Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Jim Seror has been at the Mansion Assisted Care Facility for over a year. I’ve met with him once and written about him once. He has a reputation as a loner devoted to his family and grandchildren. I find him elfin sometimes; he has a beautiful smile, which often seems like a twinkle. He asked me to come and meet with him; he said he had an important issue for me to write about

I love profiling the Mansion residents. They need to be seen and known.

Jim is on a mission. He wants to save dogs.

Even from the quiet of his room – Jim has some health challenges – he can’t stop thinking of helping dogs stay alive by getting people to donate to animal shelters that need donations to survive.

Jim has loved dogs, especially “Bubby,” a Cho-Lab mix he had buried in his backyard for years.

Jim has had a lot of jobs, including being a roofer and railroad scheduler. “None of my trains ever had an accident,” he says proudly. He was also savagely attacked and nearly killed by a Pit Bull whose owner had just died and who attacked him and tried to get to his throat.

He ended up being rushed to a  hospital, but he has never abandoned his love of dogs and his passionate desire to keep any of them from being killed.

He remembers plunging into a lake to try to save a drowning man. Despite his efforts, the man died. I can see Jim pulling the memories of his life together. We hit it off, this time and the last. I have some books to bring him.

His passion is since and moving. Assisted care is not easy, but Jim never stops thinking about dogs. I am happy to carry out his request. I’m told he can be grumpy sometimes, but so am I. I find Jim charming, fun, and eager to help animals. I was touched to see this aging man, who rarely comes out of his room, so caught up in an issue like this.

Robin, one of the Mansion aides, contacted me and said Jim remembered our talk last year and hoped I would help with a cause he believes in deeply: keeping rescue dogs from being euthanized when hard-pressed shelters. He wanted me to urge my blog readers to contribute to the Mohawk And Hudson River Humane Society.

I know this group and gave a talk there a few years ago while writing books about dogs. It’s a well-run run, experienced, much-loved rescue group and shelter.

People in assisted often feel ignored by the world and helpless. It would help Jim a lot to save a dog’s life.

(Jim showed me how he fended off a horrific Pit Bull attack, which tore up his hands and part of his face. “It wasn’t the dog’s fault,” he said; his owner had just died. In the photo, he has saved  pictures of his injuries.)

“It just tears me apart to see dogs euthanized,” he said. “It makes me cry. I couldn’t take volunteering anymore; it hurt so much.” I told him I understood his passion and would transmit his request to people who can donate to the Mohawk and Hudson Humane Society or any other shelter group that wants to keep their dogs alive.

I told him that in my writing, I had raised questions about the humanity and cost of no-kill shelters; he nodded and smiled. I said I just wanted to be honest, as he is candid.

He said he understood. I said I would be happy to pass along his message; it is an awful thing to see dogs euthanized; millions are in shelters hoping for adoption as people who wanted dogs during the pandemic don’t want them anymore. Shelters, overwhelmed with pandemic-returned dogs, need all the help they can get.

But no dog, he says, is a bad dog. There are just bad people.

Jim is mysterious about his children; he can’t say how many he has. But he knows the three grandchildren who visit him, and he lights up whenever they come. Jim asked me to bring Zinnia and visit with him, which I shall do. Visits to individual rooms stopped during the pandemic but are slowly resuming. Zinnia loves to visit rooms, and the residents love to see her.

I know the Mohawk And Hudson Valley Humane Society is as good a shelter and rescue organization as I have come across. I’ll kick Jim’s request off by donating $100 to the organization. If you are so inclined, feel free to do the same. You can donate to them here or, if you choose, to your favorite rescue group.

Jim Sorer would love it if you donated money in his name. Jim says he knows he doesn’t have all that much time left, and he would be proud and happy to know he had saved even one dog’s life.