TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Meet Lieutenant Dan.
A few days ago, Lieutenant Dan was found outside of a home in Kentucky and was taken to the Harrison County Animal Shelter. According to a Facebook post made by the animal shelter, employees did an intake assessment and realized that he was paralyzed from the waist down. Due to his injuries, the shelter stated in the Facebook post that they did not have the funds to care for him and needed help. Happy Tails Animal Rescue in Terre Haute saw the post and acted immediately.
“Hey guys, I am on my way to pick up a very, very special boy,” said Owner and CEO of the rescue, Taylor Bullock in one of the rescue’s TikTok videos.
Bullock drove more than 2 hours to save Lieutenant Dan.
“Watching him in the videos, he had such a life to him,” said Bullock. “So, when I picked him up, his diaper was full, he got it all over me; it was fine. And I just went to the gas station, cleaned him up, cleaned me up. But he was just laying in the sun through the sunshine, I was like he’s going to be fine.”
“You ready to go?” said Bullock in another of the rescue’s TikTok videos. “You’re such a sweet puppy. “
After picking up the pup, the rescue took him to a local vet to get an insight into his conditions. His X-rays had shown that he had been recently shot in the spine causing him to be paralyzed and incontinent.
“You could see on the X-ray his vertebra, like the fourth one back from his tail, was shattered, and there were these shards in there as well,” said Aaron Childress, CFO of Happy Tails Animal Rescue. “Which we found out from one of the vets that it was a bullet.”
The vet had suggested that Lieutenant Dan to be euthanized, but the rescue had different plans for him.
“I was like I didn’t pick up this dog from the shelter to bring it to a vet to put it down,” said Bullock. “I already knew he was paralyzed. I already knew he was incontinent. I’m asking how do I, how do I prolong his life? How do I at least get him to go from being shot to just being a dog, even if it’s just for a little while?”
Now, he still has a long journey ahead of him, but the rescue already has fosters lined up to take him. Fosters Alexa and Kelly will pick him up on Sunday to start his new life.
“They messaged me that they have all these summer plans for him,” said Bullock. “They see him floating in a pool and hanging out with them, and going on canoe rides. It’s just the best situation because the reality is, if we didn’t have a foster, we couldn’t have pulled, he would have been euthanized. That’s just the reality of the situation, and it’s nobody’s fault, but the person that did this.”
If you would like to donate Happy Tails Animal Rescue has an Amazon Wish List for the pup, and you can find it on their Facebook page.
