Inspiring Animal Rescue
by John Pellegrino
photo by John Mottern - Pilot arriving with Nova at Worcester Regional Airport
It started with a posting of a shelter shot of a greyhound on Facebook. She was just another dog in bad shape with very little hope of getting to safety.
But the stars aligned for the dog now known as Nova. A rescuer saw the plea from the volunteers for the Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter in Huntington, WV. A photo was forwarded to Louise Coleman, founder of Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton, MA. It just so happened that Louise was at her computer, and she quickly replied “Go ahead and get her out.” A foster was found, and a volunteer went to the shelter to get her.
Nova was in an outdoor kennel on an extremely hot day, and was virtually cooking in the sun. Once released, she was rushed to the vet, where her condition was found to be even worse than imagined. If help did not arrive there when it did, the vet said she likely would have died within hours.
Nova was pulled out of the shelter on June 27th. She and other animals had been seized from their owners due to serious neglect. Other animals were found dead in the home. When volunteers first pulled Nova, she weighed 32 lbs., half of what she should have been. She also had low albumin, which caused the fluid to leak out of her vascular system into surrounding tissue, and several draining abscesses on her legs. Nova’s temperature also climbed to 106.6, which is nearly fatal. While she was suffering from the life-threatening fever, that area of West Virginia was hit by a violent storm that knocked out all power. Foster Heather Carver and other volunteers took turns holding the dog in a car with the air running, and packing her with ice.
photo by John Mottern - Kathy Mahoney with Nova upon her arrival on Sept. 13th at Worcester Regional Airport
After a rocky road to recovery, Nova was flown to her rescue on Sept. 13th. Nova was flown to Worcester Regional Airport thanks to a wonderful organization called Pilots & Paws (and a generous pilot, Scott Messinger) and was transported to Greyhound Friends, in Hopkinton, MA. The flight was more than 1200 miles round trip and cost nearly $1,200.00.
After a two-day stay at Greyhound Friends, Nova settled into her new home with Kathy and Bob Mahoney of Wellesley, MA, ensuring a happy ending to her long journey from sickness to happiness and health.
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