Page 7 - Harnett Life Fall 2018

Rescue began, and those special-needs animals required ary because “It is in our hearts, out passion, and what we
certain “medical, behavioral, or geriatric care.” She said love doing together as a family.” Finding an animal sick,
that all the animals have been welcomed into their home broken, and homeless, and seeing it transform to a “hap-
as a part of the family. “All except for livestock are indoors py, confident, loving, healthy part of a family is something
with proper setup for plenty of outdoor exercise time.” The magical,” she said. The family knows they cannot save
family has worked hard to provide special housing, shel- every animal, and Silmon said one of the most difficult as-
ters, and exercise areas for the animals under their care, pects associated with maintaining the Rescue was learning
some that may need lifelong care while others are fostered. how to say ‘no’ because taking on too many animals at one
time will ultimately diminish the quality of care that the
The goal of the pet rescue is described in detail, showing family can provide. She said, “it is impossible to manage
the passion Silmon and her family have for the creatures everything well” if they try to take on too many animals,
they care for: “To build animal friendly communities by and “it quickly makes life stressful and unfulfilling.”
encouraging respect and compassion for all animals; To
promote kindness to animals through education by exam- A rescue is different from a shelter in that it is of course
ple; To advocate responsible pet ownership; To educate the much smaller, but Silmon says that a rescue/sanctuary is
public on the merits of trap-neuter-return of feral cats; To usually a private organization that only takes in a certain
support spay/neuter of domestic pets; To assist in finding type of animal. Another big difference is the fact that a
responsible ‘forever families’ for homeless pets; To work rescue usually “runs on pure donations and goodwill of
to eliminate the need to ever kill homeless pets; To devel- fellow animal lovers” and the Silmon family, just this past
op a network of supporters who endorse our mission and year, with a combination of hard work and those dona-
support our goals; To teach children about animal safety, tions and goodwill, have been able to “provide medical
animal care, and responsibilities.” care, re-home, and save the lives of 72 animals in need.”
The rescued animals are housed in an environment “where
Normal duties at the Rescue include monitoring each ani- they can retain their social ability” and remain accustomed
mal’s food and water intake; cleaning and disinfecting the to humans. “Since they are able to get more one-on-one
kennels and cages; washing bedding; and observing each focus…more information about that pet is able to be pro-
animal’s general physical state – especially the senior ani- vided to help ensure a perfect match for their new forever
mals – for “signs of illness or discontent.” Silmon said she family,” Silmon said. The family can “passionately shelter
and her family must factor in one and a half hours’ worth of up to 5 lost, abandoned, or surrendered adoptable pets” at
work at the beginning and end of each day to complete all one time, as well as provide sanctuary to the creatures they
the tasks related to daily care of the animals. She said they consider “Silmon forever family members.” Their fuzzy,
make sure “all animals receive a good amount of attention, furry, feathered, and scaled “forever family members” to-
exercise, and love daily.” Depending on the animal, she tal 48 creatures in all.
said some of the enclosures must be cleaned every day. The
hard work pays off though; Silmon said “When we open There are 10 dogs, which include a rescued brindle pitt
our doors to an animal, we are in it for the long haul. It can bull mix, Mr. Jack, who always turned over his food bowl
be very challenging, but also very rewarding.” while trying to eat, spilling his breakfast and dinner onto
the ground, before Silmon said they created a specialized
Running the Rescue certainly takes up much of the family’s food container for him, to make sure he was able to eat
time, but Silmon said they wanted to start a rescue/sanctu- properly. Next is a black Border collie mix named Voyag-