Karthik's Blog: A Doll face, Tank full of Love, finding destiny in Zorro

We all have read lot of blogs & watched videos of heart warming stories of animal rescue, especially dogs that were transformed from being found on the streets in very bad condition to healthy and happy ones and adopted to loving families. Most of these stories we read are that happen in a foreign country like US, UK etc.

We, Indians, especially dog lovers, animal welfare people do lots & lots of rescues and such transformations happen. But, we don't document them other than posting in Facebook. May be due to lack of time or some other reason. The more we do, more the awareness we create.

I am trying to document an amazing rescue story of a dog who had a very troublesome past and now happily adopted to a loving family that I know.

First week of January 2014, a member of The Chennai Adoption Drive (CAD, a team which works on the re-homing/adoption of homeless dogs & cats, run by Dogs own angel Jennifer & her husband Murali Anand) got a call from her friend about this dog, a Lhasa Apso, who has been loitering on the roads of Medavakkam Tank road of Kilpauk for few days. They somehow managed to catch hold of him who had lots of maggot wounds (a wound that occurs due to worms entering in to the body, piercing through the skin). The picture below shows how bad he was that time.

He was very timid and didn't allow people to pet him, because he was scared & haven't been shown any love for many days. He was taken to the vet and treated for his wounds.

Being treated for maggot wound at the vet

His matted hair was cut to enable treatment of the wound. He co-operated well in spite of having a light temperature. Blood samples were taken and he was boarded at a place temporarily. And he was renamed from Doll face to Tank as he was found near Medavakkam Tank Road :)

Tank's blood results came through and he was very anemic. He has to go through a high dosage of antibiotics & protein diet. Still, he was on high spirits because of all the love that was offered to him and responded well to the medication. His wound was also healing nicely.

Very anemic Tank

Wound healing up nicely

The next week saw a gradual improvement in Tank's health & the wound was all closing. But his love was remarkable. He was all a happy child & his matted hair started to come back gradually.

A very happy & smiling Tank with Jennifer
(February 2014)

March 2014, a family came forward and adopted this baby boy. The CAD team were all in joy as they finally found a loving home. Well, that is what they were hoping. But things didn't go the same way. Though the lady was taking good care of Tank, they were careless at a moment and let him out of their home. And this boy was lost again. This came as a shock to CAD team as they had spent loads of effort in getting him to good health & finding a home.

A lot of efforts were taken again to find him, posters made, advertisements given in newspapers and a team of people spent hours on the streets in searching for him.

A reward poster was circulated all over

After about 3 weeks and lots of effort, it paid off. Team CAD received a call from a person mentioning that she saw a similar dog roaming around Theosophical society in Adyar area on her walk in the morning. When the team went on to check on the lead, they found him there. These were exactly the words Jennifer has to say on finding him

"So off we went to follow up on our lead, begged the security guard to let us in (it was after visiting hours), trying to convince people to help us, when our man slowly peeks from in between the overgrowth. Murali Anand & Deepika ran behind him calling out his name. In all his shock & fright, he ran in the opposite direction So we ran behind him & he came running to us on hearing my voice! (Yes, VERY happy about the fact )

He was infested with ticks, had a stye in his left eye, lots of matts again in his hair, as well as lots of prickly little plants stuck in him. He was very quiet & in shock initially. Didn't want to get off my lap. The Vet checked him for bites or any wounds & luckily found none. He got a nice bath once we got home. Had a good meal & pretty much slept through the day. He is much better now, back to his old naughty self & this time, will remain in foster care awhile until we are ABSOLUTELY SURE about the right home for him"

Tank finding comfort on Jennifer's hands after he was found

The story doesn't end here, infact the happiest phase starts here. All these story of Tank rescued & healing was followed by lot of animal lovers around and one among them is a family who are ardent dog lovers. That is actor Trisha Krishnan and her mom Uma Krishnan.

Trisha is well known for her amazing work in promoting adoption of home less animals for many years. In fact, she herself had an rescued & adopted Indian dog "Cadbury" whom she found during a shoot 10 years back. Sadly, the family lost Cadbury few months back to illness. They were in terrible loss after Cadbury's death. And they were looking for a right moment to have another dog though his loss was irreplaceable.

They have been following the story of Tank over the period of time. They badly wanted to adopt him, but still haven't come out from the loss of Cadbury. But, the moment they got to know that Tank was found again, all that they wanted was to take him in without any second thoughts. The best part is, they could have easily went and got a beautiful looking, cute pup of any costliest breed. But still they decided to give this little bundle of love Tank, a chance after all that he had gone thorough in the past few months. They decided not to open their wallet, but their hearts & home for him :D

Now, that is what you call destiny for this baby boy with loads of love, getting in to one of the best ever homes he can get with a loving family. Tank now re-named "Zorro" is basking his life along with his canine sister Zoya and this beautiful family of Trisha with her mom & grand mom.

A fairy-tale ending indeed!!

Trisha with Zoya (L) and Zorro (R)

Zorro getting his first kiss from his mom

Zorro celebrating his 1st bday with Trisha, her mom Uma and his sister Zoya

This story was presented to tell the readers how much effort is taken to bring each and every animal in need to good health. Please make sure not to ill treat or abandon an animal of yours. Come forward to speak for any such cruelty happening around you. Spread the awareness about adoption of home less animals instead of spending thousands of money to buy them from a breeder.

To know about many such beautiful stories of love and to adopt one for your home please visit The Chennai Adoption Drive's Facebook page.

Pics Credit: The Chennai Adoption Drive

Update:

Zorro is living a prince life at his home and celebrated his second birthday couple of days back!!