She’s got a whole new leash on life.
A Pennsylvania pup, named Minerva, who was abandoned at the local SPCA shelter and left only with a heart-wrenching note has finally found her forever home.
“We just love Minerva and are so glad she’s getting the attention she deserves,” Gillian Kocher, director of public relations and marketing at the Pennsylvania SPCA, told People.
Between closing time on May 7 and the dawn of May 8, Minerva had been dropped off at the shelter’s headquarters and tied to a pole with only a note reading, “Good Puppy. House Broken. Don’t Have A Name.”
“Our hearts broke for her. She was so terrified. But she was safe with us now,” a May 10 Facebook post penned by staff members read, adding that Minerva had likely been abandoned by “the only family she has known.”
“When our staff found her, she appeared healthy but had discharge from her eyes that made her look as if she had been crying.”
Kocher described Minerva as “nervous” and “withdrawn” due to her “tucked tail,” recalling how the pup refused to walk and needed to be carried when leaving her kennel.
“Though shy, she would wag her tail and approach slowly, looking for love,” Kocher said.
Alongside a photo of Minerva on Facebook, the SPCA team implored the local community to donate, foster volunteer and adopt animals in need of forever homes, as “this is not a unique situation.”
“We are seeing the frequency of dogs abandoned on our property rise. We are witnessing owner surrenders increasing,” they wrote.
“It may go without saying that adoptions have slowed down significantly.”
Kocher told the Washington Post that animal surrenders now occur once or twice every week — as opposed to the once or twice a month that was status quo just years ago — a heartbreaking phenomenon that is not isolated to the Keystone State, despite the outpouring of support from Facebook commenters.
In New York City, local animal shelters were brimming with new intakes last summer as pet surrenders hit a high. Dogs were turned over to organizations such as Animal Care Centers (ACC) at higher rates, and staying in the shelter much longer than every before, with prior owners citing financial woes and pandemic-related problems as reasons for the surrender.
“If you have to worry about putting food on the table or keeping a pet, when push comes to shove, the pet is probably going to go,” explained Kocher, noting that Minerva’s previous family likely did care for her, as there were no signs of neglect or abuse.
For some households, bringing their pooch to the shelter, a “safe haven” for them, is the best and only option, Kocher added.
“People can get really upset about animals being abandoned, and I certainly can understand that, but we sort of take on the viewpoint that they are getting these animals to the right place,” she said, adding that there are “loving, deserving animals in shelters” who are still waiting on the day to find their future families.
She continued, “There’s nothing that loves you more than a shelter pet who you rescued.”
That was certainly the case for Minerva — named by the shelter’s intake coordinator Matt Zankowski after “the Roman goddess of wisdom” — who found her forever home on May 10.
“It was love at first sight,” Minerva’s adopter Aaliyah Grose told The Washington Post. “She reminded me of my family dog.”
Now, Minerva is getting along with her new family — including her canine siblings Ghost, 2, and Siona, 3.
“We’ve only had her for two days but she is already showing signs of love and strength,” Grose said. “She is very happy and very playful.”
