It takes a special person to foster abused, neglected pets and nourish their bodies, minds and souls. A painstaking amount of patience, tender loving care and retraining must be lavished upon a broken-hearted pet who didn’t deserve to be in the predicament they’re in.
One such special person, Rico Soegiarto, could not believe what he saw while walking home from work in Denpasar, Bali. He spied a straggly stray dog near death, cowering in the street.
There was no way he could just leave her there to perish.
The pup was so emaciated and covered in fleas that her ribs and bones gouged out in all directions. She’d lost most of her fur to mange and other skin troubles. In fact, he couldn’t even tell what breed of a dog she was.
Rico gingerly picked her up and took her home, bound and determined to nurse this poor baby girl back to health.
According to the SPCA, approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year and 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized every single year. Dog trainer extraordinaire Cesar Millan shared in a blog that there are 600 million stray animals who live on the streets around the world.
“I think many people look at stray animals and see them as a nuisance. But these are actual living feeling beings that lead incredibly brutal and painful lives. And it’s largely because of things that we humans have done.”
This fragile little girl wasn’t the first pooch Rico had stumbled upon that called out to him.
He already had four beautiful dogs at home that he rescued and rehabilitated. He could see in this little girl’s eyes that she hadn’t completely given up on life just yet.
Because of her piercing blue eyes, he suspected the dog was a husky mix of some sort, but he really couldn’t tell because she was so sick. On their way to his home, Rico decided to christen the dog Hope, because she possessed a ton of it in order to be hanging on the way she was.
Hope was slowly introduced to quality dog food to help her healthfully pack on the pounds and she quickly blended in with her brand new four-legged siblings. It took a bit for her to be able to move without much pain and eventually, she put on more muscle.
After some time, Hope began resembling a dog, a beautiful husky with a radiant thick coat and gorgeous eyes.
Ten months of dedication and love was what it took to turn Hope’s life around.
No longer a shell of an animal, Hope is an important part of Rico’s family. She never gave up and knew intrinsically that Rico was her saving grace, her life preserver.
Rico easily could’ve walked right past the emaciated dog, but he didn’t. Something drew him to her and we’re glad it did! She’s such a beautiful girl inside and out. Thank goodness for people like Rico who are helping make this world a better place.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
