Give us the abandoned, lonely, neglected and forgotten ones...
We'll give them the life they deserve.
PLEASE HELP US WIN $10,000!!
Help Save One is a registered, non profit organization that functions as an advocate for dogs who are in danger of being gassed. We believe gassing is a barbaric way to euthanize an innocent animal. You will see it mentioned several times on this website but I want it in big capitals on our home page:
IF GASSING IS INHUMANE FOR CHILD MURDERERS AND SERIAL RAPISTS THEN WHY IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR OUR INNOCENT ANIMALS?
Answer is very simple – It is not acceptable and never will be.
We believe in letting people know exactly what happens when a dog is gassed. I am sorry if you are sensitive and don't want to hear the details. I am sorry if you want to turn your head away.
I am not sorry enough to stop helping them though.
Help Save One is a non political, humane, and caring organization with volunteers who work regular jobs and then spend countless hours every week into the wee hours of morning promoting these dogs.
We work on pulling the dogs of North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. We are not opposed to pulling from other shelters and we are definitely not opposed to pulling from our own local RI shelters, or shelters in New England. If you have a request please let us know. Please note though that we can not always accommodate every request we will try to help. I can make you a promise that we will always try to help. No one here will ever berate you for wanting to save a dog in need even if they come from out of state.
Our main focus are dogs in high kill, gassing shelters. They languish in rural shelters with very little help. There are volunteers in at these shelters that work tirelessly but they are overwhelmed and outnumbered by the sheer numbers. Why should these dogs be overlooked? Why do they need to wait to die while we work to get laws changed? We work very hard to change the way things are at a state and local level but is the answer to let beautiful dogs die a horrible death while us humans works on the specifics?
Of course we all feel bad for these dogs but pet ownership is a huge responsibility. These dogs deserve the best and a forever home is the goal. I have no doubt people will step up for these dogs in need. I am always amazed at the people who go through great lengths to save these dogs.
Please always feel free to use our contact form for a quick response. Help Save One is NOT a shelter, therefore, we do not have a facility for you to come and view the dogs. Our contact information is below and all mail can be sent to the address below. We do prefer email as a means of communication but please always include a phone number where you can be reached on any type of request.
Also we have decided Penny, who is photographed above, is the official dog of Help Save One. Penny was dumped at Bladen County shortly after having puppies and she arrived to us depressed, dejected, and with the saddest eyes. Penny is now a healthy, happy, and well adjusted dog. It is amazing what a little love and caring can do. Look at Penny as she was in the shelter - no dog should ever have that look in their eyes. It's the look of a living, precious, breathing being that has had all the hope and life snuffed out. Penny now has clear happy eyes that look forward to her days with her forever family who adore her.
Please email us anytime at adoptions@helpsaveone.org.
We're also located on Adopt-a-Pet! Here is our link: http://www.adoptapet.com/adoption_rescue/76314.html
The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.” “Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”I made a difference for that one.”
This was written for us from a supporter and sponsor, and we loved it so much we just had to put it on the site. Thank you Mary, it's very moving, and means a lot to us.
THIS POEM IS FOR ALL THE VOLUNTEERS OF HELP SAVE ONE, THE PEOPLE WHO SPONSOR AND ADOPT THESE ANIMALS, AND ABOVE ALL THIS POEM IS DEDICATED TO THE MANY ANIMALS WHO HAVE SUFFERED AND DIED IN A WORLD THAT HAS LET THEM DOWN.
Help Save One
Please look deep into their eyes
And truly see their saddened hearts
For every on of these precious lives
Has been utterly ripped and torn apart
Left to die, so scared and alone
Not knowing what they did wrong
All they wanted was a loving home
But they don’t have very long
Oh how quickly time goes by
When the clock ticks on their fight
Huddled in corners, waiting to die
Can’t everyone see this isn’t right
How much crueler can life be
For those who were left behind
That they are to die so horribly
In a world that is so unkind
For gas to burn their lungs and eyes
While they whimper in pain and fear
No one hearing their desperate cries
No one to hold them and dry their tears
For every life if such a joy
And will NEVER deserve to die
Not given a bed, a treat or even toy
And I just keep wondering why
I see their eyes, I feel their fear
And it’s a pain I never knew
I cannot believe the end is near
And I don’t know what to do
But if you come across this plea
And wish their pain to be undone
Open your heart and you will see
Your love too could help save one
-Mary LeClair
The Real Story About Gassing - Turn Up Your Volume
A Heartless Job
This has been posted all over the internet, I'm not sure who originally wrote it. Please, if you know who wrote it, let me know so I can credit them. I feel that it sums up what we're doing, what we work and live for every day of our lives. I also felt it was important to post, because we get a lot of emails saying that the people who gas the dogs are horrible... it's the laws that are horrible, and need to be changed. We need to all work together to get these laws changed, and outlawed. It's not the shelter workers who make the laws, they're just forced to follow them. And I felt that it belonged right on the front page, with the video. This is why we do what we do.
Yes, I Gas Dogs and Cats for a Living. I'm an Animal Control officer in a very small town in central North Carolina. I'm in my mid thirties, and have been working for the town in different positions since high school.
There is not much work here, and working for the county provides good pay and benefits for a person like me without a higher education. I'm the person you all write about how horrible I am.
