...to give Ophelia a Permanent Home.
Submitted by David Witter, author of the forthcoming Oldest Chicago (September 2010)
One month ago, Ophelia, a four-year-old yellow lab, was living in a car on the street, her owners having been evicted from their apartment due to the bad economy. In what must have been a heartbreaking choice, they took her to the Lake Shore Animal Shelter. My wife and I went to the shelter to look at another dog, Toby, when Ophelia ran into my arms; and we decided that this tomboy “woods dog” might just be the one for us. When Ophelia first arrived at our house, she was nervous, continually pacing, gobbling her food, and looking out the window. Then, in the middle of her second night, she woke up, licked my wife and me on the face, and curled up at the foot of our bed like a big cashew, finally knowing she had a home.
The Lake Shore Animal Shelter was founded in 1966 upon the premise that, although the Anti-Cruelty Society and Chicago’s Animal Care and Control did save many animals, no pet should ever be put to sleep. Thanks to the donations and volunteer efforts of countless individuals, Chicago’s oldest no-kill shelter continues to provide spaying and neutering, adoption services, and medical care to hundreds of dogs and cats, with special attention given to families with health or economic difficulties.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t until a couple of days later, while I was checking the website to see if Toby had been adopted, that I saw the blurb and realized the irony—or fate—that the author of Oldest Chicago had teamed up with Chicago’s oldest no-kill shelter to give Ophelia a permanent home.
