Originally published 2019-07-08.
Among several illegally dumped home furnishings, there was a hopeful little heart trying so hard not to break.
It was a puppy that didn't realize that he had been discarded, too.
Animal control officer Sharon Norton was alerted to the heartbreaking scene along a quiet stretch of road in Lincoln County, Mississippi.
She drove to the spot straight away — finding the small pup clinging to life atop a chair, next to where a TV had been dumped as well.
The dog was starving, but had refused to budge, likely believing that the person who placed him there would surely return for him.
Sharon Norton
Norton approached the poor puppy and reassured him she was there to help. She gave him his first meal in days.
Despite the dog's long vigil, holding out hope for his owner who would never return, the presence of somebody that actually cared immediately put him at ease.
Norton has since vaccinated and dewormed the dog, and placed him in the safety of the Brookhaven Animal Rescue League in Mississippi.
Then, he will be made available for adoption.
Unfortunately, Norton said, this case of abandonment is not the worst she's seen — but, in spreading the word about it, she is optimistic that justice will be served.
The setting is powerful without an invented inner story
The chair and discarded television make the scene especially upsetting. They establish where the puppy was found, but they cannot tell us whether he expected a particular person to return or exactly how long he had waited. The officer's actions provide the firmer centre of the report: she responded, arranged care and brought the dog to a rescue organisation.
The next stage matters as much as discovery
Food and immediate attention begin a response; assessment and suitable ongoing care continue it. The historical adoption plan in the article is not a current availability notice. Keeping the rescue's role visible helps readers understand the work after the photograph, rather than making the animal's recovery depend on a dramatic caption about what he must have been thinking.
La-Z-Boy Gatson
The rescue took place in June 2019, on a remote road near Brookhaven, Mississippi, about 60 miles south of Jackson. Norton, an animal control officer and veterinary technician, estimated that the puppy, about four months old and possibly a hound and Doberman pinscher mix, had gone “a good four or five days without food.” “I felt sick to my stomach,” she said, and “he was so happy because he knew he was going to get food now.” She named him La-Z-Boy Gatson, after the recliner he was sitting on and the road where he was found. Vets and staff at the Brookhaven City Shelter helped him recover and gain weight, and several local families expressed interest in adopting him. The furniture company La-Z-Boy then donated money to the Brookhaven Animal Rescue League and planned to give it 50 pet beds. Norton used the attention to repeat her usual plea: “I constantly beg people to spay and neuter your pet.”
Sources: TODAY, updated 28 June 2019: Puppy illegally dumped with a chair and TV nearly starved before rescue
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