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This report will necessarily be short for two reasons. First, it was a slow month; second, Ron spent most of it either in the hospital or recovering.

Fena has been with Kathi Bacon for a while now, and she is coming along wonderfully. She allows herself to be touched and petted and she is getting used to hanging with two well-adjusted dogs. Being in the right pack has made a huge difference. Truly, if we had one more foster home with someone like Kathi, so we could split up the last two puppy mill girls, they would all be doing a lot better.

Sophie and Tessa are also coming along, but much more slowly. Kathy has been sitting with them several times a day, sometimes passing out some high value treats, and they are used to her presence. When possible, we close them in an x-pen with her so she can put leashes on them. They still aren’t wild about it, but are becoming more accepting. Time has been short this month but they are still making progress.

It has been a month since Fena moved in with Kathi, and she is doing wonderfully, making small but significant steps toward being a less fearful dog. Initially she lived in an “apartment” in part of the living room, but during the month she decided to come out and explore the house. She even goes up and down steps now, which is a big deal. Fena began going outdoors and learned it can also be a good place to explore. We are fortunate Fena was the curious one; she follows her new sister Katie, who has been teaching her how a normal dog gets around. We know she couldn’t be in a better place. Kathi has patience and is willing to do what she needs to make Fena comfortable. We expect soon to hear that Fena can be petted, which will be a huge step in her recovery. Here’s a picture of Fena in the bed she “found” and sleeps in.

With only two girls remaining here, Sophie and Tessa, we are also making a little progress. Kathy began sitting with them in an x-pen a couple times a day, feeding them treats. At first they shivered and huddled in the corner, but over the weeks they accepted her and she has been able to pet and scratch Sophie. Tessa still hangs back even though she is getting comfortable with Kathy’s proximity. Lately she has been putting leashes on them, and when they are comfortable with it we will try taking them into the back yard. For now they have a small outdoor area outside the garage, so when they can use the back yard without worrying about them coming back in (or escaping), life will be a bit easier. When we are able to move them permanently to the laundry room, and from there the house, we’ll be able to put our cars back in the garage. They have been here seven months, and we’re hoping by their one year anniversary they will be house dogs. This picture shows Tessa and Sophie with Sasha, who went to the garage to hang out with them.

Once in a while we work with other rescue groups. This month we were asked by Samoyed Rescue of Utah to do a home visit in Redmond. They are fostering five of the Iowa puppy mill dogs, and someone up here applied for one. Thanks to Hans and Holley for taking care of the visit; they were able to report that it seems to be a good home. We’ll be looking forward to hearing how the adoption goes. We would also like to take some of the puppies, but with the girls we have we just don’t have room, and the transportation service they are using won’t come this far.

Nanuk is loving life with John and Theresa. He has gotten into a routine with them, taking regular walks along the river, and even playing fetch with a ball in the yard. We get regular updates and they are always positive. Nanuk is a lucky boy, and will soon go south with them for the winter.

At 15 years and 2 months, Herbie is slowing down even more, and we don’t know how much longer he will be with us. His day is usually spent moving from pillow to pillow, with short breaks to have meals and wander the yard. We’re waiting for him to tell us when he is ready, but until then he is welcome to stick around. He is one of the sweetest dogs we have had the privilege of fostering.

Our 18th annual Rescue Picnic was July 21, and it was one of the best ever. The adopters who came have been at picnics many times before and most of them knew each other already. The weather was perfect and the dogs all got along. We had a chance to see many of the dogs we know well and visit with some very good friends. The picnic is one of the high points of our year and this one was special. You can see more photos at https://nwsams.smugmug.com/Rescue/2018-Rescue-Picnic/.

Theresa and John lost their boy Scooter in 2017, but they came anyway because they love the dogs. We asked them to hang onto Nanuk for the afternoon to keep him separated from Rowdy; the two have had issues in past months. He obviously liked them and was happy all afternoon. They came to us at the end of the picnic and asked if they could foster him. First we had to contact someone else we were already talking to about fostering, and when that was done we called and said yes. Nanuk is living with them in Kalama now and he’s a happy boy. They go for long walks, exactly what he needs. Meanwhile our lives are so much more peaceful and we don’t have to keep all the gates closed. You can see by the pictures how well this is working.

