Hank was only 8 months old when a Good Samaritan found him in the woods, but he didn’t seem like a puppy at all. Instead of running around the forest with youthful excitement, the lonely dog stayed perfectly still on a discarded dog bed, seemingly unfazed by the stranger approaching him.
Surrounded by his old toys and a sealed bag of dog food, which he couldn’t open, his face conveyed a desperate need for help.
The Good Samaritan called their local animal shelter, which dispatched staff members to the scene immediately to rescue Hank. They were worried that he might become aggressive during the rescue since he was in survival mode but were pleasantly surprised to find that he had a different demeanor.
“He was nothing but love from the moment they got him,” Rosa Fond, founder of Humans and Animals United, told The Dodo. “Everybody says that he’s the sweetest dog.”
After rescuing him, shelter staff then brought Hank to the vet, where they found that he’d been suffering from a broken leg. According to doctors, Hank had received this injury more than two weeks before being rescued.
That’s why he never moved from his bed in the woods, they said. It was simply too painful.
Hank’s injury required extensive surgery, so the shelter reached out to Humans and Animals United for help.
Fond instantly agreed to take him into their care and give him the medical intervention he desperately needed.
She took the pup to a local veterinary hospital, where he’s currently staying for a bit. Hank’s scheduled to have his life-changing surgery soon but has to gain a little bit of weight first. In the meantime, he’s loving the daily love and cuddles he gets from the veterinary staff.
Adoption requests for Hank have been pouring in ever since Humans and Animals United posted about him on their Facebook page, but Fond says that no one has been selected yet.
“He’s gonna have a little bit of a journey to go through before he’s fully adoptable,” Fond said. “But he’s safe now and he’ll never, ever be hurt again.”
