Adrienne Williams has always considered herself to be an animal lover. When the North Bergen flight attendant was growing up in her native St. Louis, she was always around animals.
“There were always animals in our backyard and I would always rescue stray dogs and cats,” Williams said last week. “I love animals, because it represents a balance between nature and people.”
So Williams could not have turned her back recently on a 14-week-old puppy in dire need of help.
Building Superintendent Dolores Dunn first recognized the cold and shivering puppy wandering outside their Park Avenue apartment complex during a recent rainstorm. Dunn then asked Williams to help with the animal.
“She was so cute, but I could see that she was in trouble,” Williams said. “I learned from my mother and grandmother that you have to have compassion for every living creature. I didn’t have a choice. I had to help this puppy. I could see that she didn’t have anyone else in the world.”
Williams took the sick puppy into her apartment, wrapped her in a blanket and tried to feed her.
“I tried to make her comfortable,” Williams said. “I wanted to show her love. I did whatever I could.”
Williams gave the puppy the name “Shirley.”
She immediately called the Humane Society of Newark, which is designated to take in stray animals found in North Bergen. Williams said that she received no answer when she called the society office at approximately 6 p.m. on a Saturday evening.
“I called and let the phone ring at least 40 times,” Dunn said. “No one would even pick up the phone.”
Williams then reached out to the Hudson County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), but someone there told Williams that the organization only caters to cases where animals are being mistreated and harmed.
“I figured that I could just wait out the night and make the necessary calls in the morning,” Williams said.
However, the situation worsened when Williams realized that the puppy’s condition had declined. The puppy was bleeding from the rectum and was becoming less responsive.
“I didn’t know what else to do, so I called the North Bergen Animal Hospital,” Williams said. “I was told by the doctor to bring the puppy in.”
Dr. Gerald Buchoff is one of the staff veterinarians at the hospital who examined Shirley and diagnosed that the puppy was suffering from Parvovirus Syndrome. More than likely, a former owner who realized that the dog was sick threw out the puppy into the rain.
“I was left with a choice,” Williams said. “I could either turn my back and walk away on the puppy or take the responsibility to pay for all the medical expenses.”
Williams then had to write a check to Buchoff for $200 for the veterinarian to treat the animal.
“Once a person takes in a stray, they take the responsibility on their own,” Buchoff said last week. “It’s very expensive to do all the necessary work, the tests, the intravenous medicine. She [Williams] did a nice thing in trying to care for the animal.”
Buchoff, who is on call 24 hours a day, treated the puppy at 2:57 a.m., but it was to no avail. The puppy died. “I tried to save her,” Buchoff explained. “I wouldn’t have done the procedure if I didn’t think I would be able to help. I was pretty sure I was going to be able to help. But the animal was sick.”
“When she died, I just walked in the rain and cried,” Williams said. “I know that she wasn’t around for a long time and she suffered. She was so cute. Her paws were soft, so I knew that she had owners who put her out on the street to die. The owners had to know she had the disease. It hurt me profoundly.”
Buchoff said that the bill to treat the puppy would have come to $814, but he gave Williams a bit of a break, considering that it wasn’t really her animal.
“The $200 [isn’t to cover] getting out of bed at two in the morning,” Buchoff said. “There were a lot of expenses here. I’ve been coming in to work in the wee hours of the morning for 18 years now. I gave her a break, considering the situation.”
Still, there was an unpaid remainder of the bill. Williams doesn’t see why she should be held responsible. She’s angry at the system, insisting that no one from the Humane Society was available to help her when the puppy was in its worst condition.
“All I want is an explanation why no one is willing to help,” Williams said. “Instead of chastising me, when I finally contacted them [on Monday after the puppy died], they didn’t give me any answers why this happened. I couldn’t walk away from that puppy. The puppy was bleeding to death. What was I supposed to do?”
What to do
According to Colleen Donegan of the Humane Society of Newark, there is a proper protocol to follow when you spot an animal in need.
“They can first contact us during business hours, but if it’s not during business hours, then they should contact their local police department,” Donegan said. “The police department then goes to the scene to determine if it is an emergency and then we send a crew out. We get calls all the time during the course of the night and we always go out to respond every night. But you have to contact the local police department first.”
Donegan said that instructions what to do in case of emergency are featured on the message that plays when someone calls after business hours. However, both Williams and Dunn insist that they never heard the message that evening.
“I’m not stupid,” Williams said. “No one ever answered the phone and I never heard a message.”
“Maybe she heard that it was an answering machine and hung up,” Donegan said. “We don’t know. But if she called the police, then everything would have been fine. We would have sent someone there as soon as possible. We would have picked up the animal and brought it to an animal clinic. I think she’s a very nice lady for doing what she did. But once a person takes a stray to a veterinarian, it’s not our responsibility anymore.”
Buchoff was asked how people should handle such a situation.
“I guess it’s a question of the heart,” Buchoff said. “I don’t know what to say. Financially, there’s a risk involved. I guess the best way is to let the town take care of it by contacting the police. I guess some people just have bigger hearts than others.”
“If you would have seen how cute the puppy was, you would have done what Adrienne did as well,” Dunn said. “Anyone with a heart would have.”
Williams said that she has no regrets in helping the sick puppy. “I still would do it again, even with what I’ve learned,” Williams said. “I just found out something different. I have no regrets. It’s who I am. I can’t even get used to seeing homeless people in the street. If she would have lived, I would have kept Shirley.”
Williams added, “When we were going to the hospital, Shirley showed her love for me and put her head on my chest. That was my sign.”
The Humane Society can be contacted at (973) 824-7080. The police can be contacted at 392-2100.