Throughout my life, all my pets have been strays. My parents used to joke that Saint Francis probably had our address at the top of his Rolodex since we always seemed to be the only ones in the neighborhood with little charity cases showing up on our doorstep. And us, being the animal suckers that we are, could never say no to a little furry friend in need. While we couldn’t always keep every single stray we encountered, we definitely took in the majority and helped find homes for the others. One of our little charity-cases-turned-beloved-family-pet that showed up to our house one day, was our cat Patch. He had a burn injury on his head that – when it finally healed – left him with a hideous bald patch. When we initially took him in, it was with the intent that we were going to help get him adopted soon after he healed. But after seeing his bald spot after his burn had healed we adopted him because we knew that no one was going to want to adopt an adult cat with a bald patch on his head. To us it didn’t matter, we loved him and his little bald head all the same.
But sadly, for some animals, that is a harsh reality that they are passed over by potential forever homes all because they have a little “deformity” that leaves them not as “attractive” as other pets. One Border Collie cross named Bonnie had lost her snout, part of her front left paw, and her tail after she was living as a stray in Romania. While it’s not confirmed how she sustained her injuries, it is suspected that they could have been caused by a human – which is just sick. And time was running out for the injured dog. Poor little Bonnie was about to be euthanized when her luck changed for the better and she was rescued by Beacon Animal Rescue Centre in Canterbury, and then transported over to the UK. The center’s bosses decided to upload her picture to their Facebook page, where Bonnie’s good luck continued as she caught the eye of civil servant Kate Comfort, who fell in love with her.
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Kate stated, “We adopted Bonnie from Beacon Animal Rescue Centre which is run by my best friend Rebecca. Rebecca put up a post of her with her beautiful big soulful eyes and huge ears and I just fell in love. I had trouble trying to convince my husband at first – as we already had three dogs – but no one wanted Bonnie so I said that I would foster her until we could find her the perfect home.”
She explained, “The fact no one wanted her made me want her more, she was vulnerable and needed love. It turned out that her perfect home was our home and we ended up adopting Bonnie ourselves!”
Kate has admittedly said that at first she was alarmed by Bonnie’s looks, but the more time she spent with her, the less it fazed her. After Kate and her husband Ross adopted Bonnie, they began a fundraiser for a prosthetic leg for Bonnie. However, the wound on Bonnie’s stump continually kept reopening. That is when the couple realized that they were thinking about putting Bonnie through surgery for, as they said, “purely cosmetic” reasons. That’s when they made the decision to forgo the prosthetic leg and instead let vets remove her stump and give her a new lease on life.
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Kate added, “We thought putting Bonnie through an operation to try to make her look more ‘normal’ would have been cruel. Our Bonnie is perfectly imperfect, we love her just how she is and if anyone is offended by how she looks, then that is their problem – not ours.”
Sadly, Bonnie’s family has said that people sometimes treat her like a freak while they’re out in public. Kate has had some very rude people shout at Bonnie in the street, and one individual even tried to kick her! Un-freakin’-believable!
“People have referred to her as ‘it’ or a ‘thing’ which hurts my feelings as she deserves the same amount of love as any other dog,” Kate said.
You’re damn right she deserves the same love and respect as any other dog!
However, despite some of the negativity that people project towards Bonnie, she does have nearly 14,000 devoted followers on Instagram.
Kate said, “I originally created an Instagram page for her when we were trying to raise money for her to have surgery but, even though the surgery never took place, her followers have grown and grown and we have been overcome by how much impact Bonnie’s life is having on people. She is an advocate for ‘unique’ dogs and we have had so much kindness and positivity, it’s just incredible.”
Despite all the horrible treatment that has happened to Bonnie in the past, she is still a very upbeat and positive dog. Kate says that she isn’t at all wary of humans and in fact it’s quite the opposite in that they seem to be one of the “best things” to happen to her.
Kate explains. “Bonnie isn’t wary of people, so if it was a human, she is very forgiving. But then again, animals are forgiving creatures – they never fail to amaze me with how tolerant and forgiving they are when subjected to cruelty and abuse. I prefer animals to humans, I wish we were more like them, which is maybe why I surround myself with animals, rather than people. Bonnie is one of the best things to happen to us and I’m so glad we gave her the home and family she deserves.”
Very true words. Animals are quite resilient and loving creatures that seem to always bounce back despite whatever negativity they’ve been dealt. And their hearts are never cynical or cruel towards others – if only we humans could do the same.
If you want to keep up with Bonnie’s escapades as she lives her best life out in England, you can follow her Instagram page @bravebonbon.
from The Animal Rescue Site Blog https://ift.tt/2mu7MYl
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