A Happy Ending For Gem!!!

Geez, just read or watch the news these days and you see nothing but abject cruelty. But what kind of human animal could be so heartless as to throw a wounded, helpless animal in the trash? This type of inhumanity, whether directed at other humans or animals, is just incomprehensible to me, and there seems to be more and more stories of horrible behavior out there. It’s always been my belief that if you have little regard for the life of an animal, you probably harbor just as little regard for the lives of humans, and there’s just too many amoral, dangerous people committing senseless acts of violence as it is.

So I was aghast but relieved last December 21 when reading of workers at a Recology recycling/trash processing plant in San Francisco who rescued a puppy they found on a conveyor belt. The then-10-week-old Apricot poodle puppy was badly wounded, suffering from bite marks, dehydration and lameness in its hind legs. Again, I have to ask, who would do such a thing?

A happy ending: Recology employee Patricia Aleman and Gem.

Fortunately for Gem (above), her days of suffering are over, as she was this week officially adopted and taken home by Recology employee Patricia Aleman! After a month of recovery, Aleman is happy to report that despite some scars, Gem is healthy, happy and suffering from nothing more that being “so cute.”

In fact, Aleman’s Recology colleagues who actually rescued Gem from that conveyor belt greeted her return last Thursday with a big “Welcome, Gem” sign. One of the rescuers had even petitioned San Francisco Animal Care and Rescue in support of Aleman adopting Gem so he could “see her when she brought her to work.”

From certain death on a trash conveyor belt to celebrity status, Gem’s story has a warm, happy ending. Gem was lucky to have encountered some wonderfully compassionate people who took her under their collective wings, nursed her back to health and showered her with all the love she deserves. But so many other innocent animals don’t enjoy such storybook fates, and what happens to them is just too terrible to think about. So, please, report any instances of animal cruelty to your local animal care department. You’ll not only protect another of God’s creatures from terrible abuse, but you’ll be reclaiming just a little bit of the humanity that seems to be disappearing from this world.

C’mon, people … let’s stop treating animals like animals!

Gem, in bad shape after being rescued on December 21.

Not looking too shabby now!