When a law enforcement officer asks for help from the shelter staff, it can be very serious.  Situations don’t get much more serious than Marley’s was.  Neighbors had been watching Marley suffer without food or water.  However, in Kentucky, animals are property, with few laws to protect them.  People, even kind ones, hesitate to get involved.  But one weekend someone finally couldn’t watch silently any longer.  That person called law enforcement.  The officer responding to that call found Marley, pictured above.

The officer asked for help from the shelter.  When two shelter staff members arrived, they saw a dog who was too weak to stand up.  Yet the dog’s huge eyes were friendly.  He even tried to wag his tail to greet them.  Even as he was close to death, Marley was being a good dog.

Marley’s owner signed the paperwork, relinquishing the “property” to the shelter.  Then the staff member lifted the dog, who didn’t weigh much, since bones covered with fur aren’t very heavy, and carried Marley to the truck.

No one was sure what Marley’s future would be — or could be.  There’s a point where starvation does too much damage for the creature to recover.  But, at the shelter, Marley managed to raise his head to eat and drink.  Marley ate, drank, and rested all weekend.

A few days later, the Friends of the Shelter became involved.  Most crucially, one member offered to take Marley home and try to save him.  What happened next, with lots of love, nursing, vet care, and even water therapy, for Marley is in the other parts of Marley’s story.

Click here to donate to the Grant County Friends of the Animal Shelter and support Marley’s recovery.