Nothing makes Eagle County Animal Shelter manager Rhiannon Rowe happier than seeing a surrendered or abandoned pet find a new family. When Eagle County Animal Services officials received a tip about a male pitbull being dumped in an area where there were no homes, they were quick to respond and rescue the scared pup.
Estimated to be around 4 years old, the dog had cuts all over his head and was skinny with a dull coat. Rowe and her team cleaned him up and got him started on antibiotics and pain meds and, after a few days, he was feeling better and shifted from having a sad, weary demeanor to seeing his new world through bright and happy eyes.
“The biggest success stories are the ones where animals come in and they’re skinny, hurt, sick and we get them to trust us so we can heal them,” Rowe says. “Seeing their personality come out and finding them their forever home — that’s what we’re here for.”
The rehabilitated pitbull was recently adopted by a local gentleman and is on a promising path to a good life.
Photos courtesy of Eagle County Animal Shelter
Since the pet rescue adoption boom of 2020 and pandemic days when folks had lots of time at home, Rowe says, pet surrenders to the animal shelter — and sometimes pet abandons like the one they saw with the male pitbull — have increased substantially.
“I think there were so many animals that were adopted during the pandemic and now people are realizing they can’t handle it financially or landlords are changing rules and they can’t have a pet in their homes anymore,” she explains.