As a baby, Marco lived in a house and was treated kindly while he served as a child’s pet.  However, as he grew bigger and the child eventually lost interest, RASTA received a rather distressing phone call from Marco’s owners threatening that if we didn't take him, he would be “taken out back and shot”.  Sadly, these sorts of threats are nothing new for us as we've received countless calls from people informing us that “we are their pet’s only hope” and if we don't take them, they will be killed.  Such disturbing calls range from individuals threatening to drown kittens, shoot dogs, “run over puppies in a cardboard box in the driveway”, slaughter horses, abandon their domestic pets in the the wilderness, or have their pet needlessley destroyed at the vet.  What makes these stories more upsetting is that often the animals being so violently disposed of are seniors that have lived with the same family their entire lives.

Polo was found as a baby tied to a fence at the High River High School in the middle of a snow storm.  We learned later that this was a prank played by some ignorant and cruel farm kids.