CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It all began on social media.
A woman shared this picture of an abnormally thin, stray dog making his way towards Petronila all alone.
"So she posted it and people just started looking for him," Connie Bowen of FurEver United Rescue said. "We had no idea where he was on (County Road) 28."
Bowen said they did everything they could to save this dog's life.
"One girl actually drove the entire street of 28," she said. "Which is very long and broken into sections until she found the exact spot where the picture had been taken."
This all started on Friday. Bowen said people searched 24 hours a day. They spared no expense.
"We had a helicopter set up to go this morning," she said. "In fact, we were meeting there at the coordinates so the people on the ground who were volunteering to help would know the area."
Bowen said during the search on Monday evening, her own rescue dog started pulling her in one direction and would not give up.
"She was pulling me, pulling me and pulling me," Bowen said. "She stopped and looked and I'm taking her back and all of a sudden I looked up and he was standing there."
She said the dog got startled and ran away from her. She said the sun went down Monday evening, but they continued their search.
She said the dog was skin and bones. It was at 1 a.m. this morning that they caught the dog using a trap with chicken.
He is being treated at Animal Medical Corpus Christi. Danielle Wallek, a veterinarian at Animal Medical, said he looks like he can make a full recovery.
"Currently he is pretty dehydrated, a little pale, mucus membranes and severely underweight -- but he is in good spirits," Wallek said.
The dog, who is now named Sawyer, has tested positive for heartworm disease and Wallek believe he could have pneumonia.
"I think if we give him a couple days worth of fluids and start re-feeding him we should see a significant improvement," Wallek said.
Bowen said it's such a sad situation that is all too common here in Texas, because of the large stray population.
"Texas is the number one kill state," Bowen said. "No other state kills as many dogs as they do. I believe the numbers were at 126,000 dogs that we killed last year in Texas."
Bowen said because of Texas having a large stray population and kill-rate, Sawyer the dog will be fostered and then driven to a new home in the Pacific Northwest.
Bowen said in addition to any donations to help Sawyer and other dogs, they also need people to foster dogs until they can be adopted.
FurEver United Rescue: 3118 White Bird Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas 78415
To donate log on to their page at https://www.fureverunitedrescue.com/
Animal Medical Corpus Christi: (361) 993-6752
