Shelter Dog Finds New Family After Photo Captures Hearts Worldwide

When Gabby Stroup, the manager of the North Fork Animal Welfare League, posted a photo of a dog looking for a new home to the league’s Facebook page last week, no one could have predicted what happened next.

The photo shows Chester, an 8-year-old pit bull mix, with a cardboard sign that reads: “Why doesn’t anybody want me? I’ve been waiting 5 years. Everyone at the shelter tells me what a good boy I am. So why has no one adopted me? I promised to be good and love my new family. Please maybe you are my new family...I sit and wait for you to come.”

The heartbreaking photo was quickly shared thousands of times on social media, leading to hundreds of calls, emails and Facebook messages to the NFAWL from people all over the world looking to adopt Chester.

Chester went home to his new family, the Dors of Lake Ronkonkoma, on Saturday.

“It went crazy,” Stroup said of the response. “I wish there was some formula so we can help the other dogs get adopted.”

Chester was ”inherited” by the NFAWL’s Southold shelter a few months ago after living in the Riverhead location for several years, according to Executive Director Gillian Pultz. Chester has had several health problems, including surgery to both of his knees, but members could not figure out why he was not getting adopted.

“He’s a big goofball,” Pultz said. “He’s a silly boy.”

So NFAWL members decided it was time to do a little more to help Chester find a loving home.

The NFAWL normally posts pictures of their dogs on the shelter’s own Facebook page, but last week Stroup decided to launch a Facebook page specifically for the pit bull -- “Chester: Waiting Five Years.”

The photo and page caught the attention of Dana Dor, her husband Adi, and their two children, Aidan and Brandon.

“We saw him and we felt connected. It was meant to be, ” Adi Dor said of Chester, according to a SoutholdLocal.com report.

Now that Chester has been adopted, the Facebook page dedicated to him is posting photos of other dogs at the NFWAL to help try to get them adopted as well.

“Chester’s not unique; there are a lot more dogs just like Chester at local shelters,” Pultz said. “There are so many dogs that need homes and I encourage everyone to visit their local shelters.”

Photo: Chester: Waiting Five Years Facebook page