A man franticly walks through the door at Gulf Coast Humane Society . . .
On the morning of May 7, a man named Donald arrived at Gulf Coast Humane Society on his bicycle. He was frantic, out of breath, and had almost nothing to his name. But he had come to us for help —- and that took courage.
Donald is homeless. He lives in a tent about a mile from our shelter. And his dog, Bimpie, is his reason for getting up every morning.
Something had attacked Bimpie, or he was possibly struck by a vehicle. By the time Donald found his way to us, Bimpie had large open wounds, deep lacerations across several areas of his body, and what appeared to be a broken rear leg. Donald had no money. He had no way to get Bimpie the care he needed. What he had was love for his dog, and the hope that someone would say yes.
We said yes.
Our team loaded into two vans and, with Donald alongside us, went to where Bimpie was waiting. What we found broke our hearts. The injuries were serious. We brought Bimpie and his dad back to our clinic, and our medical team got to work immediately.
They cleaned and sutured his wounds. X-rays confirmed a fractured hind tibia, but it was a clean break that would heal with proper care. Bimpie was bandaged, wrapped in a cast, and settled in for what would become weeks of treatment and recovery.
The challenge was significant. Open wounds and a casted leg are hard to manage in any environment. Keeping those wounds clean and that cast dry while living outside in the Florida summer heat and rain would have been nearly impossible. Donald, without hesitation, agreed to let us keep Bimpie at the shelter until he was stable enough to come home.
So Bimpie stayed. And Donald came to see him. Almost every single day, Donald rode his bike to our shelter to sit with his dog. Our staff came to know them both.
Today, that separation ends.
This morning, we loaded Bimpie into one of our vans and returned him to his dad. Forty-seven days after Donald rode his bike to our door asking for help, Bimpie is home.
We are so proud of what our team did for this pair. We did not ask Donald for anything. We helped because it was the right thing to do, and because the bond between a person and their pet does not have conditions attached to it.
But the honest truth is that this care was not free to provide. It took our medical team’s time, our supplies, our clinic, and weeks of daily attention. We absorbed that cost because we believe every pet deserves a chance, regardless of what their person can or cannot afford.
Submitted by the Gulf Coast Humane Society.