abandoned

On November 25, 2014, Karen Herrera from Fontana, Calif., found a white and brown female dog inside a garbage bag tossed on the side of the road. The dog had endured abuse at the hands of her owner prior to getting discarded with the garbage. The dog’s body had multiple bite wounds and patches of missing fur, yet, she had somehow survived the unimaginable and patiently waited on the side of the road for a helping hand.

This past November, a starving large breed dog, possibly a Great Dane mix, wandered into a Greeneville, Tenn. garage, looking for shelter, food and peace. The malnourished black dog probably had a few days left – if not hours – to live, all he wanted was a comfy place to rest his tired body, little did he know that walking into that garage would forever change his life.

Two stray dogs from Mexico where walking along the highway connecting Monterrey and Saltillo on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, when a vehicle traveling at high speeds hit one of the dogs leaving him for dead. In a country where animal welfare is not a top priority, the chances of the two strays getting help were zero to none, but what happened next was just unexpected.

Two strays from the Greek island of Zakynthos have been rescued and named Romeo and Juliet, after the unusual pair spent three days together waiting for someone to come help them.

Romeo, a four-year-old setter cross, was shot 38 times with a lead pellet gun and abandoned in a ditch. His body was submerged in water and only his head was visible. Juliet, a two-year-old pointer cross, found her Romeo agonizing in the ditch and spent three days next to him keeping him company and trying to get rescued.

Rescue organizations exists to help save animals, giving them second, third and fourth chances when animal control facilities and irresponsible pet owners turn their backs on the pets. However, many times these additional chances require costly training and socialization sessions, and after a while, rescue organizations with limited funds need to make a difficult choice between allocating their resources to socialize a difficult to adopt but healthy dog, or use their small budgets helping adoptable but injured pets.