We got a call about a dog whose owner was going to have to euthanize her because he couldn’t afford to board her any longer. She is a black pitbull mix, so it was difficult to find anyone willing to take her. She was full of scars, recent and not so recent, and was not a cute puppy or adorable marketable type. Here is her story.
Midnight was first found in a Philadelphia animal control facility which is notoriously over capacity. Their appeals for someone to save the dogs on the euthanasia list have flooded the internet for a very long time. And someone decided to send a friend to Philly to save Midnight from death.
Midnight’s early years were horrific. She was used as a breeder. She was used as a bait dog and has the scars to reflect how miserable her life was. Then she wound up on the kill list.
The person who was going to ultimately adopt her decided not to adopt her, so the friend kept Midnight. She was scared, which is understandable, given her history. But here was her chance for a decent life.
A few weeks after going to her new home, she and her owner were out for a walk. Midnight sniffed along a fence that bordered the sidewalk, as any dog would do, and then WHAM!! A dog behind the fence grabbed her head through a large hole in the fence and caused several bite wounds. So Midnight found herself at the veterinary hospital getting patched up.
Again, she suffered trauma that she did not provoke. Reliving the horrors she suffered as a bait dog must have been so traumatizing.
Fast forward a few weeks later, she and her owner are out on another walk. This time, they are very careful to avoid the hole in the fence and anything else that looked dangerous. But then, WHAM!!! A German shepherd living in a house across the street broke through the screen door and ran across the street, attacking Midnight and inflicting wounds all over her body.
What a horrible scenario….unspeakably sad. So back she goes to the veterinary hospital again.
It’s so difficult to imagine what must have been going through her mind at this point. However, she was very bonded to the man who had adopted her, so she started to heal both physically and emotionally, once again.
Then her owner suffered a cardiac event and was facing a long recuperation. He could not take care of a dog. No one in his family or among his friends would take her. And he was running out of money to board her. He contacted the Philadelphia shelter from which he had adopted her, and they said she would be euthanized if he brought her back.
No local shelters or rescues would help. Midnight was a black pitbull, which meant she had two strikes against her. She had been used a bait dog and had been attacked by dogs, so she could be expected to have behavior issues.
When we got a call about her, pleading for us to take her in, one of our volunteers went to meet her. When she was brought into the room, this poor dog did not know what to expect. There she was, covered in old and new scars, sitting in the middle of the room, head down, hunched over and quivering. Heartbreaking beyond words. She did not know what life was going to throw at her next, and her fate was in our (and your) hands.
This is the kind of rescue that just has to happen. Enough is ENOUGH…she had been through a lifetime of misery in her few years, and we had the power to end all that and give her a chance to be safe and loved.
Midnight has been living at our sanctuary for several months now, and is such a sweet dog. She and so many others are the reason we need your help for this year’s Radiothon and all throughout the year. Our greatest fear is not being able to help such animals, who truly have no hope without all of us.