It has been six long months since we picked up the three Iowa puppy mill girls from Prairieland, a backyard breeder in Brush Prairie. Only in the past month have they truly begun relaxing; they are still fearful of nearly everything, but now they take food from us. Last week Fena actually tolerated getting scratched on her neck. It’s a mark of their past lives, and what was done to them, that it has taken so long.

We have been talking to Kathi Bacon for the last two months about the possibility of her fostering one of the girls. Joy stopped by to evaluate the dogs and we concluded Fena would have the best chance if separated from the others. Sophie has been the leader and Fena is willing to be led, so placing her in a home with two other well-behaved dogs may be exactly what she needs. Kathi spent a lot of time during the wait getting ready, beefing up her fencing, and setting up a very secure area in her home.

We have said from the beginning that the number one requirement for one of the girls would be a secure yard with double fencing; if any one of these girls escaped, she would never, ever return to a human. Kathi’s home, her care of dogs, her understanding, and her timing is totally what we needed for Fena. We think she is one in a million. Kathi picked up Fena on August 11. She tolerated the move, and Sophie and Tessa accepted the change here. We will accelerate training and desensitization for the two of them as much as we can.

Back in 2005 we heard about a Sammy pup in the shelter in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Our daughter Kristina picked her up for us and we brought her across the state. We could see Emily was a mix, but she was young, cute and adoptable. We placed her with a family in Portland who decided she had so much energy they put her out in the yard. She was bored and ate the wiring out from under a travel trailer, and they returned her to us. Shortly after that we took in a young male, and the people who came to see him decided they wanted two dogs, so we adopted both to them. She continued as an active young dog, and along with the boy they ripped out a water feature in their yard. So Emily came back to us a second time, and a dog who comes back twice gets to stay.

Shortly after this happened, Kristina’s husband Jim called and told us he would like to surprise Kristina by coming over and adopting Emily. She has lived with them ever since. Emily has been joined by four children and she has been a perfect family dog. Emily is getting old now and slowing down, but is still a big part of their family. We had a chance to visit with them recently and Emily is every bit as wonderful as ever.

Northwest Samoyed Rescue is happy to announce the addition of four new board members who will help us move into the future. Joining Ron, Kathy, Melissa, Terry, and Joy will be Erin & Tom Sitterley, Holley Irvine, and Hans Bjordahl. These four have been helping us as volunteers for many years, and as board members they will help us transition to new leadership when the founders turn over the Rescue reins. Meanwhile we’ll all work together to make that eventual transition as seamless as we can.

We decided a month ago that we should find a home for Nanuk, who has been here since December. Because he is 10½ years old, we kept him with us because it’s difficult to place Seniors and he played so well with Rowdy. Unfortunately he has decided he wants to be pack alpha and keeps picking fights with Rowdy. It doesn’t matter that Nanuk loses every single time, he keeps trying. Sometimes he gets back up from losing and tries again. It’s not fair to Rowdy, whose personality has begun changing because he is always waiting for another fight, and he obviously hates it. We are again having to use the gates we used for Charlie and Shadow. Within a few days of this report we expect a former adopter to come and meet Nanuk, and if it works out she will foster him indefinitely. That will relieve her from the worries of senior dog medical bills, since he will still be a rescue dog, and will give Nanuk a great home where he would be number one boy.

The three girls are still here, and the Prozac seems finally to be helping. Sophie, Fena, and Tessa are getting to be a little less nervous. Lately they have all been coming into the house from the garage, especially at meal times, and sometimes the twins (Sophie and Fena) will get close enough to take treats from our hands; they still won’t let us touch them. Keep your fingers crossed, because we think we found a foster home for one of them. We’ll talk more about that next month.

Herbie turned 15 years old on July 10, and he probably won’t be around much longer. He’s such a sweet old dog we will do everything we can for him until he tells us it’s time to go. Charlie is with Melissa, and continues to act like a young dog despite also being a senior.

We are getting ready for the rescue picnic on the 21st. This year, considering the extra workload of the girls, things may not be quite as ready as in the past, but we’re looking forward to seeing our friends. If you plan to attend, please don’t forget to RSVP to Ron. We need to know how many will be here so we can plan ahead.

