Diary Entry #7

Hi guys. Today's post is a bit more personal and heartfelt. I met a new pit bull who just got to the shelter a few days ago. We didn't know how she got here or what had happened to her but we could all tell she was in a lot of pain. When she heard about my Animal Cruelty project, she told me that she wanted to help me. I didn't think she would do this much to help me with my project but she gave me one of her diary entries. It's a very sad story and I just want y'all to know that what happened to Martha is totally preventable! Keep Martha in your prayers and wish her a quick recovery. Her is her diary entry.

Diary Entry #7

Hello it’s me, Martha again. It’s my fifth day at the animal shelter and I am still in recovery. I still haven’t been able to tell my new friends at the shelter how I got here. It hurts me to even think about what my owner did to me. I thought he loved me and all I wanted was to make them happy but it turns out, they had other plans for me.

Well it all happened when I was looking for my owners around the house because they hadn't fed me in four days or had any water to drink. I scratched their bedroom door once because I wasn't sure if they were in there since I can go days without seeing them; they rarely let me inside the house. My owner heard me scratching the door and slammed the door open, hitting me in the snout. My owner then kicked me and dragged me out the house; he didn't even stop to check on me when I hit my paw on a wooden chair. Before I knew it, I was laying in my backyard being yelled at and kicked by my owner. He finally stopped kicking me when he ran back inside to get a matches and gallon of gasoline. I never expected what was going to happen.

I had been abused countless amounts of times but I never thought they abuse would get this bad. I had been kicked, dragged, stabbed, burned with cigarettes, had bottles throne at me, ran over, left outside in the cold, ignored and I had been called many names by my owners but I never expected what happened next. My owner came out running from the house and was heading my direction with matched and gasoline in his hand. I tried to get up and run away but I knew that I would only make him angrier. I just sat there in shock as he doused gasoline all over my aching body. The gasoline felt cold and I could smell that disgusting scent of gasoline. After I was soaked in gasoline my owner lighted a match and threw it on me. My owner just looked down at me and started laughing; I guess this was just entertainment to him.

All I remember after I was set on fire was running out to the street and falling down on the side of the road because my legs were in too much pain, I blacked out after that. I woke up in an animal shelter with vets around me cleaning my wounds. I could hear them saying that it was a miracle I had survived. I had three surgeries in the few hours since I had arrived. When I looked down at my aching body, I saw about twenty different bandages all over me.

After three days of slow recovery, I was allowed to meet the rest of the dogs and they are all so much fun! Many of my new friends have also been abused but they haven’t been set on fire like me. I plan on telling them my story one day but not yet, I still need more time to try and wrap my head around what happened to me. I know that things like this don’t just happen to me, they happen to many other innocent animals. Many animals die in the hands of their cruel owners. I wish I could do something to help. You know what, I will! I will stand up to animal cruelty!