Dear Editor:
This is a story from The Assisi Center, the new S.P.C.A. in Jersey City. It is a story about Ruffles, a rather large, rather wonderful five-year-old mixed breed dog. We found Ruffles tied to our fence one morning. He had been abandoned there by someone in the middle of the night. not an unusual occurrence. We often find our friends so tied or thrown over the fence. Well, we took him in and he immediately adopted our office as his new home. He’s been there about two weeks now and he greets people at the door, keeps the office volunteers company, eats and sleeps in there, and is a general joy in the midst of the reorganizational chaos.
We noticed right away that he had problem. He has a hard time standing up. In most other shelters, Ruffles would have been euthanized because he is five and because he has this problem and because they would regard him as very unadoptable. So they wouldn’t spend money on him. They simply would kill him. But we have this thing at The Assisi Center; we aren’t going to kill Ruffles just because it’s the cost efficient thing to do. See, Ruffles is this magnificent source of life and joy. He just has this hip problem.
We have him on medication and it helps a little, but we took him to the vet’s office because he seemed to be having a particularly bad day the other day. Dr. Buchholz says it’s as bad a case of hip dysplasia as he’s ever seen. So we are taking Ruffles to the hospital in Little Falls where they can do specialized treatment so that he can live out the life given by his Creator without pain. That’s what he deserves. That’s our responsibility to do.
Of course, it will require money to do it, and we are asking you who might want to help Ruffles to call us at The Center and make a contribution to the “Ruffles Fund.” See, it’s more that just Ruffles. He is one symbol of the kind of inhumane treatment imposed on so many innocent creatures by human society. He also is symbolic of The Assisi Center and its new commitment to the innocent victims of this county which is home to all of us. Things are better than they used to be in Hudson County. For most of us. But some of us are still abandoned and left behind. Tied to the fences.Thrown over a fence.
It really is up to us to fend for the defenseless, to share what we have with those who have not. Human or canine or feline or whatever else has a life and the right to that life. Please give us a call at 435-3557. Become a member or volunteer some time or walk a dog or play with a kitten or give to the “Ruffles Fund.” Ruffles and his friends and especially you will feel better for having done so.
Thank you.
The Ruffles Fund c/o
The Assist Center – SPCA
480 Johnston Ave.
Jersey City, NJ 07304
Tom Hart
Executive Director