Man Rescues Disabled Dog After Finding Him Strapped To A Fire Hydrant With A Heartbreaking Note
"You never know the struggles people are facing to have to make this decision."
Scott McManus, guys_who_shoot | Shutterstock.com A kind man and dog owner who goes by WIFI shared a heart-wrenching video on TikTok of an abandoned disabled dachshund tied to a fire hydrant near his home.
The dog, wrapped in a jacket that seemed to protect his legs, wasn’t the only thing he found. Next to her was $200 in cash and a note. “Please take care of her,” the note read.
Without thinking twice, the man decided to take her to the vet and bring her home, but not before sharing the sad reality that this, unfortunately, isn’t a rare occurrence.
A man rescued a disabled dog after finding him tied to a fire hydrant with a note and $200 in cash.
“This dog stayed like this for 3 hours before I showed up,” the man wrote over the video as he approached the dog. Through a neighborhood doorbell app, the man said he heard about the dog outside alone and decided to go check if she was still there.
“It was a neighbor that eventually called and told me to take her away,” he explained. “He said the owner stopped the car and dropped off the dog … Her back brace seems to be helping her walk.”
A large number of shelter surrenders are older and disabled dogs, as pet owner’s ‘puppy fever’ quickly fades away.
Not only are older and disabled dogs more likely to be surrendered by their owners, but the rest of their lives in shelters are unsettlingly heartbreaking. Not only do they have lower adoption rates, but they’re also more likely to be euthanized over the cost of specialized care, surgeries, and medications.
Kirill_ak_white | Shutterstock.com
Perhaps this dog's owner knew her fate in a shelter and thought abandoning her with some money might afford her a better shot at finding someone to care for and love her. Thankfully, in this case, it worked.
“This happens everywhere,” the kind man who rescued her shared. “This is why you have to adopt, not shop.”
This man's video is a humbling reminder of the financial barriers that many people unexpectedly face when making the difficult decision to surrender.
Shelter overpopulation overpopulation is nothing new, but sadly, our current economy makes pet ownership that much more difficult for struggling families. It’s not surprising that there’s been an increase in pet surrenders in recent years. Data indicates that many of the surrenders were fueled by financial hardship.
Especially for older dog owners who run into unexpected health issues of their own later in life, some that are impossible to account for, giving up their dogs can be their only option. For some, that might mean going to a shelter; for others, something like this — knowing that a good person will come to take care of their fur baby.
“I’m trying to raise awareness,” the man who rescued the dog shared, “that older, disabled dogs like this are expensive and often abandoned.”
That doesn’t mean that someone who chooses to “give up” their dog or find a better home for their pet is doing something wrong. It's impossible to know what this little dog's owner was going through. However, there are safer alternatives to abandonment, including foster and rescue organizations.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.