When we were helping a dozen dogs a year, we used to say that May brought us the majority of them. Not true today, but we did have two dogs enter rescue last month. First was a four year old male named Joshua, who came from Falling Cedar Farm and lived in Gig Harbor. His owner didn’t have time to care for him properly, especially not time to exercise him enough. He got a couple walks a day but he still had too much energy. While the owner said he was trained, that mean he could do a couple tricks. He definitely needed obedience training. We had an applicant who had been on the waiting list for quite a while who we knew would be good for Joshua. Because we’re so limited on space with the puppy mill girls here, we arranged to get him on a Sunday and she came to visit him the next day; we only had Joshua overnight. He was a very nice boy and we know he will do well in his new home where there is the structure he needs. His new mom and dad think he is a good fit for their lives, and we agree.

In early April we heard about a puppy in the Seattle shelter. We called to let them know we would like her, but first they wanted to do surgery on her leg, which was broken when she was found. They already had a number of names of people who wanted her and said they would call us if needed. We heard about her again last month, this time from the woman who adopted her and was taking care of her after surgery to put pins in the leg. She was pregnant and realized a puppy wasn’t a good fit, so she called us to help. The pup was named Bailey, and today she is about seven months old. Tom and Erin went to Mercer Island to pick her up for us, and Melissa came north to Ron and Kathy’s house to take her to her house, where Bailey’s new name became Yuki. After she was fostered a couple weeks the vet gave her a release to use her leg carefully, and we called an applicant in Idaho who has been waiting quite a while. She made the trip to Melissa and Terry’s home on June 11. Yuki is now an Idaho dog and doing very well. She has a large fenced yard and her new sister is a 2½ year old Golden Retriever.

Yuki’s new Mom stopped by on her way back to Idaho so we could see Yuki with our three White Fire girls. Melissa believes there is a good chance Yuki is one of the puppies born to them at Prairieland last November, and we wanted to see them together. We still don’t know, and probably never will, but it gave us a chance to meet our adopter in person and see Yuki again.

Sophie, Fena, and Tessa have been here since February, and a little more than a month ago we began giving them Prozac. We hope it will make them more approachable; so far it has helped marginally but we understand it may be six weeks or more to really work. We have been trying hard for months to find a suitable foster home for two of them, but the woman we expected to help has been unavailable because of family matters. We were promised help from another person, but haven’t heard anything from her either. We have an offer from a volunteer and friend who is working on a double fence around her yard; that’s a requirement because of the flight risk. Undoubtedly we’ll resolve this problem eventually, but in the meantime our lives are revolving around these three dogs.

Next month Herbie will be 15 years old, and on July 4 we will have had him for two years. He shows his age a little more every month but just keeps going. He is such a joy to have around that we will be happy to have him around until he decides it’s his time to go.

We also still have Nanuk, who is 10 years old, but we decided recently he needs a home where he will be dog number one. He continues to challenge Rowdy for the top spot in our pack, even though Rowdy takes him down every time it happens. The stress of watching for signs the boys might fight, on top of caring for the three girls, is taking a toll. Nanuk is a friendly boy with literally the energy of a three year old, and he will be a great companion for someone.

Rescue continues to center around the three Iowa puppy mill girls we have had for three months. On April 13, Sophie was not eating and we became worried enough to take her to the vet. An x-ray showed little bits of something in her stomach and intestines, and our vet suggested we get surgery immediately. She went to the ER clinic and had surgery about midnight. They found sharp pieces of plastic, which we since identified as pieces of a string trimmer reel. It’s been a chore to keep everything away from these dogs because they have to live in the garage, and having fencing panels and disassembled x-pens in front of shelves wasn’t enough. Two weeks later we removed 33 staples from the incision, and Sophie has recovered now.

Fena tested heart worm positive and x-rays showed mature worms in the arteries of her heart. The treatment began with a month of Doxycycline and a shot of Diroban. One month later she received two more shots of Diroban on consecutive days; the 3rd and 4th of May. Each time we had to herd the three girls into a corner using an x-pen, then catch Fena and hold her on a table. Doing this to an extremely fearful dog is not good, though we had no choice, and as a result all three dogs regressed almost to the time we got them three months ago. It has been discouraging to spend hours a day without much result.

A week ago we asked our vet to prescribe Prozac for all three, hoping it will dull the fear they are experiencing. They were already getting small doses of Trazodone. Giving pills is another problem because they huddle together most of the time. We worked it out that if we sit in a spot close to them, but just far enough away, that two would get up and leave. That meant we could wrap a pill in something desirable for the nearest dog, then wait till the other two were farther away and toss the wrapped pills to them when they moved apart. Life has become a real circus. It will be about three weeks before we know whether the Prozac has worked.

