Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The True But Unfinished Story of a Deer and Her Dog

Mike showed me this article from The Kansas City Star, which he says is Bonnie's home-town newspaper, if you don't count The Fort Leavenworth Lamp. It was published on Tuesday, December 11th, the day M came home from his trip to Missouri and Kansas. (Or from outer space--the jury is still deliberating on that.)

Either way, it's a nice article. A little sad, maybe. But I think in the long run it could have a good ending. It's about a deer named Ella and a dog named ET who are best friends and who had been hanging out together in a cemetery. Some people who were aware of the situation--including those in charge of the cemetery--figured the deer would be okay living outdoors through the harsh winter. But they worried that the dog might have a hard time surviving. (I couldn't agree more!) So they decided to catch ET and take her* to Wayside Waifs, a no-kill animal shelter where she can stay warm and healthy while she waits for a permanent home. Here's the article, which we clipped from the paper (click on it to enlarge):


The story is a follow-up to an earlier piece by the same reporter. The day the second one appeared in print, television station KMBC covered it, too. In this video clip on the station's website, Bruce Mathews, one of the cemetery's trustees, says that whoever adopts ET is welcome to bring her to visit Ella whenever they want to.

That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I sure hope it all works out.

Happy New Year, Ella! Happy New Year, ET!

And Happy New Year to you, too!

*Note: Among the various news stories there has been some disagreement about ET's gender. M emailed Matt Campbell, the reporter whose article appears above, to find out for sure. Mr. Campbell responded that ET is a female.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A bittersweet story, Buddy, as is Mr. Weilert’s perfect allusion with the name, “EpiTaph,” but how very fortunate that “ET” will be safe and receiving good care; perhaps finding a new home with loving peeps like yours.

We can hope that Ella’s new year will bring her another friend as nice as ET while she remains safe in the care of the kind people at the cemetery.

Have a great 2013!

Bonnie said...

Wayside Waifs is an amazing organization!

Jennyella said...

Awww! You should TOTALLY adopt ET. AND Ella. (I hope they'll get to keep visiting each other.)