The Rescuer’s Rainbow Bridge

Jennifer Vanderau
Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter

(9/2023) No one picked her up. She’d been on the road for days.

I remember the first day that I was driving by and I saw here there, a little cat, hit by a car, lying on the berm, looking for all intents and purposes like she was just sleeping.

I knew she wasn’t just sleeping. It hurt my heart to see her. She had pretty white fur and an orange spot or two, and for a minute, I thought about what I would do if it were one of my cats along the road like that.

I couldn’t stand it. Luckily, none of my babies ever leaves the house – no matter how intently they like to look out the windows. I tell them, no way. I can’t take the chance that something could happen to you.

Something like what happened to this little cat.

I remember thinking on that first day how hard it would be for her owners to find her there, but I know sometimes the closure is what you really need. I’ve talked to so many people who told me how awful it was when they lost a cat and never found out what happened to him.

Was he hurt? Was he injured? Did someone else take him in?

Never getting that answer can sometimes be more painful than knowing.

That’s what I thought about for this little girl. Someone would know soon and they would have to say goodbye. I remember sending a thought into the universe of understanding and hope that the people could work through their grief. I wanted them to know that I knew what it was like to have to say goodbye.

Days later, she was still there along the side of the road.

No one picked her up.

And now the questions were in my mind. Did no one care? Didn’t they miss her? Weren’t they upset that she was gone?

She was on a relatively well-traveled road. Surely her people would have found her by now, right?

If they did, they didn’t move her. She was still lying where she had died.

The next time I drove by, she was gone. By that point, I can only assume it was probably a road crew or cleanup person from the township who took her. I had lost faith that her people had come for her.

She looked too clean that first day to not have had someone caring for her. Were they really not upset that she was gone? Didn’t it mean something that she was here, on this earth, for however short a time? Wasn’t she special to someone? Anyone?

It’s then that I realized she was special to me.

I remembered the place in heaven, adjacent to the Rainbow Bridge. Many of us know the Rainbow Bridge is the spot where animals wait for their owners to crossover so they can all be reunited in heaven together. The animals there are no longer hurt or ill or sick. They’re happy in the meadow until the day when they see their human. Then it is joy all around.

Well there’s another place, close to the Rainbow Bridge, for the rescuers of the world. This is the spot where the animals who didn’t have people they shared a connection with on earth wait for the humans who helped animals while they were here.

It’s the Rescuer’s Rainbow Bridge and I thought to myself, maybe this little girl I saw along the side of the road will be there. I told her I wouldn’t forget her on my way through. I’d see her and take her with me into heaven.

I hoped it was enough to give her soul a little bit of peace and let her know she was seen. Even for a little while. Even though it had been too late.

I saw her. She meant something.

And I went home that night and snuggled my cats extra hard, even though I could tell they wondered what had come over me. I simply told them I needed to hear them purr. They seemed okay with providing that.

For all the other rescuers out there, I may not speak to you or know you personally, but there is a connection we form that transcends words and we know that we will have a whole lot of souls crossing over with us into heaven. Even the ones we couldn’t save.

Thank you, all of you, for seeing them, for helping those you can and for loving all the planet’s creatures.

Even the ones who no one picks up.

Jennifer Vanderau is the Publications and Promotions Consultant for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and can be reached at cvascomm@cvas-pets.org. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at 263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org. CVAS also operates a thrift store in Chambersburg. Help support the animals at the shelter by donating to or shopping at the store.