European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                R a to Many pet owners a favorite pet is like a member of the family whose loss can be shattering. Vets go for postgraduate work. The Center employs a full time social worker Susan Cohen who runs a support group and counsels individuals who have lost pets. Randi Greenberg of Piscataway n.j., lost cinnamon a Quot special Quot ferret and attended two of the groups. She found them helpful and now has two More ferrets. When the grief is beyond the Norm Cohen often refers the patient to or. Carole Fudin a psychotherapist who says 50 percent to 75 percent of her clients Are people who have lost pets. Quot sometimes i m the first person to Tell them they Are not crazy Quot Fundin says. Quot if that is the Only Bond they have then i say thank god for that Bond Quot sometimes it stirs up layers upon layers of grief. A a person May not have mourned the loss of a Parent or a spouse or even a child and that animal brings it All  she says she has had couples who were fighting Over custody of a pet and she had to counsel them just As she would if they were squabbling Over the custody of a child. Quot i be talked to people who have lost lizards cats dogs snakes even a Galapagos Turtle named Kelso Quot she says. Fudin has a psychiatrist she Calls upon when medication is needed but she says that is rare. If medication is needed it is usually an antidepressant or tranquil Izer. Or. Suzanne Hetts an animal Behaviourist in Colorado says that even cowboys often come in for therapy or help in making the decision to euthanize an animal. Hetts works at the Denver dumb friends league founded in 1910. The league has a voice mail system open 24 hours a Day and Calls have come from Australia England and practically every state. Denver also has a program at an animal shelter where people bring animals they can no longer keep to be put up for adoption. They have 24 hours to change their minds but if the pet is not Able to be adopted it must be put to Steep to make room for More adoptable pets. It is estimated that somewhere Between 2 million to 3 million unwanted pets Are put to sleep each year. Some put the estimate As High As 10 million. Dealing with All those deaths remains one of the deepest problems human society must Deal with. Was As by Tara Bradley Steck the associated press is name was Sundance and he was a horse to dream about. He was a companion and a i protector. And by the time he d red a year ago he had become the most trusted of friends. He would listen respond accept the worst share the Best give More than asked. Once forged our Friendship was not conditional As it is with humans. Nor could it be easily broken. Such a communion of spirits cannot be replaced and that is Why my grief Over his death seems so Complete at times like Waves thundering Over a Beach. I feel sorry for myself. There is such a sense of melancholy in knowing i will never again hear his deep throaty Nicker of greeting or feel his soft nose or race through Woods jumping streams and dodging Trees. A the first time i saw him it was Early evening around the time of the Winter solstice in 1980, so it was very dark and cold too cold to Snow. He lived in a rundown barn All alone and his eyes told me he wanted company and someone to stroke his face and talk quietly to him. He stood in an open stall with wooden sides that Only went up to his Chest. Not a horse stall at All but. He did t seem to mind. A single Light bulb illuminated his face a a Golden Light that seemed to create a Halo around his head showing off the Blond tips in his Black mane and the Amber in his Reddish Brown face. When i went to the barn the next Day others were looking at him examining him poking him. I hated them for the interest they showed they examined leg length and Bone Structure and Teeth and hooves. All i wanted to know was whether he d Lay his head on my shoulder like he did to the woman who fed him. He had been Given so Little attention All his life. His teen age owner was t interested in him any longer so he was being cared for by a relative a Young Mother who though kind did t have time to do much More than feed him and clean his stall. No one even knew How old he was by checking Teeth and gum lined we estimated his age at around 8. But we could have been off by a year or so. I bought him even though my husband and i weren t ready yet to get a horse. As Crummy As his old barn was ours was Crummiel a a paltry wind whipped three sided shed with More holes than Wood. He did t seem to mind though. Sundance was a loner not at All like most horses who Wither away Tara 8radleysteck prepares for a ride with. Sundance who died earlier this year. Without companionship. He loved the outdoors and Only became surly when he was locked inside. Even later when we built a grand barn we made a special stall so he could go in and out As he pleased. Sundance made me wait a Long time before he allowed me to become his Friend. He was afraid of Many things at first tentative about letting me pet him or ride him fearful of strange objects on the Trail reluctant to Cross streams petrified of the sound of water being squirted through a Hose reserved to the Point of being almost antisocial with strangers. But As the years passed his Trust in me steadily. Grew. He would do anything i asked at any time. If i wanted him to take me through a Thicket of thorns he slowed ahead with nary a flinch. And when i d stupidly test his loyalty by picking the steepest Hills for him to climb or the longest Culvert to walk through he never Ever faltered. He just did it. Because i asked him to. The feeling of Complete satisfaction that comes with having such a companion is impossible to describe or measure. 1 Rode him thousands of times but never ceased to feel a thrill when we d ride fast and wild and free. And immeasurable Comfort in knowing he would keep me Safe and do nothing reckless. This was life at its most perfect. Over the next 12 years his stride never faltered his Speed never diminished. The More i Rode him the More he seemed to improve with age like a Marathon runner who never five up running. I did not expect him to die so suddenly. The Day after Christmas 1992 he Lay Down and did t want to get up or eat l Ess than 24 hours later. And what must have Felt to him like an eternity of pain he was dead from an undetected tumor that Cut off the blood flow to his Abdomen and rotted his intestines. It was weeks before i could enter the barn again and months before i could spend time with my three other horses. The More i neglected the other horses the worse i Felt and one Day i recall that adage about falling off a horse you realty do have to get Back on. I ride Arkay mostly now. She s 5 years old and she seems to want a no need a my company. She tags along behind me when i m in the pasture pokes her head Between the bars of her stall to watch me As i move through the barn and gets visibly jealous when i ride any other horse. She s not like Sundance. She likes Baths. She likes to be brushed. She hates mud. And she keeps her stall very very clean. We Haven t reached that same telepathic Union Sundance and i shared. But then Arkay s still Young. Saturday december 4,1993 the stars and stripes