The ultimate Romantic Ballet, Giselle is the tragic story of a beautiful young peasant girl who falls in love with a prince disguised as a commoner. Ultimately dying of a broken heart, she becomes one with the ‘Wilis’, ethereal ghosts of unmarried girls. Giselle features DANB Principal Dancers Carla Amancio as Giselle and Roberto Vega as Albrecht.

 

The performance will be this Thursday at 7:30 pm at the Reilly Arts Center

Marion County Animal Shelter At Capacity

 

Imagine for a moment, you are placed in a cage so small that you can not stand up, you can not stretch out. You are to remain sitting or lying down for not days or even weeks, but months.

During those months, you are fed sporadically, if at all. You start losing weight so much that your bones are seen everywhere and anyone could easily count your ribs. You are no longer able to get a shower, and there is nowhere to defecate so your feces gets all over you and the small cage you are confined to. You are surrounded by the sounds and smells of others in similar cages around you who are just as miserable and depressed. So many months pass that your teeth get sore so it hurts to eat when you are fed and some of your teeth are rotten now. You are stuck like this until you inevitably die.

This is the actual scenario that Animal Control walked into last month. 53 dogs in deplorable conditions in a 2-bedroom home right here in Ocala. They rescued those dogs from that. In as much as they are getting food and medicine, these hard-working people are completely overwhelmed with the 350 animals already in their care. Adding another 53 with severe neglect and considerable emergency health needs is too much.

Our animal shelter can not sustain over 400 pets. Just picture that for a moment. Not ten, not twenty, not even one hundred. FOUR HUNDRED ANIMALS. Not only that but what about any animals that are lost or wandering the streets or nuisances right now? Can they answer your call about a wandering aggressive dog, when they have nowhere to put him if they do come and catch him? Considering that in 2023 animal control handled over 23,000 calls for service, the chances are pretty high that they will be needed or are needed right now and there is no room left to bring these animals. The situation has been steadily getting worse, but it is now getting dire.

 

I know you want to help. I know because the people in Ocala have kind hearts and we love our pets here. If you are not in a position to adopt a pet right now, can you foster one? Just one? If a few people can answer this plea today and foster some of these dogs that have had such a miserable existence the last few months and show them the love that humans are capable of, I know that we will all be better off for it. Please contact the Marion County Animal Shelter and look into adopting or fostering at: Animalservices.marionfl.org/home-animalservices

 

If you can’t have a pet or foster one but still want to help, you can volunteer at the shelter or you can contact your county commissioner about building a new facility for these furry Ocala residents. Our current animal shelter is much too small and is over 40 years old. Having a larger more updated facility with plenty of play areas won’t take away the trauma, and isn’t the same as having a home, but it will make their little lives a little more bearable as they wait to be found by their future family. Until then, today, like every day, they wait in the Marion County Animal Shelters' slightly larger cages.