With a little help from her friends
She’s been known for
a decade as “The Fairy Dogmother of West Dallas.” Now, she has “Friends.”
A petite 60-ish woman who
single-handedly provides grass-roots animal welfare work in the most
economically challenged areas of
Elaine Munch, President of the
Metroplex Animal Coalition, said recently, “Angie is the most effective
grass-roots animal welfare worker we have in our area. She works the toughest
neighborhoods caring for dogs living fulltime on short chains with no one else
to look after them. Except for Angie, they often would have no food, water, or
shelter.
“Angie does this on a small
Social Security income, spending every dime on helping needy animals. She’s
completely selfless–her only concern is for the neglected dogs she ministers to
every day.”
After years of depending on the
meager support of patrons and area rescue groups to funnel supplies and
equipment her way, Angie’s now going to benefit–thanks to a group of supporters
including Munch and Angie’s longtime friend Beverly Fyfe–from a non-profit
organization established specifically to provide what she needs to continue her
important work. Called “Angie’s Friends,” the non-profit organization will
exist solely to support her critical effort.
Now, you can be one of those
“Friends.”
Your donation to Angie’s Friends
is tax deductible, and your money will go directly and quickly to help the
neediest animals in
Here are two stories that only
scratch the surface of what Angie does every day, in appalling conditions:
Several years ago I accompanied her on her rounds through the slums, feeding
and medicating dogs that were barely existing, with only faint traces of any
quality of life. With food, water, and medicine in hand, we approached a Chow
mix with very fuzzy ears and on a short chain. As we drew near, the fuzz on her
ears flew away in a cloud (flies!), exposing decimated ear flaps. Angie tended
to those ears for weeks until they healed.
On another day, she went into
You can make sure Angie is able
to continue this important work, making the lives of the most neglected dogs in
–Bob Walton
Donations to Angie’s Friends can be sent to: Angie’s
Friends, 1208
Most of you know about Angie Manriquez and the
incredible work she does caring for animals in West and
She
sees to it that the animals she runs across are on lightweight tethers (that
she purchases) and not on the heavy tow truck chains that weigh down and deform
their necks/spines. She finds young dogs whose chains, placed around
their necks when they were puppies, have grown into their necks as they
grow (and require surgery for removal - if she finds them in time). She
brushes aside used drug needles before she crawls under "crack"
houses to rescue mama dogs and their pitiful puppies. She stops
her car and runs into traffic to get an injured animal out of a street where
it has been hit by a car. Even with a "rescue" rate at the
veterinarian's office, her bill there stays very high and her credit card is
maxed out - not from eating in restaurants, traveling or buying clothes,
furniture, etc. - but from the help she provides at all costs for the animals
that desperately need it.
Angie
gets donations of dog food and distributes it in an area where animal owners do
not care if their "pets" are fed or not. Of course they should
not have them, but they do - for security. These folks take the
biggest dog they can find off the street where there is always a selection of
big, hungry dogs. They chain it in the back yard and feed it
left over beans every few days if they remember it is there. These
animals live a sad, depressing existence - neglect and abuse
are common in their neighborhoods of drug dealers, poverty and pain.
Some of these dogs have been held down and had their ears sliced off -
makes it easier if the owner decides to fight them. The other dogs
can't grab an ear that is no longer there. If the neighborhood
animals die on their chain from starvation or disease or abuse, their
bodies are thrown in the dumpster. If they become ill, the owners take
them to the
These
are the forgotten animals that Angie spends her energy helping - in areas where
the Dallas Police officers do not care to venture. Angie is the
only volunteer Metroplex Animal Coalition has in this area - who else would go
there? Every week, she takes at least three and usually five or six
animals to a clinic for the free spay/neuter that MAC offers, then returns them
to their owners. Unless Angie did this, none of these animals would have
the surgery that prevents the next litter and the one after that and the one
after that, etc., etc. - all of which will be Angie's to care for.
On the weekends, she drives from South Dallas to Belt Line and
Angie's
vehicle is on its last legs - 159,000+ miles and leaking everything. She
bought it as a used car a few years ago and she has driven it many miles in her
ministry of caring for the helpless. When it finally stops, hundreds of
animals will immediately cease receiving food or care. With no
transportation, Angie will not be able to help them at all.
Please
keep Angie, and especially the animals that she helps, in mind if you know
of anyone who may be in a position to donate a vehicle as this year ends.
Angie carries dogs, crates, donated sacks of food and dog
houses, supplies, etc., constantly and a car unfortunately could not carry
what she has to transport. A larger vehicle is necessary for her
tasks - and a van could not traverse the narrow streets that she travels -
streets with cars parked on both sides - some of them at crazy angles. Her
current vehicle is an old Ford Explorer and a similar sized SUV is what is
needed desperately. A tax receipt will be provided. If you can help
Angie help the helpless, or know of someone who could help - please let us know
or forward this e-mail. If you have any questions, please contact me
directly. Thank all of you for helping the animals.
–Beverly Fyfe
Remembering sweet Stuff
No
one could say that Stuff had a good life.
Like most of the animals born in
Angie saw to it that any dog she
knew about in the neighborhood had shelter of some sort and food when she had
it to give. Otherwise, they might get
some beans every third or fourth day if someone remembered they were on the
chain out back. When they became sick or starved, so
what? There are always dogs to be taken off the street and chained up –
just get the next one and send the dead one to the dump. If you see that one is too sick to last and
you are inclined to take the time, just take it down and dump it at the
However, Stuff had that one piece of
geographic luck. For many years the
volunteers would show up at Angie’s house on Saturday mornings to pick up a
load of her rescued dogs going to some animal adoption site that day - although
usually the whole group would be returned that same evening after a long day
with no one interested in adopting them.
Old Stuff was always across the
street watching. Did he wish to be one
of those headed for possible adoption those
Saturdays - with a possible ticket out of the hell hole that is
His owners told Angie that they did
not want the volunteers to talk to Stuff – or pet his sweet head – or give him
cookies. So we didn’t. You don’t cross the people in
Stuff’s owners were not as bad as
some and Angie never saw them deliberately hurt him – though she did see that
with so many others. Even though Stuff
had been failing and getting weaker for many months, the owners would not let
Angie take him to be set free from this hard life, though she begged them every
time she took him the canned food that was all his poor mouth could manage for
the past year. Stuff just got weaker and
sicker and more miserable.
Last night, the owners called Angie
to tell her that “Stuff can’t stand up anymore.” Finally, they were ready to let her help
him. Angie insisted that they pick him
up and carry him inside for his final night on earth. When she arrived early this morning to take
Stuff out of
Stuff’s suffering is over
tonight. Please pray for the others left
behind or send a good thought for them into the universe or do whatever it is
you can do. Their fate is sad.
–Beverly
Fyfe
