This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Submit your own rescue story here. Your story just might be the next to be featured on our blog!
While serving in the Navy, I was a medic, while also tending to the strays of the large naval base. One of the most heartbreaking things that happened was an epidemic of Leishmaniasis, threatening the population of 40 to 50 dogs on the base.
One morning, I received a call from a sailor on guard duty in the most remote guard post, six kilometers away on a mountain top. There was a pup in bad shape. I drove there immediately and saw an adult dog decomposing in the forest on the way there. It appeared to be the pup’s mother. The pup itself was one month old, underweight, infested with skin and intestine parasites, and had a severe loss of fur, mostly on her little bald head.
After establishing that she was not sick with kala azar, I had to keep her locked in a small room and – depending on my duties for the day – alone for hours-long stretches. Still, she recognized the sound of the ambulance’s motor and jumped on the window to see her pal (me) coming.
She won me over, as well as the rest of the troops at the base, who visited her on their breaks. With the only choices being releasing her on the base or taking her home, there was no dilemma. These large ears needed a home.
Since then, she’s grown up into a gracious lady, a family member and the proud owner of: all exterior areas of the house, the love seat, the staircase, our hearts. She’s paid me back, of course, by protecting me from any bird, turtle, frog or visitor that approaches. Visitors especially need to pet her first, before entering the house, or else… Well, no one has managed to say no yet.
Story submitted by Evan Tzimas from Thessaloniki, Greece.
This story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!
