Heart of the Rescue

Harley boy was found wandering the streets of Williston, impounded for 2 months and was scheduled for euthanasia. Annie Oakley Animal Rescue took him under their wing, got him vaccinated and neutered, and listed him for adoption. I previously had a black lab named Bud and fell in love with this face instantly. I scheduled a meet and greet and took him home for the weekend. Harley was a little destructive and had a hard time adjusting to being home alone during work hours. We are still working on that but he's my new best friend and companion.

— Ron

We love Annie Oakley and have been supporters since Annie and Oakley, our son came with us to the Zombie and Zoomies 5K, he fell in love with the litter of puppies they had just rescued from a neglect situation. He begged to go get a puppy, we told him only if one of them picked him, while tiny 2 lb Gertie at that time crawled into his lap and they have been inseparable ever since, he renamed her "Shakira" and she has about a zillion nicknames including "Shak Attack", "Shak" and "Shakira Lynne" she was a tiny terror zooming around our yard with her adopted brothers Zeus and Thor, she sadly lost Thor in the fall of 2025, so her and Zeus had to decide to be best friends. They get along great, they are the ultimate pampered pooches, enjoying pup cups, prewashing dishes, cookies and blankies to snuggle in and squeaky toys to squeak. Shakira now weighs in at 40 lbs and will be 2 years old in July. We can not say enough great things about Annie Oakley they are providing a service to our area that was desperately needed.

— Aaron Filler/Penny and Doug

So I wanted to post this story because I feel it is important. This is Kermit, he was not a direct adoption through Annie Oakley but I found him through Annie Oakley. A gal in Williston had asked for help in finding a home for him. He was in an abusive situation and she wanted to find a better home and Annie Oakley jumped at the chance to help and posted his story . Kermit came from abusive home which he ran away from constantly, I believe he was only in that home for a short time and I don't know where he was before then. The man he was living with was not very nice to him and Kermit would constantly run outside and run away from him, mind you this was winter time and he would be outside for days running in the cold. The man put in little to no effort to get him back when he would take off. His name wasn't Kermit when he was with the man and to be honest I can't even remember what his other name was but it doesn't matter anymore. The last time Kermit got out the man asked for help on Facebook for someone to try to get him in. So the gal in Williston offered to help, it took her about 5 hours to get Kermit, she was finally able to get him with the help of a dog friend to distract him. Well when she got him she discovered that he had an injury on his head, he was skinnier than he should be and that he was very standoffish with the man. She did some research and discovered that the man was not even supposed to have him at the trailer court and long story short she was given the option to either put him in the pound or to take him home so she chose to take him home. She reached out to Annie Oakley, explained his story and asked for help to find him a better home. His story was posted for maybe an hour or two and I jumped on the opportunity to meet him. Again love at first sight. So I reached out to Annie Oakley and they gave me her contact number and we talked. After constant communication she was excited for us to meet him and a week later we got to meet Kermit, in the middle of a snowstorm but it was worth the drive to Williston. We were a little nervous on how Kermit would do because she did explain that he was standoffish with men so we wanted to make sure he was comfortable so we brought our dog Ladybird with because she told us that he did very well with other dogs, and Ladybird is the sweetest dog and is very accepting, I have to admit I was a little jealous because he fell in love with Mario right away and if you know Mario he is very good with dogs and Kermit was instantly comfortable with him, and when Kermit met our dog Ladybird those two became very fast friends. We just knew he was ours. So the name Kermit, the gal in Williston was the one that had named him Kermit and started his journey to a better life so we honored her by keeping his name and it suited him very well. I am not using her name because I did not ask her permission but if she decides to comment that would be really awesome, she's a very great person and to this day I am very thankful for her and for Annie Oakley for being here and sharing Kermit's story.

— Roxanne

I am actually board member for Annie Oakley so this really hits home for me. I was looking at updates on Annie Oakley Facebook page and I seen that Buffy had posted a video of a very young kitty that was named Doris. Doris was abandoned out by border steel I believe and I couldn't believe it how could someone abandon this Kitty maybe mama left it maybe somebody left it there regardless and just broke my heart knowing she was left defenseless. When I seen this Kitty though she stole my heart, I mean instant tears just by watching the video. I couldn't believe it she looked just like my 18 year old kitty that passed away last March (her name was Mimzy and she was a dark Torti just like Mystique and that girl was with me through thick and thin she was my soul cat). I knew I needed to meet Doris so I reached out to Buffy and I asked her if I could meet her after work and she said of course I told her I wasn't going to adopt because I already have a house full of fur babies but I just needed to meet her. Once I got off work I texted my boyfriend and he agreed to come with me, I think he knew deep down how important this was, so we got there and we met her in person and I just fell instantly and love with Doris. I couldn't help it I just started crying because I just needed her to come home with me, don't ask me to explain it I just knew she was meant to be with me. Thankfully Mario my boyfriend agreed and we brought her home the same day we made sure we had all of her kitten food any medications that she needed with us Buffy provided us with everything that we needed and I renamed her Mystique in honor of Mimzy. Buffy was wonderful she made sure that were set up with the vet and that her vetting was taken care of. I called the vet's office got everything set up for her. Today she is doing wonderful, she actually is adapting great it's the other kitties that are taking their sweet time but you have to remember, cats adjust in their own time so when they are ready they will accept her I have no worries. You have to give them time to adjust to change 48 hours is not going to do it, a week is not going to do it. Cats and dogs need time to adjust to new family members. Anyways I can't believe how somebody could abandon this little baby but then I look at it as their loss and my game because now I have a new princess in my house I know I'm sure she will act like the princess that she is. Thank you Annie Oakley for saving her and bringing her into my life.

— Roxanne