Justice is ready for a new home.
During the Christmas season, Red Deer animal control officer Don Elliott, contracted through Alberta Animal Services, rescued the two-year-old Staffordshire terrier from a burning pet carrier in which she had been left overnight.
A heat lamp had started the plastic kennel on fire and hot plastic had dripped onto the dog’s body. Elliott rushed to the home in north Red Deer, freed the severely injured dog and took her back to Alberta Animal Services for emergency treatment.
Justice was later transferred to the Calgary Humane Society’s animal care centre, where she has undergone six surgeries, including skin grafts and amputation of her tail.
The transfer was arranged through Highway to Hope, an agreement that allows animal service groups to move animals between facilities so they can receive the most appropriate treatment. Justice has been a model patient throughout her ordeal, Elliott said.
“They’ve done a lot of work getting her back up and she’s been very friendly and very sweet throughout the whole procedure, so she’s done really well, actually,” he said.
Now that Justice is out of danger and no longer requires such high levels of care, the Calgary Humane Society is looking for someone to give her a new home.
Prospective adopters will be tightly screened to ensure that Justice will get the best start possible in her new life, said Patricia Cameron, executive director for the Calgary Humane Society.
“She has a wonderful spirit and we are so happy that we were able to help her find a second chance in life,” Cameron said in a statement issued recently when Justice was put up for adoption.
Her group wants to place the dog in a home where the humans have experience with her breed and where there are no children or other animals. Although she has been very good to handle, she shows signs of being aggressive with other dogs and likes to chase smaller animals.
They also want Justice to go into a quiet, adults-only atmosphere where she can build confidence and they will encourage her new family to enrol her in Reactive Rovers, a program that would help her learn to make friends with others.
Some people have questioned why Justice was not put down immediately, given the extent of her injuries, said Elliott.
“When we had got her in, she had been injured. Other than that, she was a perfectly fine dog. We looked at it as more, yes, she has this injury, but what else is positive about her?” said Elliott.
“I’m very happy to see that, between our two agencies, we were able to get her surgeries and get her into a good home. Our job is not just about taking animals, it’s about trying to get animals back into their own homes or into a new home where they can to the best that they can.”
Charges of failing to maintain a licence and providing false information were laid against Justice’s previous owner.
He has had no further contact with Alberta Animal Services, said Elliott.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com