There are innumerable stray dogs around the world. Many cities, around the world have programs in which these dogs are caught and transported into rescue centers, where they are kept for a finite period of time for adoption. After that time passes, the dogs that don’t get adopted are killed and disposed off. This happens will all stray animals like cats, raccoons and bovines.
However, some non government rescue centers sees the humane side and arranges for adoption of these animals and does not kill them, if they are not adopted in a certain time period and one Greek dog rescue center shared this heartwarming story about Petra- a dog that almost turned into stone.
This poor dog was abandoned by her owners on the streets of Oropus in Greek city of East Attica. This stray dog was malnourished and was suffering from a skin condition that was slowly turning it into a stone. A dog rescue center was contacted by the locals, who saw the dog for what it was and named her Petra – Greek for stone.
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Manager of rescue shelter, Irinia says,” We were informed of a dog in a bad state near the shelter. After looking for three days, we finally saw her walking by the side of the street. She was very scared of people, and we had to sedate her in order to catch her.” The dog had stopped trusting humans after being abandoned and her spirit was broken.
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Irinia knew that it would take a lot of work, love and care for Petra to trust humans again and for her to get back to full health. She was given medical baths and medicine to improve her skin condition and she was regularly fed good quality food. She recovered from her physical scars in 4 months, but the mental scars remained and Irinia knew what she needed to do.
Petra was introduced to humans again and it was a volunteer named Valia, who connected with Petra. She took her out on walks and introduced her to other humans. In less than two months, Petra was completely transformed and became a loving and mischievous dog again.
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Petra regained her thick black fur again and is now waiting for her forever home. Irinia says,” Unfortunately, Petra is not the only dog found in such a condition - in Greece we are very used to seeing dogs in a similar condition, and we deal with them on a daily basis.”
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Irinia’s Save a Greek Stray foundation heavily relies on donation from people, as it costs 1,200 Euros to rescue and look after one pup. They do not charge any adoption fees, but asks the adopting family to arrange for transport for the dog.