S. O. A. R.: Stories From The Southport/Oak Island Animal Rescue

By Jack Floyd

Meet just a few of the animals and people who have been a part of SOAR, the Southport/Oak Island Animal Rescue. You'll meet Captain Jack, a dog that was shot and left to die before being rescued by one of our volunteers; Sadie, a dog found in horrible living conditions with a broken, useless leg and covered by fire ants; and Saint, an unwanted dog who became a best friend and service dog to a paralyzed young man. You will also read about a tragedy that occurred when pit bulls gained access to our property and cattery. These stories will give you a glimpse of life, and death, inside a small country animal shelter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jack Floyd
• Release date: Jul 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465794253

Book preview

S. O. A. R.

Stories From the Southport/Oak Island Animal Rescue

By Jack Floyd

* * * * *

Published by Jack Floyd at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Jack Floyd

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

Table of Contents

Dedication

About the Cover

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Jeannine

Chapter 2 - Sadie

Chapter 3 - Faith, The Blind Beagle

Chapter 4 - Red

Chapter 5 - Connie

Chapter 6 - Million Dollar Baby

Chapter 7 - Tragedy

Chapter 8 - Wilma, L. T., Fred, and Darlin'

Chapter 9 - We Don't Have Any Of Those

Chapter 10 - Crystal Lynn Swart

Chapter 11 - Roscoe

Chapter 12 - Casper and Ingrid

Chapter 13 - Captain Jack

Chapter 14 - Saint and David

Some Random Notes

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Dedication

To my parents who gave my brother and me many great gifts, among them a love of animals.

To the fine people who donate to SOAR. Some people give SOAR a lot of money, others give a little, some give every month and some give once a year, some give their professional services, and some bring supplies. They all give with a love of animals in their heart and the desire that SOAR continues the good work that it does.

About the Cover

The beautiful face belongs to Roscoe and Chapter 11 is about him.

The cover was designed and produced by Donna Casey. Check out her work at http://www.digitaldonna.com.

Introduction

I’m a volunteer at a small, no-kill, animal rescue called SOAR (Southport/Oak Island Animal Rescue) in southeastern North Carolina. SOAR sits on three beautiful, fenced-in acres with buildings for cats, kennels for dogs, an office/vet clinic, and a house for the resident manager. At any one time, we have between fifteen to twenty dogs and seventy-five to a hundred cats and we care for them while seeking permanent families for them. We’re successful in this endeavor over a hundred times a year.

I first came to SOAR in October of 2002. I was retired and had been living in the area for about a year and needed something to do. When I drove into SOAR, the first person I met was John Hollis. I learned later that John was SOAR's kennel master and he came every day to tend to the dogs. I gave John my name and number and told him that if SOAR needed another volunteer to give me a call. A couple of days later, he did. And that led to what has now been a wonderful eight years, and counting.

Some dogs and cats come to us healthy and happy but others come in the saddest, loneliest, neglected conditions. Animals of all breeds, temperaments and sizes appear here: hounds, terriers, pit bulls, Labradors, boxers, and mixes of all those and more. Each one has its own personality, its own quirks, its own needs and measures of love.

Staff and volunteers care for them, return them to good health if required, and search for the best homes for them. When these homes are found, the animals bring great joy to their new families and to the SOAR staff who work so hard to make this happen.

The families who adopt our animals are as varied as the animals: large and small, older and younger, families who have no pets and families who have many. What they have in common is a love of animals. They are always so grateful to us for helping them find their new best friends, and many regularly send updates – emails, photos, cards and videos – on how their SOAR adoptees are doing.

We’ve had dogs graduate from SOAR to become service dogs to handicapped people, a therapy dog in a nursing home, a hospice dog, military inmate trainees, and even a show dog in a stage production of Annie. And that’s not all. We’ve had cats leave SOAR to become balls of yarn players, dangling string swatters, mouse chasers, lap layers, and bed buddies.

Volunteers come from all walks of life: teachers, computer programmers, printers, policemen, accountants, CEO’s, veterinarians, construction workers, health workers, graphics designers, marine biologists, store owners, writers, and many more. You name it, they’ve been here.

While I was writing this book, I remembered a young woman who came to SOAR one day, wanting to foster one of our dogs. She worked at a doggy day care in Wilmington, and her fosteree would be able to go to work with her each day and play with the other dogs, a big plus. We went out to the kennels and she chose a dog named Gabe. She wanted to adopt him, but could only foster him for four months because she would be leaving to go to vet school. Now, six years later and remembering her name, I Googled her to hopefully see if she ever became a vet. The first thing that came up was a photo of her standing in front of her office pointing to a plaque with her name followed by the letters DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine). Congratulations, Diane.

This book is a collection of stories about SOAR animals and people. There are many more stories than the ones recounted here; they happen practically daily. These stories are just ones that stand out in my memory. I experienced most of them personally but a couple of them were told to me by Jeannine, SOAR founder and CEO, and in those instances, I then talked to other people directly involved.

Jeannine

Any book about SOAR has to start and end with Jeannine. She founded SOAR back in 1992 and has been its guiding force and guardian angel ever since.

Jeannine is Jeannine Friday-Bicknell. She was born, and grew up in, Portrush, Northern Ireland, one of five sisters. When she was a little girl her family got a dog. Or, more accurately, the dog got them. It actually belonged to a neighbor down the street but when it starting spending most of its time with Jeannine’s family, the owner decided that the dog was more theirs than his and said henceforth, he belonged to them. The dog’s name was Presto and Jeannine will tell you that Presto is the one who gave her and her sisters their great love of animals. Without this love, SOAR would never have been.

Jeannine’s family immigrated to the US and in the early 1990’s Jeannine was living on Oak Island, NC. She wanted to open an animal sanctuary and felt our area needed one. She was encouraged to do so by her sister Moneta who was also living on Oak Island. Jeannine bought a three-acre parcel of land and the Southport/Oak Island Animal Rescue was born.

Currently, SOAR