Residents | Happy Tails > Mr.
Maha Taj
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Taj in stall
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Taj in grass
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Young Taj just
before coming to HHS
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Mr. Maha Taj: Mr. Will to Live or Mr. Stubborn (depending
on how you look at it)
First he survives being hit by a car, which cripples him horribly.
Then he gets lost in the forest with his mother who dies, probably
trying to protect him. Next, he hobbles out of the forest by
himself to find his herd again; only to be sent to auction to
be killed for beef. Taj gets bought/adopted by a concerned citizen
who’s been watching this whole story unfold, only for Taj
to catch a deadly disease the one day he’s at the auction.
He survives the disease, where other full grown healthy cattle
around him did not.
And someone once had the audacity to ask Executive
Director Laura Bradshaw why she didn’t just put
him down. Taj was a guy who clearly wanted to live. But do you
have any idea how hard he worked to live?! Taj could have given
up at any one of these times, but he didn’t. When
Laura first heard about his story she thought here’s a
guy who can demonstrate to kids about never giving up; and as
it turns out, that there can be a pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow, if you can just make it to the end.
Taj’s hock and knee joints in his back left leg were dislocated
with he was hit by the car at 2 months old. He would hold all
his weight on his front left and back right legs with the front
right leg being a kickstand. His injured leg was held 4” off
the ground. At first he was called Tripod, but Bipod (as the
vet pointed out) would have been a more appropriate name as he
was truly only on two legs.
Walking was a sight to behold. He would throw his injured leg
out in front of him and then scramble to get all the other ones
in place (a new place) before the bad one hit the ground. We
had little time to waste as he was getting bigger by the day;
and if he got to full weight in his current condition he would
not be able to make it. We had an animal chiropractor come out
who said that given it’s such an old injury; there’s
probably no way to fix it now. Sometimes Laura loves to hear
that, it just motivates her more. If Taj wasn’t going to
give up, neither was she.
Taj loved massage. He would just be in heaven while his sore
muscles and legs were being worked on. He would also move around
to make sure you got to every spot. Between that and the Infratonic
8 sound wave machine, which is known for
accelerating healing and releasing scar tissue, his leg started
to come back down to earth, literally.
That winter was tough but with all the work we had been doing
when spring hit, as did his hormones, Taj had a new lease on
life. He could walk more comfortably and his legs would even
occasionally rest on the ground. Laura kept the wonderful illusion
that she could out run or at least out maneuver him. if needed,
since his favorite game was tag. She always won that game but
as he got bigger, Laura wasn’t sure if she could have survived
if she had ever lost. And the Board
of Directors is happy she didn’t try.
One day the neighbor’s truck backfired as Laura was walking
across the arena. Taj got spooked and took off full speed in
her direction. Needless to say, she had to run for her life and
hop the fence in a single bound. Her neighbor never laughed so
hard, “practicing to be a circus clown” was all he
could mutter out. Good thing she likes her neighbor.
In the end Taj could run, jump, cow kick, and buck. Every now
and then he would favor his once bad leg but not often. Sadly,
though, he had become too dangerous to have around children.
He had humans as his only companions and he always wanted to
play, but he was now over 1,000 pounds and didn’t realize
his own size and strength. Laura called the lovely woman who’d
first rescued him and told her the sad news of having to find
another home for Taj.
To Laura’s surprise and joy, she exclaimed that she’s
missed him terribly and wanted him back. Taj went back to Arizona
to live out his much-earned life with many other animal companions
. . . he even got a girlfriend.
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