We explored programs at the state prisons, where inmates work closely training a single dog each. It sounded good until they pointed out the noise level; that wouldn’t work for these dogs. Our vet recommended a local trainer, but they haven’t returned the call. We first looked for a trainer two months ago and gave up because of cost. If we could place two of the girls, one would be relatively easy to work with. The problem is finding a home with very specific requirements. They must have a double fence, so if a dog escapes she is still enclosed by a second fence. If one of these dogs escaped it would be a death sentence because she would never come to a human. The foster home must understand these dogs can’t be touched yet and won’t tolerate a leash. Persuading them humans are good might take months, possibly years. Until we get help, we will not be able to take any more foster dogs. It means putting a hold on the work we have done for 17 years.

Last month we mentioned the rescue picnic is scheduled for July 21. If we still have all three fosters we probably will have to cancel the picnic because we won’t have time to get ready for it.

Our lives have been consumed with the care of the three puppy mill girls. We take turns sitting with them in the garage, which has been converted to their home, trying to get them used to human presence. Getting them close enough to touch, and then actually putting hands on them, has been a huge challenge. Sophie is the bravest and will take food from our hands almost all the time. Fena has finally begun taking food, while we can’t get Tessa near enough even for the best treats. The progress in the past month has been measured in tiny bits. We understand this is going to be a project that takes at least a year, and we’re not positive we’re up to the task.

In the days before this report, Kathy was finally able to pet Fena while she was on her bed snoozing. It’s a big accomplishment for such a fearful dog. There is no question the girls have been mistreated by a man at some point in their

lives. Kathy can stand close, and sit even closer, and is the one who makes the breakthroughs. I can sit within five feet while they sleep, and hand food to Sophie (nearly always), Fena (once a day at best), but must toss it to Tessa.

On March 27 we loaded Fena into a crate for a trip to the vet for her chest x-ray. It showed the heartworms are a little worse than we thought, and she received her first heartworm shot. The experience was not a good one for her. The evening before we gave her a double dose of Trazodone, followed by the same dose three hours before the appointment. Fena did not react well and was sedated for nearly 48 hours afterward. We have to repeat the shot the last week of this month, with the third shot one day later. Those who have been through this treatment warned us there is a real possibility of her not making it through this, since the heartworms can die and go into her lungs.

Tessa has a heart murmur. When she is able to be handled we’ll take her to a cardiac vet for an echo cardiogram. We know the White Fire dogs have cardiac problems and we have to find out how severe it is before we can consider placing her in a new home.

We would like very much to find foster homes for two of the three dogs. We feel confident if they were split up and put into well-socialized packs that they would do much better. Here they feed off each other’s fear. The problem is finding a qualified home. It must be with someone who has Samoyed experience, knows how to work with a fearful dog, and has absolute security with a double fence. We already had one escape when they dug under their fence, and if we didn’t have a second fence they would have been gone forever. If they escape there is nobody who could ever catch them. The foster home must also have at least one other well-socialized dog.

The rescue picnic is planned this year for July 21.

Sophie, Fena, and Tessa have been here for a month now, living in the garage. Progress has been slow and we have come to realize this will be a very long term project. We moved the cars out, picked up a lot of junk, and put opened x-pens around the perimeter so they couldn’t chew on things like the furnace wiring and gas line (call us cautious). When we built, we insulated the garage so a small portable heater, raised to the top of a metal cabinet and lashed to the wall, is keeping it warm. That means we can leave the door open to the house so they can come in and explore the laundry room as they get braver. There is a gate between it and the kitchen that lets them get even closer and experience normal noises in the house.

At first, all three girls were nearly feral and afraid of their own shadows. They seem to have never experienced human contact, or at least positive human contact. At two years old, and having had litters last November, they were totally unsocialized. We took turns sitting with them in the garage, just being there so they would see us as benign, and offering treats. Within a week or so, Sophie was willing to cautiously approach to take pieces of cracker. Fena has occasionally come close enough to take something, while Tessa hangs back.

