How the rescue got started...

I’ve been bringing home unwanted animals since I was a small child. I grew up in Cumberland, a small town in western Maryland. My friend and I once found an old basset hound wandering around our neighborhood. I was disappointed when we were not offered a reward. My mother told me that the reward was the great feeling of doing something good for someone else with no regard for myself. Though not an animal lover by any stretch, my mother taught me a valuable lesson that day. I learned that there are things that are more important than money, more valuable than financial rewards.

A few years later, still living in Cumberland, an animal control facility opened in our neighborhood. By crossing through back yards, my friends and I could make it there in a matter of a few minutes. We loved looking at the animals, having no idea what would happen if they were not adopted. One day I asked my parents about it. When I found out the animals were killed if they didn’t find homes, I was mortified. I came up with a plan. Since the statute of limitations for this crime ran out many years ago, I can confess it now. Earlier, we had seen some puppies with their mother in an indoor/outdoor run at the shelter. The puppies were all loose because they had squeezed themselves under the chain link fencing of the kennel. The neighborhood kids and I decided we would steal some puppies the next day. My friend’s brother would distract the guard. Yeah, we called him a guard because he wore a uniform. I was really young at the time – give me a break! While the guard was being distracted, the rest of us would each grab a puppy and take off. Our parents would let us keep them! (Boy, were we not thinking this through. I was very passionate about the idea and talked everyone into it.) By the time the distraction was over, we’d be long gone with the puppy. Of course, it didn’t really work. The puppies were all inside the kennel and I had to stick my hand under the fence and pull my puppy out. When I did, he squealed! Didn’t he know I was trying to save his life?! I guess not.

My friend’s brother took off running and so did the rest of us. We never looked back and never stopped running until we were safely in our own little neighborhood. It was probably about a half a mile running through back yards. When we got back to the neighborhood I showed my puppy to everyone. It turned out I was the only one who had the guts to take a puppy. Everyone else was afraid. We named him Cookleburger, Cookie for short. My parents were about ready to kill me. Cookleburger had to stay outside and he howled all night. Poor thing. He was big enough to be away from his mother, but emotionally, maybe not.

One of our neighbors found someone to take the puppy after a few nights. I was happy he found a home, unhappy it wasn’t with me.

Many years later, actually about a year ago, I was talking with my friend’s mother who was here in Baltimore after having heart surgery. We were talking about my puppy theft. She couldn’t remember his name. I said, “How can you forget Cookleburger?” She said, “No, not that time. The next time.” I had never known all of these years, that after we moved away the puppy thefts continued. I had started a trend and never even knew it.

I dragged home cats and dogs throughout my childhood. We had a few box turtles too.

As an adult I started rescuing cats after I looked at a house and found a stray with worms coming out of its butt! The real estate agent wouldn’t let me put the cat in her car because of the worms – me and my big mouth – so I had to go back the following day and find the cat again. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was about an hour drive that I had to do over. I knew the cat didn’t have a home because no one was living at the house and it was a large piece of property. Too bad I didn’t buy that place, it would have come in handy for all of the rescues!

Eventually, I got involved with reptiles and the Mid-Atlantic Reptile Show. It really bothered me that so many animals were sold at the show and that there were no reptile rescues. After more than a year of begging, pleading and whining, the rescue was started. Lots of people said they wanted to help, but not one of them ever did. I had a list of about 30 people who wanted to volunteer. They would gladly foster animals, AKA take free animals and keep them. But no one wanted to do the transporting, cleaning and other stuff involved. We are now called Charm City Reptile Rescue.

After a few years, volunteers starting coming and going. After 12 years, we (the animals and I) have not had a volunteer who lasted more than about four years. I could be wrong about that, but volunteer work seems to fill a void in people. Once their lives change, i.e. they get married, go off to college, move, get divorced, etc. they usually abruptly stop volunteering. We’ve had some volunteers who only wanted to clean certain animals, or were afraid of certain animals. I guess I can understand that, but I don’t really pick and choose what I take. We take what we get. I will say we rarely take iguanas and red eared sliders because too many of them need homes. And, homes are for those animals are hard to find.

