A young boy left his pit bull puppy outside an animal shelter alongside a handwritten letter explaining he had to do so to protect it from his abusive father.
The 12-year-old boy, called Andres, from Mexico, left his pet dog with his favourite teddy bear in a box outside the Xollin animal shelter in Michoacan, with the rescue group sharing the heartbreaking story on social media.
According to the animal shelter, the box was found by volunteers at the centre’s front door. The volunteers then discovered the adorable puppy and the letter inside, which urged the shelter to ‘help and take care of him’.
Posting Andres’ story to their Facebook page, Xollin shelter said the puppy required immediate medical attention because his tail ‘seem[ed] to be fractured’.
Andres referenced this injury in his letter, writing:
My name is Andres and I am 12 years old. My mum and I have decided to leave the dog in your hands without my father knowing about it because he wanted to sell it.
He beat and kicked it. He kicked it so hard once that he hurt its tail. I hope you can help it and look after it. I left a teddy bear with it so the pooch can remember me.
As soon as the shelter shared the puppy’s story online, it received more than 300 requests – from all over the country – to adopt the dog, which they have decided to name Rene.
However, volunteers from shelter noted people only seem interested in adopting Rene, and not the other animals they currently have in their shelter also in need of a family.
As another Facebook post read (translated to English):
We currently have 120 more animals waiting for families… If everyone opened their heart and their home like this puppy, they would have adopted ALL our puppies from the shelter X2.
Thanks to those few people who have come to ask how they can join and help us, to protect more animals that suffer abuse or neglect in our municipality and surroundings.
Shelter staff are currently looking for a forever home for Rene, away from his previous, abusive environment. Hopefully he will find a family who will love him as much as 12-year-old Andres clearly did.
Fingers crossed each of the other animals in need receive the same loving attention as Rene, and will soon find their forever home too.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).