or, When Love Found Sonora.
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or, When Love Found Sonora. |
 P126619 |
She arrived at the Pima Animal Control Center on November 10, after having been picked
up on the streets of Tucson by an Animal Control Officer. Of course, she wasn't
yet Sonora, she was just P126619, cold, hungry, weak, lost and alone. After her
tick bath, she was placed in a kennel by a kindly member of the kennel staff to wait
out her fate. A Found! Volunteer took this photograph shortly after she had
arrived. She now faced 72 hours of waiting to see if her owners would find her
and redeem her. If the owner did not redeem, she would be evaluated to see if she would be a suitable
candidate for adoption. If not, she would be euthanized. P126619 was not
wearing a license when she was found by the Animal Control Officer. If she had, she
would have had 7 days instead of 72 hours and Animal Control might have been able to
contact her owners. The staff veteranarian examined her and found her to be
seriously malnourished and only weighing 17 pounds. Unless her owners claimed
her or, in the unlikely event someone would offer to foster her and bring her back to
health, she would not become a candidate for adoption. Her situation was grim.
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Hundreds of people walked by her kennel in the ensuing few days. But not her people.
They didn't come and, as far as we know, did not see her photo on the Found! web site, or
ever know that she was at the Animal Control Center facing a very uncertain future.
© 2000, 2001 by Found! - In Time
Then, in one of those inexplicable twists of fate, a near Christmas miracle occurred.
While working on a project to add the information on the animals up for adoption
at the Pima Animal Control Center to the PetFinder
web site, a nationwide source for animals available for adoption, PetFinder Senior
Programmer, Rebecca Taylor, was viewing the Found! site. She looked through
several categories and then, randomly, chose Dogs, Medium, Other Color, Female and
stumbled upon P126619. While wiping the tears from her eyes she dialed Pima Animal
Control and spoke with Michele Romero, who confirmed that P126619 was still in the kennels
and that this day was her last day. In an instant Rebecca knew she had to go down to the Pima Animal
Control Center and see her in person. Before leaving her office she called her fiancé
and had him look at the photograph on the web site. His response was "is this our dog?".
Luckily, Rebecca was able to foster P126619 and take her home the next day. Over the next month
P126619 became Sonora. She gained her health back, her weight is up to 28 pounds, and
she now runs 5 miles a day with Rebecca and her fiancé. And, most important of all,
Sonora found love.
Rebecca and Sonora.