By the hair of a dog's tail, I almost took on more tragedy from the city pound.  A male basset I'd had my eye on for a week (posted on their Web site) was going up for adoption on Saturday before last.  I managed to talk my husband into going down to have a look at him, but when we got there, he and also the female he came in with were nowhere to be found.  The shelter attendant didn't seem to know anything about any bassets.  I later found out from someone else that he had still not been administered his behavior test (contrary to what the shelter manager had written to me in an e-mail Friday afternoon) because he had been exposed to Parvo, at the shelter I assume.  The female is pretty and apparently adoptable, but I wouldn't dare adopt her because she was brought in with the infected dog and probably kenneled with him, too.    

I doubt that I will be looking for any more dogs to adopt from that place.  After our tragic loss of four-month-old Bramble in 1995 to distemper, I couldn't bear to lose another adoptee to a completely preventable disease.  It's been 14 years, and I still haven't gotten over the trauma of losing that beautiful pup to such a devastating disease.  All people have to do is vaccinate their pets, but of course they don't.  Then when the animals end up in a shelter for whatever reason, they are exposed to deadly viruses and sometimes don't survive, like poor little Bramble.   

This same facility was in the media spotlight a few years ago for its poor management.  Things don't seem to have changed much from what I've seen thus far.  I know that the budget crisis is making things difficult for every public agency, and animal welfare services seem to be a low priority, but high on the list of services to be slashed.  Things will get much worse if Governor Schwarzenegger has his way.  Under his latest decree, shelter dogs would destroyed in only three days, which means even fewer will be reunited with their owners or get adopted into new homes.  It makes me so angry I can't stand to look at his picture in the paper.  And to think I voted for this guy, the only Republican I've ever voted for in my life.  I wonder when was the last time Arnie visited an animal shelter and watched someone's pet be euthanized?  Perhaps if he did, he might see things differently.  If this edict becomes policy, he'll really be living up to his Hollywood title, The Terminator.

So much for the city pound.  The search for basset love continues...