Individual Impact Of Individual Lives Saved
alfredo waited for over 4 years and has found the best home
Born in 2013, rescued in 2015, adopted in 2019
Breed: The inspirational warrior (hound mix)
Current Home: With Stacy and Shawn and their two beautiful kids and 2 rescued cats
My story: My owner abandoned me in a rubbish damp in a small village outside of Athens, Greece. There, I became a victim of a hit-and-run car accident. The driver who hit me never stopped to bring me to the vet but left me injured on the street. My rescuers believe that I must have lived in that state and in agonizing pain for many weeks and it is a miracle that I had even survived. Because of the car accident, I have a broken spine. My feet were completely wound from dragging them behind, I was full of ticks that drank my blood and I had become skin and bones. I am also missing half of an ear and nobody knows exactly what happened to me. But in July 2015 I was finally rescued and taken off that dirty garbage dump.
Then I was fostered in Greece in various foster homes, but nobody wanted to adopt me. With a broken spine I am in a wheel chair and I will never be able to walk again. But that doesn’t slow me down. My rescuers advertised me locally in Greece and even had me run with them a marathon which got a lot of press. I became famous overnight. But still, despite of all the publicity, I never managed to find a home because very few people in Greece adopt a handicapped dog.
I waited for over 4 years when Zero Stray Pawject heard about me and in close collaboration with my rescuers from G.A.F., Animal Welfare Galatsi in Greece, I flew over to NYC in early September 2019 and fostered by ZSP’s fosters to settle down before I would drive up to my new forever home. I was originally reserved for a family in Buffalo, upstate New York, a veterinary nurse and her family with a rescued dog and cats. But sadly despite of 6 months of prior vetting, 2 days before the actual adoption and 3 weeks after I arrived in NYC, the family started to have second thoughts and were not sure if they could make it work. So my adoption was cancelled and I was in limbo. ZSP’s fosters kindly agreed to foster me for a few more weeks until a home could be found, but since in addition to my wheel chair, I also suffer from a Mediterranean disease, that needs to be managed, it was not easy to find a suitable home for me. ZSP put everything aside and worked for 2 weeks straight with a huge internet campaign to find me with a home, all in close collaboration with G.A.F. I was shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook ad Instagram and had more than 8,000 likes. Everybody heard about me. Even the Orphan Pet published my story and video. Click here: and scroll down to watch my video.
After numerous messages from all over the world, Stacy, a wonderful woman who works with disabled children and has rescued many non-adoptable cats with all sorts of health issues contacted ZSP just days before I was supposed to move to my foster-to-potentially-to-adopt in Manhattan with another amazing woman called Maya. Stacy and her family and two beautiful children live just 20 minutes away from my first foster Angela in Atlantic City. When Stacy, Shawn and their kids met me at Angela’s place, they fell in love with me. I liked them a lot and even played with the ball with Clayton, their son, which I never felt like doing. Many many conversations later, I moved to Stacy and her family on Saturday, September 19th and I am loved unconditionally. I sleep next to Stacy, run with my children around on my 2 acres of land, which is right in the forest. Everybody at the school bus stop lines up to meet me. I am incredibly popular in my area. Many funny stories to tell from my first week, but the funniest story by far is a pee ‘accident’: Stacy thought she had me covered up with a diaper and then all of a sudden there's a fire hose squirting across the room? I can’t control it, but the public wasn’t ready for that!! The kids started laughing hysterically and running towards me squirting like they were going to run through a sprinkler. Meanwhile, Stacy was shouting to the kids, "Get away!" 🤣🤣🤣 -
My new family has a great sense of humor and with that sense of humor, nothing can go wrong!! I now live with an incredibly humble family who are a role model helping those in need. In my first weeks, I will be settling. I love to be covered with a blanket and snuggle in bed. Stacy is hoping to bring me along in the future with disabled kids. Everybody thinks that I will continue to be a role model as I have always been. I am told that I inspired so many humans. I love to the only dog as the king of the castle. He already went to hockey games with the kids and wherever I go, I am told that I melt hearts.
A HUGE thank you to G.A.F. who fostered me for 4 years, to Zero Stray Pawject who worked miracles and managed to find me with the best home ever when nobody wanted to adopt met, to Angela for accepting to foster me for much longer than anticipated (Angela adopted Ursa, read more about her story) and to Stacy and Shawn for opening their heart for me. Thank you! There is still kindness in this world.
If you want to follow my adventures, follow Zero Stray Pawject’s Facebook page, they will publish updates about me.