I'm the one that gasses the dogs and cats and makes them suffer. I'm the one that pulls their dead corpses out smelling of Carbon Monoxide and throws them into green plastic bags. But I'm also the one that hates my job and hates what I have to do.
First off, all you people out there that judge me, don't. God is judging me, and I know I'm going to Hell. Yes, I'm going to hell. I wont lie, it's despicable, cold, cruel and I feel like a serial killer. I'm not all to blame, if the law would mandate spay and neuter, lots of these dogs and cats wouldn't be here for me to gas. I'm the devil, I know it, but I want you people to see that there is another side to me the devil Gas Chamber man.
The shelter usually gasses on Friday morning.
Friday's are the day that most people look forward to, this is the day that I hate, and wish that time will stand still on Thursday night. Thursday night, late, after nobody's around, my friend and I go through a fast food line, and buy 50 dollars worth of cheeseburgers and fries, and chicken. I'm not allowed to feed the dogs on Thursday, for I'm told that they will make a mess in the gas chamber, and why waste the food.
So, Thursday night, with the lights still closed, I go into the saddest room that anyone can every imagine, and let all the doomed dogs out out their cages.
I have never been bit, and in all my years doing this, the dogs have never fought over the food. My buddy and I, open each wrapper of cheeseburger and chicken sandwich, and feed them to the skinny, starving dogs.
They swallow the food so fast, that I don't believe they even taste it. There tails are wagging, and some don't even go for the food, they roll on their backs wanting a scratch on their bellys. They start running, jumping and kissing me and my buddy. They go back to their food, and come back to us. All their eyes are on us with such trust and hope, and their tails wag so fast, that I have come out with black and blues on my thighs.. They devour the food, then it's time for them to devour some love and peace. My buddy and I sit down on the dirty, pee stained concrete floor, and we let the dogs jump on us. They lick us, they put their butts in the air to play, and they play with each other. Some lick each other, but most are glued on me and my buddy.
I look into the eyes of each dog. I give each dog a name.
They will not die without a name.
I give each dog 5 minutes of unconditional love and touch.
I talk to them, and tell them that I'm so sorry that tomorrow they will die a gruesome, long, torturous death at the hands of me in the gas chamber.
Some tilt their heads to try to understand.
I tell them, that they will be in a better place, and I beg them not to hate me.
I tell them that I know I'm going to hell, but they will all be playing with all the dogs and cats in heaven.
After about 30 minutes, I take each dog individually, into their feces filled concrete jail cell, and pet them and scratch them under their chins. Some give me their paw, and I just want to die. I just want to die. I close the jail cell on each dog, and ask them to forgive me. As my buddy and I are walking out, we watch as every dog is smiling at us and them don't even move their heads. They will sleep, with a full belly, and a false sense of security.
As we walk out of the doomed dog room, my buddy and I go to the cat room.
We take our box, and put the very friendly kittens and pregnant cats in our box.
The shelter doesn't keep tabs on the cats, like they do the dogs.
As I hand pick which cats are going to make it out, I feel like I'm playing God, deciding whose going to live and die.
We take the cats into my truck, and put them on blankets in the back.
Usually, as soon as we start to drive away, there are purring cats sitting on our necks or rubbing against us.
My buddy and I take our one way two hour trip to a county that is very wealthy and they use injection to kill animals.
We go to exclusive neighborhoods, and let one or two cats out at a time.
They don't want to run, they want to stay with us. We shoo them away, which makes me feel sad.
I tell them that these rich people will adopt them, and if worse comes to worse and they do get put down, they will be put down with a painless needle being cradled by a loving veterinarian. After the last cat is free, we drive back to our town.
It's about 5 in the morning now, about two hours until I have to gas my best friends.
I go home, take a shower, take my 4 anti-anxiety pills and drive to work.. I don't eat, I can't eat. It's now time, to put these animals in the gas chamber. I put my ear plugs in, and when I go to the collect the dogs, the dogs are so excited to see me, that they jump up to kiss me and think they are going to play.
I put them in the rolling cage and take them to the gas chamber. They know. They just know. They can smell the death.. They can smell the fear. They start whimpering, the second I put them in the box. The boss tells me to squeeze in as many as I can to save on gas. He watches. He knows I hate him, he knows I hate my job. I do as I'm told. He watches until all the dogs, and cats (thrown in together) are fighting and screaming. The sounds is very muffled to me because of my ear plugs. He walks out, I turn the gas on, and walk out.
I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. Why? The pain and blood takes my brain off of what I just did.
In 40 minutes, I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves, and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out, put them in plastic bags.
They are in heaven now, I tell myself. I then start cleaning up the mess, the mess, that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not spay or neutering your animals. The mess that YOU PEOPLE are creating by not demanding that a vet come in and do this humanely. You ARE THE TAXPAYERS, DEMAND that this practice STOP!
So, don't call me the monster, the devil, the gasser, call the politicians, the shelter directors, and the county people the devil. Heck, call the governor, tell him to make it stop.
As usual, I will take sleeping pills tonight to drown out the screams I heard in the past, before I discovered the ear plugs. I will jump and twitch in my sleep, and I believe I'm starting to hallucinate.
This is my life. Don't judge me. Believe me, I judge myself enough.