After a couple years of doing rescue I decided to start asking for a surrender fee or donation to take the animal. Sometimes people get mad at me and say, “Do I have to pay you to take the animal?” I try to explain that we are not funded by anyone. No one buys food, there is no government money to pay the outrageous winter gas and electric bill. I certainly can’t afford to do it without help. We also make people donate the cage along with the animal in addition to the donation. An empty cage is begging to be filled. When there is no cage, the urge is not as strong to get another animal.

Many times people don’t want to give the cage because they’ve spent a lot of money on it. I just tell the people good luck and go on about my business. I stopped begging for people to give me their animals a long time ago. There are plenty of them out there and lots of people are happy to give the cage and a donation.

I used to tell people that the amount of the donation was up to them. One day a man gave me a very sick bearded dragon along with a $5 donation. That made me really mad. Another time a person told me that he would like to donate ZERO. Now I word things a little differently and I try to remember to ask about the health of the animal before I commit to taking it.

As you read about the various rescues, you will see that a lot of people don’t tell me when they have a sick animal. They conveniently forget to mention it. I’ve also had people conveniently forget their checkbook and/or cash. It’s frustrating. Once I see the animal, it’s hard to turn them down. I’m not completely heartless as some people seem to think.

Recently a man called me about adopting an iguana. I usually get right back to potential iguana adopters because they are hard to find. Sometimes they are a little too eager though. And it seems like they are almost always iguana people. Take what you will from that statement.

The man said that he had left a message earlier and that no one had called back. I apologized and explained that I work a few different jobs and sometimes when I’m on a deadline for a graphics job, I don’t have a lot of time to return calls. He asked to speak to my supervisor and told me that I acted like I didn’t want to find homes for the animals. I tried to assure him that I definitely want to find homes for them – that’s the whole idea! He again asked to speak to my supervisor. I said, it’s just me. There is no supervisor. He asked when my supervisor would be back. I tried again. I said it’s just me, I AM the supervisor! Well, that just seemed to anger him even more.

I swear I’ve had the same exact conversation with a woman, possibly his spouse? So after he wasted about five minutes arguing with me about the fact that I don’t have a supervisor he said he’d like to come see the iguanas. I told him he had to fill out an adoption application first. He didn’t want to fill out the application until he saw the animals. I tried to explain that I’ve been doing this almost 12 years and that’s how we do it. Application first, visit later. I think he ended up hanging up on me.

People hang up on me a lot too. Maybe I’m just abrasive, but I’m in this for the animals. Since I started doing rescue, I’ve become friends with a lot of other people who do rescue. I get hung up on more than anyone else. Oh well… I don’t know what to say about that except that I get calls from some really annoying people! Enough about my bad temper.

I get along great with the shelters, other legitimate rescues (there are a lot of people out there calling themselves a rescue and not really being one), the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Zoo and National Aquarium in Baltimore. They give us referrals, so of course, they appreciate what we do.

Speaking of people who call themselves rescues, but really are not. If you talk to a rescue and they don’t have a vet, I wouldn’t trust them much. So many rescued reptiles need medical care. There is no way you can do everything yourself without having access to prescription drugs. If they don’t have an adoption application, that’s another sign they are probably not legitimate. A real rescue has a screening process. A lot of people who surrender animals will ask me about that. Our adoption application is on line, so everyone can see it.

If you deal with a rescue, ask about a vet, adoption application and how the process works. We’re basically about the same as any cat or dog rescue. No on site adoptions at events, no adoptions without an application with references. If they application is not complete, I don’t get back to the people. One guy complained on Craig’s List that I didn’t get back to him. He filled out half of the application and didn’t even put his name on the application. No, I’m not getting back in touch with people who can’t even give me their name!