Black Jack needs your help.
The 11-year-old neutered male black and tan coonhound at Red Sky Rescue in Medora is in need of right eye removal surgery due to glaucoma.
Dr. Heidi Klein, an ophthalmologist with IndyVet Emergency & Specialty Hospital in Indianapolis, is scheduled to do the surgery Monday. It costs $1,360.
Black Jack tested positive for heartworm when he arrived at Red Sky Rescue in March 2016. He has since gone through treatment and will be on a once-a-month interceptor for the rest of his life to keep him from getting heartworm again. He also is somewhat bowlegged due to arthritis.
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“Despite these health issues, Black Jack is a super-sweet boy who loves everyone, including other dogs and children,” said Cathi Eagan, founder and director of CanINE Express Transport Project and a volunteer at Red Sky Rescue.
Black Jack will be the grand marshal of an inaugural event, Spooktacular Puppy Parade, on Saturday at Schneider Nursery between Brownstown and Seymour. Registration opens at 1 p.m., and the parade begins at 1:30 p.m.
The cost to enter the parade is $10. Prizes will be awarded for the best dog costumes in three categories — cutest, silliest and scariest.
There also will be a bean-bag toss, an agility course and hot dog bobbing activities for $1 apiece, and Seymour High School’s Jobs for America’s Graduates will sell hot dogs and soft drinks. The event will end at 3 p.m.
Proceeds will be split between Red Sky Rescue and the Jackson County Dog Shelter building fund.
Anyone not able to attend Saturday’s event but interested in donating money toward Black Jack’s surgery may mail a check made payable to Red Sky Rescue with “Black Jack’s surgery fund” in the memo line. Donations are tax-deductible since Red Sky Rescue is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Also during the event, Red Sky Rescue will have dogs available for adoption, and volunteers will sell and insert American Kennel Club microchips for dogs for $18.
Other vendors include Dressed to the K9s and Bobbie Lou’s Biscuit Company. Schneider Nursery’s store also will be open, and plants will be given away as door prizes.
Eagan said Jill Glover at Schneider Nursery came up with the idea for the event and shared it with Red Sky Rescue.
In December 2016, a pit bull named Sarge was found wandering the area of the nursery and taken to Red Sky Rescue by Jackson County Animal Control Officer Mark Deaton. Nursery employees were worried he was going to get hit by a vehicle on U.S. 50. Before and after Sarge was adopted, Eagan kept in contact with Schneider Nursery to let them know how he was doing.
Talk then turned toward the nursery hosting some type of fundraising event, and the result was the Spooktacular Puppy Parade.
Eagan said the hope is to raise enough money to cover Black Jack’s surgery and also bring in money for Red Sky Rescue and to build the Jackson County Dog Shelter.
Eagan said a woman has expressed interest in fostering Black Jack and possibly adopting him. It will take about three weeks for him to recover from the surgery.
A committee has been working to raise $200,000 to build the dog shelter near the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown. The group is past the halfway point.
“This is a lofty goal, but if we made $3,000 and both groups get $1,500, that would be awesome,” Eagan said. “And to get (Black Jack’s) surgery done, that would be awesome. We don’t want this boy to go totally blind.”
The plan is to make the Spooktacular Puppy Parade an annual event to raise money for the dog shelter, which will replace Red Sky Rescue once it is built.
“I think it will be just a real fun time, and hopefully, the weather is going to be great,” Eagan said.
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What: Spooktacular Puppy Parade
When: 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday; parade at 1:30 p.m.
Where: Schneider Nursery, 3066 E. U.S. 50, Seymour
Cost: $10 to enter the parade; $1 each for cornhole, an agility course and hot dog bobbing activities
Other features: Seymour High School’s Jobs for America’s Graduates will sell hot dogs and soft drinks; Red Sky Rescue will have dogs available for adoption, and volunteers will sell and insert American Kennel Club microchips for dogs for $18; Dressed to the K9s and Bobbie Lou’s Biscuit Company will sell products
Proceeds: Split between Red Sky Rescue and the Jackson County Dog Shelter building fund; money also will be raised to cover right eye removal surgery for a black and tan coonhound, Black Jack, who has glaucoma (checks should be made payable to Red Sky Rescue with “Black Jack’s surgery fund” in the memo line)
Information: 812-522-4068
Can’t make it to the event? Checks may be mailed to Red Sky Rescue, 8305 W. County Road 150N, Medora, IN 47260.
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