The girls escaped once by going under a fence, but it was from one yard to another so they didn’t get completely away. It happened the first week when they were still terribly afraid of everything. We herded one back into the garage, and the other two hid under a trailer. Kathy crawled under and got leashes clipped to them. While we were getting one out, the other ran back into the garage and we shut that gate. It was a real adventure for both dogs and people. Since then we added panels of hog fencing to the area we have given them, and they only have access when we are monitoring them.

We asked our vet to do a house call, which happened late in February. Each girl donated blood samples, and two gave up fecal samples because they were so scared. The results showed they had roundworms, and Fena has heartworms. This is our first experience with heartworms, and we have begun a month of Doxycycline in preparation for the heartworm meds. Sometime soon we will take her for a chest x-ray so we can determine the severity of her heartworm problem. These are turning into very expensive dogs.

Recently Kathy was able to sit next to their beds with a jar of peanut butter, doling it out until Sophie began to accept some petting. The others dozed next to her, so we considered it a breakthrough. There will be good days and bad days for months to come.

We still have Nanuk. He would be good in the right home, but at ten years old we had no inquiries and we ended up keeping him. At this point he has settled in so perfectly, and plays so well with Rowdy, we’ll keep him here for the rest of his life. Herbie is going on 15, still the sweet old man he has been since we got him at 13. Both Nanuk and Herbie went through surgery to remove sebaceous cysts, and both have healed up well.

Knut was the sickest dog we ever had in rescue. In January we reported that after $5,000 in vet bills he was about to start the second half of his life, but sadly it wasn’t to be. He went downhill fast. He stopped eating and had problems with his esophagus. Rowdy donated blood for a transfusion, and the vet clinic kept him for hydration. Unfortunately, while he was there he developed mega esophagus, and then he bloated. The vets got together and felt there was nothing that would save him. They did a partial necropsy to see if they could determine what really happened to Knut, and the fluid in his abdomen wasn’t clear, as it should have been. It looked like he had a tear in his abdomen at some point and the contents leaked out. The infection was so severe he couldn’t have survived no matter what happened. There is no way to know if it was associated with the lesion in his stomach, which was probably an injury from eating a chicken bone, or if it was something that happened during the surgery to repair the lesion. We tried everything, but ultimately nothing could save him.

Herbie and Nanuk both had surgery this month for sebaceous cysts. At 14½ we had real concerns about putting Herbie under anesthesia, but he recovered well. He was visibly in pain for the first day and got all the pain meds he wanted, but he feels OK now and is recovering well. The vet removed a second smaller cyst while he was out.  Nanuk’s cyst was enormous, both wider and deeper than most, to the point we agreed to send it for histopathology (it came back clear). He wore a t-shirt for two weeks, had his stitches out, and is finally dressed only in fur. Nanuk is Rowdy’s playmate and they have both have missed their romps in the yard. Between Knut, Nanuk, and Herbie, the last two months have been expensive, with more than $8,000 paid out to vets.

A few months ago we heard from a number of people about a new backyard breeder in Brush Prairie, close to Vancouver, WA. They were advertising lots of puppies for sale and nobody knew who it was. Then his web page changed to say he wasn’t going to breed Samoyeds after his litters were sold. We were surprised when he called Melissa to ask if rescue could take three of his five Samoyed bitches. We tried for all five, but he claimed he had to return the other two to the owner, which turned out to be White Fire Samoyeds. He had only “borrowed” them to get his breeding started. White Fire is the one that recently began dumping their dogs in a shelter in Mason City, Iowa. After nearly a week of negotiation with her, he drove the three bitches to Melissa’s home, and she took them to Ron and Kathy for fostering. And now he is advertising puppies again.

The three we got are Sophie, Fena, and Tessa. The first two are litter sisters born in March, 2016, while Tessa was born in October, 2015. All three had litters last November. We have since learned he was probably dumping his breeding bitches so he could return to White Fire and get more that are pregnant. We were lied to many times during the transfer. The result is that we now have three completely unsocialized young Sammies who are afraid of everything and will take months of work just to integrate into a home. Make no mistake, these are Samoyeds and we will get there eventually. It’s just going to take a long time.

Googling White Fire yields many complaints about dogs dying of cardiac problems. An Iowa friend told us Samoyeds in that area have a terrible reputation for cardiac defects. The guy who surrendered the dogs we have told Melissa one may have a heart murmur. We would like to know, but we literally can’t take the to a vet for an exam because we can’t catch them. They are that wild. This is going to be an adventure that will last a very long time. Unfortunately it means until we get to the end of this road we can’t take any more foster dogs.

