Swan song

Submitted by EARS Regional Director Stacey Harris

Well, it is our last day here. Everyone, animals and volunteers is leaving today.

The day started with the newly trained staff taking out and feeding the animals. Julie and Phil’s training paid off, all the animals were quickly taken care of. About 11:00, Houston Humane Society pulled in, and we all went to work. Once all the animals were loaded, we only had one more transport to complete.

Mary with The Humane Society of the United States was taking about 13 animals to Operation Kindness. So, one more van to load! We quickly got Mary’s van loaded and she pulled away.

Next it was my turn to watch all the volunteers leave. It was kind of sad. You spend a short time with everyone, but you meet people you will never forget! You feel like you’ve been friends for a long time already.

After everyone left, I decided to take one more walk through the shelter. It was a very good, but strange feeling. When I arrived just a few days ago, we had a room full of cats, a quarantine room, a puppy room, the big dog room, the zen dog room, and two outside patios filled with dogs. When I walked through this afternoon, there was nothing but empty kennels, two clean patios and an empty zen room. I am very proud of what we accomplished!!

As I was walking to my car to leave, I noticed the owner of the swans was back to load them up and drive away. It actually went much smoother than I anticipated. I wasn’t really sure how you were supposed to load swans, but the owner stepped in and took care of it. After the swans left the property, I felt like my job was done, so I got in my car and headed home.