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Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
A Toast To Animal Friends We Loved
As any New Year begins it is customary to reminisce about the days gone by. As we at IDA think back upon  the past year and contemplate the many challenges we faced and, with your help, victories won for our animal friends, thoughts of love, loss, and the animals we rescued - who didn't make it - are foremost in our minds.
Compassion is the heart of all of us at IDA: staff, volunteers, and supporters. We all are too familiar with the gnawing pain of loss. But nowhere in our network of compassion has this been felt more strongly and frequently in 2011 than at IDA's Hope Animal Sanctuary in Grenada, Mississippi.
I am Doll Stanley and for almost two decades I have managed the sanctuary. Please let me share just a few memories of animal friends we have saved, loved, lost this year, and will never forget.
Eleanor, our beautiful angel…
Eleanor was the first of the animals rescued from a hoarding case now in litigation. As we walked up the driveway I spotted her lying in a pile of debris. I spoke to her as I approached. She didn't even acknowledge my presence. As I leaned in and picked her up, she awoke, but was too weak to move. Our vet gave her little chance of survival.
 Yet, as the days passed, Eleanor responded to our pampering. She loved and craved attention. Eleanor seemed to be prospering.
She put on weight, her skin began to heal, and her hair grew. But she  remained weak, often wobbling as she walked. She showed symptoms of having survived distemper, the disease that took four of her companions. A devoted volunteer who cares for many of our special needs animals took Eleanor home, to provide the individual care we hoped would shepherd her recovery.
But soon Eleanor lost her appetite. One day she curled up tightly and shook from pain or neurological impairment. After x-rays and a battery of tests the diagnosis was devastating: kidney failure. Eleanor's plight of deprivation and disease took its toll on her organs. There was to be no recovery. I sobbed as I said goodbye to our precious girl. My insides ached. My heart was crushed. It still is.
Then there was Kendall…
The call came from an officer at Camp McCain, the Mississippi National Guard training site, asking for haven for an abandoned puppy.
 When the "puppy" arrived at our sanctuary we just laughed and laughed. Kendall was hardly a puppy! He was old, all but toothless, blind in one eye, and his ears were gnarled from who knows how many survival fights. He was so food-deprived that he was impossible with other dogs.
But we loved him and he loved us. We fed him in an enclosure and gradually introduced him to dogs with whom he wouldn't feel threatened. As time passed his fears gave way to sheer joy. Just looking at Kendall put a new perspective on any difficult day.
And Toby…
Kendall had a friend, Toby. They were both survivors. The old bulls on the hill, they occasionally bumped chests like two men challenging one another to an arm wrestle. Their skirmishes lasted all of seconds as they'd both lose balance and topple – always with the dignity of their esteemed stature.
Losing Kendall and Toby broke my heart. How do you fill such a void?
How do you cope when you are being sued – as we are, as you already know, by the hoarder from whom we rescued poor Eleanor?
I don't know the right answers but what I do know – what all of us at IDA know and so gratefully appreciate – is that your support gives us the strength and makes it possible to do all that we do for so many animals just like Eleanor, Kendall and Toby.
With you at IDA's side, with the financial resources you so kindly entrust to us, and with the power of our combined compassion and determination to make the world a kinder place for all of our animal friends, we will prevail.
While we have such hope for the year ahead, for all of us at IDA this year truly ends on a note of sorrow. We hurt so badly. Life moves on, but the memories of the ones who leave us are indelible, imprinted on our minds forever.
As the New Year dawns and we all pause to reflect, wherever you are and whatever you are doing when the Times Square ball falls and Auld Lang Syne begins, let us not forget our old animal acquaintances.
They loved us. We loved them. And nothing is stronger than memories.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all that you do, and all that I hope you will continue to do to help IDA help animals.
Doll Stanley
Director, IDA's Hope Animal Sanctuary
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In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 100,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa.
In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.
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