Remind me to never claim we had the busiest month in years, because it got worse. Last month we talked about Cloud, the 1½ year old male Darlene was fostering. The applicants in Boise drove to Coeur d’Alene to visit, and Cloud went south with them to his new home. Recently, we heard from his new family that he was intimidating them, and we realized Cloud is the husband’s dog and the wife hasn’t dealt with a large dog before. They called in a trainer and we’re optimistic. We have been talking about the situation this puts us in, and have concluded we will not adopt to someone outside our area again.

Knut, who will be 6 this month, belonged to a young man in Spokane who got him when his father died. We believe he loved the dog, but he did not understand how sick his dog was getting. We were first contacted by a woman who saw him in a dog park and recognized his decline. She talked him into going to a vet, but after the visit the man still didn’t understand the gravity of the problem. It took time, and an offer from us to pay for another vet visit, and by the time Darlene picked up Knut he had gone from 61 to 39 pounds. He wasn’t eating or drinking and was near death. Darlene’s vet did tests and transferred him to the ER vet in Post Falls for the Christmas weekend. The following Tuesday they did an endoscopy and found a lesion in his stomach, probably from eating chicken bones. That was followed by surgery by Darlene’s regular vet, which was successful. Darlene has been fostering Knut and very soon he will be hitching a ride with Cheri to the west side and moving in with us. It looks like we caught the problem just in time, and with $5,000 of care, Knut is beginning the second half of his life. This is a special dog we need to place in exactly the right home. We believe we have one lined up.

Nanuk is a dog we got from Snohomish County. His owner got him as a gift from her stepfather, but he was never wanted. She told us she has had him “6 or 7 years,” and didn’t want her stepfather told about him. Nanuk has been living alone in the yard and was in horrible condition when he arrived. Once the transfer was made the woman refused to answer calls or emails, so we began searching for her stepfather, the breeder. We found him in Oklahoma and learned Nanuk is ten years old. During the month he has been here we have had higher priority rescue work, and Nanuk settled in as a pack member. He gets along with our other dogs and has so much energy at 10 he wears out 2 year old Rowdy.

Several years ago, Ryann signed up to be the Samoyed representative for Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue. When she hears of a dog we work together to help it. She got a message from the SW Washington Humane Society about a senior dog they had; there was a mix-up getting it, but he was still there. We reminded the HS that we registered with them many years ago, and after checking their records they acknowledged we were listed. The delay meant a 12 year old named Charlie sat there for two weeks. The story was that his human dad died, so the widow dumped him at the shelter. The good news is that Melissa went in and bailed him out, and Charlie is with Melissa and Terry now. She says laid back, well behaved, and loves everyone.

Getting home visits done and finding the right adopters for each dog is a monumental task. Although we have thirty apps on file, when we eliminated those who wanted a female, and the ones who wouldn’t take any dog that wasn’t young, there were only a handful remaining. In the past few weeks our friends have visited a number of people, all of whom would be good homes, but not quite right for Knut, who is our highest priority. As always happens, some people don’t answer email and some have already adopted another dog without telling us. It means, as usual, that Melissa, Terry, Kathy, and Ron will end up fostering more dogs than we have room for.

A Canadian breeder asked for help with a young Sammy male abandoned in her care, and we reached out to Lon and Mary who instantly offered to foster him. A day later the owners returned, and he will go back to them. We appreciate Lon and Mary’s offer. They have been helping rescue for nearly 30 years.

Thanks this month go to Kathy Thomas, who twice in the last week visited applicants and did home visits. Our daughter Kristina did photo shoots on both Cloud and Knut. Monika Wamack is the dog lover who alerted us to Knut and helped convince his owner to do something, and in doing so almost certainly saved his life. Maxine Schvaneveldt is an Aussie breeder in Boise who did a home visit for Cloud’s family. Cheri Hollenback is providing the transportation for Knut from Coeur d’Alene to western Washington. And most of all this month, Darlene Rautio. She fostered Cloud until he left for his new home, then shepherded Knut through all his vet visits and surgeries before fostering him. Without Darlene stepping in we wouldn’t have saved Knut. It takes a lot of people to do rescue when it’s this busy, and we love all of them.