It’s a sad fact that pit bulls spend longer in shelters waiting to get adopted.
Take the heartbreaking story of Rocky, a loving pitbull/terrier mix who spent over a year in an Indiana shelter waiting for someone to give him a chance.
The shelter dog’s heartbreaking plight finally inspired shelter workers to post a video about the 6-year-old dog’s dilemma on Facebook.
The video shows Rocky looking up hopefully at everyone who walks past, hoping they’ll stop at his cage. But alas, everyone walks right past him to visit with other animals. According to WLWT5 News, this continued for more than one year.
The video quickly generated thousands of likes and comments, according to the station. But even the sudden burst of social media attention didn’t help Rocky get adopted.
One month after the video was posted, the sweet pitbull still hadn’t had a single visitor!
“Rocky so far has not even had a single person come and visit him. He has some people fill out applications but not a single person has come into the shelter to see him yet and honestly, we don’t know why,” perplexed shelter workers said. “He’s such a good boy. Honestly, all he needs is someone to love him and cuddle him.”
One month after this update, Rocky was still waiting for somebody, anybody, to give him a chance. “Rocky is still waiting for his perfect person to come along,” shelter workers responded to someone inquiring about Rocky’s adoption status.
And then finally, on April 30, the shelter was finally able to share some good news. After more than a year of watching all the other dogs in the shelter get adopted, Rocky had finally found his own family, too!
Congratulations, Rocky! Adopt, don’t shop-–and please don’t forget to give overlooked shelter dogs like Rocky a second glance while you’re there.
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
