“It’s time he learns what love is” ❤️
Earlier this month, animal lover Sabrina Garcia found a mouse in her house. She caught the mouse and rushed outside to release him into the wild. While looking for a safe place to set the mouse free, Garcia peered into a sewer drain and saw two brown eyes staring up at her.
To Garcia’s surprise, a large dog was lying at the bottom of the sewer, completely hidden from the residential neighborhood above ground.
“They couldn’t believe their eyes when they looked down and saw him,” Suzette Hall, founder of Logan’s Legacy 29 dog rescue, wrote on Facebook. “[H]e couldn’t even cry for help because nobody would [have] heard him.”
The dog, later named Donatello, locked eyes with Garcia and silently pleaded for help. Without skipping a beat, Garcia contacted Logan’s Legacy 29, and a team of volunteers, including Hall, raced over to assist her.
The team understood that Donatello was trapped in the sewer, but they were shocked when they arrived and discovered just how small the opening was. They sadly concluded Donatello’s predicament wasn’t an accident.
“There was no way he got down there by himself,” Hall wrote. “Someone had to put him there!”
Devastated for Donatello, the rescuers were eager to show him the love and care he deserved. They quickly found an unlocked manhole cover for the sewer and lifted it to reveal a long ladder.
Two rescuers descended the ladder while Hall and another volunteer waited for them above ground. Minutes later, the brave volunteers lifted Donatello through the manhole opening.
“We did it!” Hall wrote. “He was and is nothing short of a miracle.”
You can watch footage from Donatello’s rescue here:
The team placed Donatello in a crate and loaded him into Hall’s van. The two set off for Camino Pet Hospital, and Donatello fell asleep to Hall’s loving words of affirmation.
Donatello underwent extensive medical exams, during which veterinary staff discovered an array of trash in his stomach and a small towel lodged in his intestines.
“He was so hungry, he ate whatever he could,” Hall wrote on Facebook. “He would have died down [there].”
Donatello’s condition was severe, but, thankfully, he had a dedicated team of professionals in his corner. The pup soon underwent emergency surgery to remove the intestinal blockage, which he recovered from quickly.
The sweet pup still had an extensive treatment plan ahead of him, but with consistent snuggles, a warm bed and nutritious meals, his quality of life was already drastically improved.
Donatello’s intestinal issues are finally on the mend, and he’s hoping to have one final surgery soon to fix his inverted eyelids. It won’t be long until the sweet boy is ready to go to a forever home, but until then, he is soaking up all the love from his friends at the pet hospital.
In addition to his medical treatment, Donatello will soon start therapy to treat his anxiety, which, unfortunately, has made him wary of other dogs. The road to recovery may seem long, but Hall knows it’ll be worthwhile.
“[H]e is worth it,” Hall wrote on Facebook. “It’s time he learns what love is.”
