Meet Mama, a dog from South Carolina in the United States. The canine was given the name Mama by a foster group, because when she was pulled out of an animal shelter, she had only her young puppy by her side.
Initially, Mama was particularly timid. The dog was shy the moment she was picked up from the shelter in South Carolina. Mama was only diagnosed with heartworm, and no one guessed why she was behaving like that.
In March 2016, the foster group that kept Mama and her puppy reached out to New York’s North Shore Animal League America. The group wanted Mama and her pup to be transferred over to North Shore in the hopes of finding them a forever home. The pup found a new home in no time, while Mama still needed more time to up her social skills.
No one imagined why Mama was shy and timid until they discovered the heartbreaking secret she kept hidden inside her body. It was only later that they uncovered Mama’s secret during a routine checkup to learn about the severity of abuse the dog had endured in the past.
Her secret will make you cry your heart out.
While the vets examined her, they felt a couple of strange little lumps on her body. What were those mysterious lumps? An x-ray was then performed on Mama to dig up the truth.
Birdshot is a small pellet specifically designed for shooting birds. Some cold-hearted humans had cruelly covered Mama’s body with birdshot in the past. Apparently, she was shot while outside. Oh, poor dog! No wonder she’s so scared of the outdoors.
As the birdshot posed no health threat to Mama, the vets didn’t plan to remove the pellets. After the checkup, Mama remained in North Shore’s ward. Being given lots of tender loving care by the medical staff, the once-shy Mama began to open up.
“It just became clear right away that Mama is so wanting affection. Her personality really came to life there,” Szczudlo said. “She’s so friendly and sweet,” she added. “When she’s indoors, when she’s with people she loves, she’s very happy, very playful.”
However, Mama’s sad and painful past continued to haunt her. Scared to get shot with birdshot, the dog became terrified and skittish whenever she was left outdoors. “When she’s outside in a yard, she just wants to escape and go back indoors. She'll climb a fence to try and get out of a yard,” Szczudlo said.
It’s understandably difficult for Mama to let go of the haunting past that had seemingly hurt her a great deal. The only way to help Mama get over her past traumas was to find her a forever loving home by placing her in a foster-to-adopt process.
There’s no update about Mama on the Facebook page of North Shore Animal League America. We can only hope that Mama will move on with her life and is now living in a cheerful home. She truly deserves to be showered with lots of love and care!
