Bonnie Magnet

Bonny: A Happy Cocker Spaniel living at CARES shelter! Bonny, a Cocker Spaniel, is a favorite breed in the remote Amazon city of Iquitos. Ironically, pet owners are VERY unaware of responsible pet care. They wean puppies at 2-3 weeks, do not pay for veterinary care, thus these pets do not have vaccines, etc. Many people coming to the no-kill shelter run by Amazon Community Animal Rescue, Education & Safety (www.amazoncares.org) see Bonny and want to adopt her. However, Bonnie is part of our "lifetime pet program," and she will not be adopted to anybody. Why is this? Sadly, Bonnie was abused prior to being abandoned. Apparently, the majority of her abuse took place in her hip area (probably kicked often in this area). All the people involved with CARES know Bonnie's personality, and also know when showing her affection to never touch her from her mid-back down. She will snap and sometimes bite. Because of this, we do not want her adopted by a family. Households are very open. Front doors are open all day for ventilation. We fear a child could get bitten. Bonny does not have a kennel. She lives free outside of the fenced area (the kennel area is VERY spacious by the way). She can usually be found at the hut of the security guard and his wife, Marlena, our cook and housekeeper when we have volunteers. Bonny has an unusual talent! She catches rats! Rats are a problem in the thatched roofed huts in the jungle. At least once a week she'll catch a few and torture them to death by banging them against the ground. Then she will sit proudly by her "trophies" until somebody takes notice and praises her. Unfortunately, her desire to hunt has not always been limited to rats, and we have had to reimburse a few neighbors for chickens, a duck, and a rooster!