Hope's Recovery Brings Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Staff 'Joy and Happiness'

(Editor's Note: For those of you who haven't been following the story of Hope, you've missed a lot. About 10 days ago someone driving by saw a dog struggling to walk in Branford. She took the dog to the Dan Csogrove Animal Shelter and staff called it one of the worst cases of animal cruelty they had ever seen. Staff said the dog was starved and was a day or two away from death. Over the past two weeks, shelter staff have cared for the dog around the clock and named it Hope. Over the past two weeks, Hope has begun to make some progress in her recovery and the news continues to get better.)

Shared and written by the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter

Hi Everyone,

Here is the Hope Update today! (She is lounging on a couch in this photo. Hope is doing really well today! She is eating and drinking and walking and wagging her tail. She is enjoying all of the attention that she is getting and loving having people around.

Each day we are feeling more confident that Hope is going to continue to gain weight and improve. We are so proud of her willingness to continue to fight through setbacks and look forward to the next day! She has handled all of this with grace and appreciation and we are so thankful to be able to watch her thrive!
We will post another update on Thursday about Hope's condition. For now she continues to get Tender Loving Care and round the clock medical care.

As a side note : Hope's story has touched so many lives and each person we encounter has been affected in their own unique way. As an AnimalControl Department we see a lot of people do things to animals that turn our stomachs upside down and we go home at night in tears for those animals. Some cases never leave us and sometimes the heart break never leaves either. And we know it’s not just us- there are so many wonderful Animal Control Officers who go through this too. But Hope has been different for all of us.

When we encountered Hope it was heartbreak and anger. Watching Hope progress has brought us Happiness and Joy. And with all of the calls, emails, letters, people stopping by the shelter with donations and gifts on behalf of Hope- this has brought us a renewed faith in not only the work we do, but for all the good people that are out there. We talk about all of you who have reached out( including so many incredible Animal Control Officers in CT) in some way every day - how heartwarming it is to know all of you care so much and check in to know that she is progressing. To sign up for Branford breaking news alerts and more, click here.

All of you have brought us a belief that good people really do outweigh all of the heart break that we see. Thank you for uplifting us and for helping us to see the positive in a sad situation.

Photo credit: Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Staff