal is left with only grass to eat. Like I said before, the owners live on the property with the horse.. and two pigs.. and a area built onto the home {in the back out of site} full of baby and young adult squirrels. I don't think I even want to know what is being done to the poor squirrels.
I had to do something. Friday was the first day of Autumn, and with how skinny the horse looked to me.. I knew it would be a rough winter for the poor animal. It may have been a small dead, but to the horse; it meant the world.
In attempts to get a meal, the horse is pulling down the fence to get to the grass ..
The saddest thing ever.. ribs are showing and the hip bones stick out...
With the slightest move, the poor horse flinches.. But the hay, he loved.
From what I understand, a starving animal has to be reintroduced to food slowly, and that is what we did with the hay. I would hate to cause any more discomfort to the poor horse, but just from looking at him, you know he is hungry. In Texas, this would get an owner hung... But I am not in Texas {where it is a crime to treat a horse like this}, when I talked to the humane society here in Florida, I was told "We don't do livestock. Try the sheriff dept, if they don't want to handle it they will tell you to call us, but now you know we don't handle livestock ." I could have yanked her through the phone ~ But, kept it together like a lady should... A yanking would have felt great though.
The horse ate, and the pigs joined him in eating the hay, I am guessing they aren't getting the food they need either. One step at a time, and I hope to blog good progress with the horse.. maybe he will be alittle fatter in the next photos. Now, if only I could find a place here in Riverview/Brandon who wouldn't mind donating food to help this horse out...
Any ideas where I could check?
