Thanks to a 16 year-old Cochrane girl, five dogs rescued from a rural property in Central Alberta will receive badly needed surgery.
While the situation is still under investigation by Wetaskiwin RCMP and the Alberta SPCA, it’s believed the dogs were intentionally burned.
“We believe the burns were a few weeks old by the time we found them (in mid-February) because of the amount of infections that went along with those burns,” explains Deanna Thompson with the Alberta Animal Rescue crew in Calgary.
When Shae-Lynn Mendryk saw the photos of two of the dogs, Annie and Muskwa, on the ARRCS website, she was moved to tears and decided to help. The Cochrane teenager had been saving all her money for awhile in the hopes of donating it to an animal rescue group.
“About four years ago, when I was 12 I started,” she says. “And I raised it through lemonade stands and Christmas money, and all my birthday money.”
She’s managed to raise $1,000, which she handed over on Sunday to the Calgary group caring for Annie and Muskwa. An Edmonton organization has taken in the other three dogs. Several other businesses and individuals, inspired by the teen’s generosity, are matching her donation.
“It’s amazing…usually the stories you hear about kids that age are not necessarily positive,” says Ashley Elliott, who is among those matching Mendryk’s donation.
“So it was so great to see someone of that age really stepping up. And $1,000 to a 16 year-old means much more than it does to an adult.”
All together, $3,000 dollars was donated on Sunday. The money will go towards paying for surgeries required for the dogs. The Alberta teen who donated a third-of the funds has no plans for getting gifts again anytime soon.
She’s already planning her next donation.
With files from Carolyn Kury de Castillo, Global News
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