Say hello to Little Bitsy from Brevard, North Carolina.
If you've wandered over to John Cole's Balloon-Juice in the past few weeks you may have noticed that Bitsy has taken over the place. To find out why, and just who Little Bitsy is, follow me over the fold...
Little Bitsy's story starts out like far too many of our furry friends:
Evelyn Bridges of Brevard rescued Little Bitsy, an 18-month old terrier mix, when she discovered her abandoned on the side of the road over the summer. The malnourished dog had been hit by a car, leaving her with a broken leg.
Fortunately for Little Bitsy, she was found by one of the most kind-hearted people on the planet. Evelyn Bridges has spent her entire life helping stray and abandoned animals find homes:
Bridges, a passionate animal advocate, works closely with the Transylvania County Animal Shelter and animal rescue groups such as TAAG, Friends For Life,
Animal Lighthouse, the Animal Compassion Network and others to help place animals in homes.
According to Bridges, last month she and other volunteers and friends pulled 31 animals from the local animal shelter.
Eight puppies were flown by the Pilots And Paws program from Greenville, S.C. to Orlando, Fla., and were then driven by volunteers to Port St. Lucie.
Bridges' husband, Marion, recently drove another seven dogs from Brevard to Minneapolis.
"Chuck Byrd and the staff at the local animal shelter work diligently to help us rescue the animals, Bridges said. "They do a great job with limited resources. But our shelter is a kill shelter. Owner turn-ins are the first to be put down. Strays are kept for five days, unless they get full, in which case it's first in, first down."
For Bridges, saving animals has been a life-long crusade. She conducted her first animal rescue almost 50 years ago, when she brought home a stray mother dog and four pups.
"I have six rescue dogs in my home, and one rescued cat," she said. "I stop for every dog or cat I see on the side of the road. That's how I met Little Bitsy. It's my passion; it's what I want to do."
Now Bitsy and Evelyn need your help. Little Bitsy has been entered into All American Pet Brands' "Cutest Dog Competition" for the past 11 weeks. Each week's finalist is awarded $500 dollars and is allowed to carry on to the finals where 4 winners will be picked by the public, and a grand finalist picked by judges will win $1,000,000. Little Bitsy's owners, Sylvia and Barney Evans, have pledged to donate 100% of all winnings to Evelyn's local shelter and if they win the grand prize, to give it to Evelyn to open a dog rescue.
Little Bitsy has had strong showing every week, racking up thousands of votes, but has come up a few-hundred to a few thousand short every time, despite John Cole's daily rallying of his "juicers" to vote for her. This is the last week of the contest and Little Bitsy already has over 3,400 votes. If you'd like to help put her over the top and help her friends get out of puppy and pootie jail you can vote for her here. Registration is incredibly easy and aside from a link confirming your email address you can check a simple box on the sign-up form to "opt-out" of receiving any other emails from the company. Thanks for your help!