Title: Wild Child

Artist: Loren Terveer

Medium: Charcoal and Pastel

Dimensions: 18.5" x 22.5"

Animal depicted is Mummy.

Some rescues are pretty straightforward, some can take weeks and some can actually take years. That's how long it took for us to rescue Mummy. She was part of a pack that we have been tracking for many years, and we would pull litter after litter of puppies from them when we could find them. We tried many ways to rescue Mummy - and even tried trapping her by baiting a trap with her puppies - but nothing seemed to work. She was one street-savvy girl!

One day we saw her and it looked like she was nursing puppies again. Donna watched her from a distance as she kept crossing fields and alleyways until she cut into an abandoned house. That must be where her puppies are!

Later that week it was raining really hard and we knew this was our chance. Mom would most likely be in with her puppies and since we were pretty sure we knew where they were, we went for it! The sound of the rain covered our careful footsteps and we blocked the only entrance with a net. As soon as she heard us, she tried to dart out but couldn't. Before we knew it, she was in the net! We were able to maneuver her into a crate and carried safely to the Jeep.

After all these years, it was the most overwhelming feeling to have her safe, secure, and off the streets! This is all I have ever wanted for her and the emotion catches in my throat. Once mama was in the Jeep, we went back to get all the puppies out of that cold basement. It was such a relief knowing that the whole litter of those beautiful puppies was safe. I don't know how they would have ever been able to escape with that window being the only way out. It gave me chills to think about that. But the best feeling was knowing that this was finally going to be Mummy's last litter!

*If you are the winning bidder and are not in attendance to pick up your artwork the night of the event at the Four Seasons, artwork will be available for pick up from the Pine Street Shelter starting Friday, June 18th. If you are not local to the St. Louis Area, shipping will be an additional cost and will be calculated for each piece individually.