FLINT TWP, MI — It all started with a single picture.
This picture, in fact, where a lone dog sat atop a urine-stained mattress in an empty trailer amidst squalor and filth on Nov. 18.
Inside and outside the abandoned trailer, toys, crates, clothes, a tackle box, a microwave and other left-behind belongings were strewn about as if swept up in a storm and spit out. Hundreds of cockroaches lined the walls, and the smell of decaying food and feces swept across the air from every direction.
Flint Township officials have said the living conditions at the defunct Myrtle Grove mobile home park aren’t fit for a dog.
Angela Chaney, founder and director of Ferals Frontliners Animal Rescue, was there collecting 21 friendly cats and trying to make arrangements for a handful of dogs still running free at the park, which a Genesee Circuit Court judge in September found was unfit for human habitation.
RELATED: Rescue tries to round up animals left at Flint area mobile home park targeted for demolition
Many of the animals were the pets of former tenants, according to a few of the people who remain on the property and are living without public water, heat or electricity until they’re forced to go.
MLive photojournalist Jake May and reporter Ron Fonger were there that day to witness Chaney’s efforts, when she pointed out one dog had a bad limp and was holed up inside that aforementioned trailer.
She was alone, cowering in a corner. A neighbor poured cat food onto a tray she picked up from a pile of garbage and left it nearby, hoping the dog would eat.
After the story published on Nov. 19, that photo caught the eye of Lapeer resident Rusty Bashore, who commented on the picture on Facebook, “I will adopt this dog.”
He messaged May, and May encouraged him to get out to the trailer park as soon as possible, as it was slated for demolition.
“I was really surprised when I got to the address and pulled in. I thought I may have been in the wrong place. To me, that trailer park looked like a bomb went off,” Bashore said. “There was just garbage and pieces of trailer everywhere. I didn’t know if I was safe. I felt uncomfortable, but knew I had to save that dog. It was unbelievable how this dog was living.”
Bashore went in with chicken-flavored treats in one hand and a leash and collar in the other.
“To get her out of that trailer, that was special. She was cowered up in a corner inside of that trailer. It’s where she felt safe. I was able to get a leash on her, and fortunately, got her outside.”
After about 40 minutes of showing the dog kindness and affection, Bashore was able to pull her from the trailer just as Genesee County Animal Control Director Jay Parker rolled up in his personal truck to do a final sweep of the property looking for dogs.
Bashore gave the dog to Parker and animal control, where she received shelter, food and water and was updated on shots and medications to bring her to better health for the next leg of her journey.
Once admitted at animal control, workers and volunteers nicknamed her Marcy, and the name stuck.
Like Marcy, many of the dogs that end up in the care of animal control are found wandering the streets and living in abandoned houses.
“We get the hard dogs. We get the dogs that come in from areas where they were abused and neglected,” Parker said. “We’re an open intake, and we don’t get the ability to take in owner surrenders. We don’t have the space because there are so many dogs out there running in this world.”
When she first came to the shelter, Marcy was six years old, weighing 37 pounds; her rib cage was showing through her coat, and she wasn’t bearing any weight on her back left leg from an apparent injury.
The veterinarian determined the injury was from bite wound trauma to the back left hock with a rupture of the Achilles tendon. Marcy’s leg was functional, but she will never be able to sustain weight on that limb.
“Marcy was brought in from the trailer park there in a pretty rough condition,” Parker said on Dec. 9. “She’s doing much better now. She’s still a little shy, and has a little leash pull. She really has no interest in other dogs, but that doesn’t mean we walk her with other dogs. It’s how she reacts to them. That can all change when she gets into a home.”
Parker said there are about 150 animals at animal control who need homes.
Genesee County Animal Control has a live rate coming out of the shelter of 97%. And while they do euthanize for temperament, which is a public safety issue, and cancer or other life-threatening disease for quality of life — the goal is always life first, hoping to find fur babies loving homes. Parker said animal control does not euthanize for space, which gives the shelter it’s no-kill status.
“What the county can give them and I can give them is food, shelter, water and medical care,” Parker said. “And that’s perfect. It brings their health around and gets them back up. But mentally, it takes a lot of my volunteers and workers, some who come in on their days off, to walk the dogs. As an animal control, we have really changed a lot and evolved. There is so much more that is given to these animals than just shelter.”
On Dec. 9, Bashore made a special appointment to meet Marcy for the first time since helping her escape her horrid living conditions.
After sniffing from afar for a minute, Marcy leapt up to sit beside Bashore and immediately pushed her head underneath his arm and into his chest, apparently seeking his affection.
“That was pretty amazing. That’s when I knew, ‘This is it. This is the one I’m going to save right here.’ That felt good,” Bashore said. “As soon as she’s ready, I knew wanted to get her home.”
Three days later, Bashore did just that. He signed the papers and brought Marcy with him in his truck to her new home. And the added bonus is Bashore and his wife have a 13-year-old labradoodle named Jessie, and the two quickly became good buds, already snuggling and napping together.
“I love this dog so much already. When I see Marcy, when I get home from work, she’s so excited to see me. She’s a very loving dog. She likes to be right there with you, lay her head on you and show a lot of love,” Bashore said. “I was a little worried bringing her home before Christmas because I didn’t know how fast she would acclimate, but I am thrilled with her. She’s just a part of the family now.”
Bashore encouraged anyone who is looking for a pet to start at animal control or other local pet rescues.
“Whenever you get a dog, they’re work, but what they give back is so much more. I want to encourage anyone looking for a new dog or a puppy, go to a shelter first and fall in love with a dog there, because it’s easy to do. Give one of these dogs a home.”
Read more on MLive.com:
You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch! Local artist’s painting brings holiday character to life
50,000 holiday lights shimmer along this bright Michigan walking trail
39th annual Holiday Walk opens seasonal celebrations in Flint, Genesee County
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