The Grace Foundation of Northern California is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization that provides critical care and rehabilitation for abused and neglected animals and utilizes our rescued animals for assisted learning and therapeutic programs for children, youth and adults. This includes horses, dogs, cats, goats, pigs, chickens and cows. In 2011 alone we have rescued over 400 animals!
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Freebird Rescued Angels Fund
Click here to donate to the Freebird Rescued Angels Fund!
While each animal we save has an effect
on Grace there are some animals that leave a lasting mark. Their gift seems to be to remind us all the importance of what we do at Grace.
This time the animal was a 2 year old filly we named Freebird. Sadly this tiny filly’s story does not end the way any of us hoped it would.....
Freebird came to us from Sacramento County Animal Control. She had been dumped at the Consumnes game preserve on Martin Luther King Day and park rangers brought her to animal control. Dr Mike was called in to evaluate her and placed a call to me.
Dr Mike explained that she was in grave condition, unable to swallow and starved beyond what we normally see. But given that she was only 2 years old Dr Mike felt that she deserved a chance.
We transported Freebird to Grace that evening and Dr Mike began the uphill battle of trying to save her. Since Freebird was unable to swallow her food she was given her meals through a tube. Her sweet face relaxed each time her belly was full and she would often close her eyes for a quick nap. She seemed so at peace and grateful to have a belly full of food.
Freebird’s body condition was horrific to see, but what haunted all of us that cared for her was the way that her owner had left her.....not only did they leave this poor baby to die by herself, alone and cold in an unknown place, but before they abandoned her they harvested her mane, tail and forelock. Taking what they must have considered her last piece of value. Like stealing from a dying person, they not only took her life but they took what was rightfully hers....her precious hair.
Through all her treatments Freebird was always kind, gentle and happy to see her caretakers. She seemed grateful to have company and a loving hand. Although we knew that the chances of survival were slim, emotion made it difficult to come to grips with the fact that she would never regain her ability to eat and so there was no way to save her.
Before we brought Freebird to Grace Dr Mike made me agree that I would allow him to do everything possible to save her, but if her condition did not improve and her ability to eat did not come back that I would I would not try and delay her passing in hopes for a miracle. Dr Mike knew that although Freebird loved having a full belly, having to receive her food through a tube was not comfortable and when he knew that there was no way to save her, his efforts went to giving her the most humane and painless end possible.
While my heart breaks for this tiny filly and we mourn for the life she was robbed of having, I am grateful that Grace was here to rescue her. It is not the happy ending that we long to offer these horses, but in Freebird’s case, we gave her the only thing we could offer....a chance, a full belly and a painless ending surrounded by people that had grown to love her in her brief stay at Grace.
While I gratefully receive your kind words of encouragement for they, so many times, keep me going after a case like this.....it is important to know that the thanks need to go to others in the Grace family as well. I hope you will all help me in acknowledging and thanking the true hero’s in this case....Dr Mike who gave this filly a chance at life and through this he was able to give her the best days of her very short life. I also want to thank Jeanne, Lisa and Sheree who assisted with the majority of her care.....they opened their hearts to her and smothered her with the love she deserved, but in opening their hearts to her, their hearts were broken by her loss.
Sadly, this is a tough economy for many horse owners and we are seeing more and more cases of owners who can no longer afford to properly care for their horses. Already this year Grace has helped two abandoned horses but more horses are being abandoned to fend for themselves. Animal control agencies do not have the facilities to properly care for these horses and many of them end up having to be euthanized.
In an effort to help prevent these horses from being abandoned in the first place, The Grace Foundation set up our HERO program to take in horses whose owners can no longer care for them due to the owner's medical condition or financial hardship. This is an expensive mission and we can not accomplish it alone.
We have established the Freebird Rescued Angels Fund in the name and loving memory of this very special horse. By donating to this fund you can help Grace rescue more abandoned horses, like Freebird, and horses who's owners can no longer care for them.
Click here to donate to the Freebird Rescued Angels Fund!
CBS Sacramento 13 news coverage of the story
