One year after their rescue, two sibling dogs who were found on the side of a road — one protecting the other after he’d been injured — are still looking for a forever home.
Zorro, a gray and white dog, was found badly wounded on the side of I-95 in Miami-Dade County last year, Local 10 reported. Unable to use three of four of his legs, Zorro primarily relied on the protection of his brother Grover, a brown pup, until the county’s animal services arrived.
However, authorities only took Zorro. Grover was later picked up by a driver, said Leslie Fernandez of Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare — an organization that rescues dogs and cats from “high kill shelters to avoid them being euthanized,” according to its website.
Touched by an emotional photo of Grover protecting Zorro, Fernandez decided she had to try to get the injured dog from Animal Services and reunite the brothers.
“The picture of them together on I-95 — the fact that one was hurt and the other one wouldn’t leave him … just brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “I went to the shelter without a plan, I just had to take this dog out.”
Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare
With the help of David Wise, a veterinary surgeon, Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare was able to bring Zorro to its shelter. With the team at VCA Knowles Central Animal Hospital, it was determined that Zorro would need several surgeries and rehabilitation.
“When Zorro came in, he had a fractured right elbow, a dislocated left hip and a deranged right knee, so three out of four legs did not work. He couldn’t walk, he couldn’t stand, he couldn’t do anything,” Wise explained, but added that nothing could have prevented him from helping the pup.
Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare
“All he could do is lay on the floor and wag his tail. And I said, ‘Whoa, we are not putting this dog to sleep, I don’t care what happens,’” he said. “Because he’s sitting there in that kind of shape, wagging his tail, so happy to be alive. I said, ‘We’ve got to help this dog.’”
When Zorro finally reunited with Grover — who Fernandez had traced to the nearby Broward County — the injured pup did what he could to crawl towards his brother.
Wise said he’d never seen a dog with three injured legs be able to walk again — until Zorro. The moment the dog stood up and walked brought tears to Fernandez’s eyes. “It’s just a miracle,” she said.
Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare
Now, one year after the dogs were reunited, they remain at the facility waiting for adoption. Though it might make the adoption process easier, Fernandez can’t bring herself to separate them.
“The love and loyalty that Grover has for Zorro is unmatched in many ways, so I just can’t [separate them],” she said.
“Every option has fallen through for these dogs and I just — I have to believe there has to be a home for them,” Fernandez continued. “It’s such a special story and they fought so much to be together, to be alive, I’m just praying that home is out there.”
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