There are plenty of reasons why people abandon their pets and surrender them to animal shelters. And of course, most of them have good reasons for giving their beloved pets. Perhaps they have to move to a new place and can’t take their pets with them, or they just can’t take proper care of the animal. Those reasons are all understandable. But sadly, some people have more outrageous reasons. It’s heartbreaking when they abandon their beloved pets just to adopt a “better” dog.
A bad family had left their dog at a shelter and then returned to the same shelter to adopt a different dog as the poor dog watched helplessly.
Zuzu the German shepherd was surrendered to the Downey Animal Care Center in Los Angeles by her owners when she was two-years-old. Although staff and volunteers at the shelter loved and cared for her, she was still sad and inconsolable.
“She is a friendly girl but I sensed sadness and confusion,” Desi Lara, a volunteer at Downey Animal Care Center, tells The Dodo. “Most dogs zoom around the yard. She treaded softly, nervous to look around.”
One day, a family came to visit the shelter to look for a dog. Amazingly, after days of misery, Zuzu suddenly perked up when seeing the family. As it turned out, they were her former owners. She immediately recognized them and excitedly leapt at the fence to greet them. She whirred like a helicopter and raced up and down the yard.
“All of a sudden she was all excited, doing a little zoom,” Lara, a trainer at Shelter Me said. “A joyous personality came out when she saw her people.”
The old owners petted her through the gate. She naturally thought they returned to bring her home, but sadly, they were there to adopt a different dog. They said that she became depressed after her father passed away, and they didn’t want her back because she kept escaping.
“We asked if family was there to reclaim her and they said no, they didn’t want her,” trainer Janey Chapin told The Dodo.
The shelter workers were shocked they could be so heartless. Instead of trying to deal with Zuzu’s depression, they decided to just abandon her and pick a “better” dog.
The story went viral, and people were heartbroken and furious at the family. “It’s a heart-wrenching story of dog that’s unwanted,” Janey said.
But the good news is that many people offered to give Zuzu a forever loving home. Eventually Zuzu was adopted by Russ and Judith Gallo. The couple just lost one of their dogs and they were looking to take in a new one when they saw Zuzu’s heartbreaking story.
“It broke my heart to see that they had no interest in her,” Russ told Inside Edition about the family. Something just kind of told us, hey, we got to do something here.”
After everything happened, Zuzu now has a loving new family that loves her, cares for her, and never abandons her.
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Image credits: SHELTER ME
H/T: The Dodo