Last month, Valerie Hicks was driving down a road in Mississippi when she noticed an open crate on the side of the pavement with a fuzzy figure huddled inside. Hicks quickly turned her car around.
Hicks happened to be on her way to Community Animal Rescue & Adoption (CARA), a nonprofit animal shelter and rescue group where she serves as board president. The dog lover hopped out of her car to investigate, assuming she’d take the abandoned pup with her. But when Hicks got to the crate, she realized the situation was more dire than she thought. The larger dog in the crate was surrounded by tiny puppies — her babies.
“I was shocked,” Hicks told The Dodo. “Who does that to a brand-new little family?”
Hicks called for backup and waited for a rescue partner, Christina, to arrive. Meanwhile, she assured the mother dog that everything would be OK.
“Mom was very nervous, maybe the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen,” Hicks said. “But at the same time, she seemed very grateful.”
Back at the shelter, the anxious mama began to relax. She finally had a safe place to tend to her seven babies. CARA staff members connected with their foster network, asking for help. One foster family quickly agreed to take the pups once they were ready.
The rescuers watched in awe as the family continued to grow and thrive.
“This girl is one of the best moms ever,” CARA wrote in a Facebook post. “The puppies are pretty robust and seem healthy, and they nurse almost constantly. When not nursing, they are in complete milk comas!”
Today, the dogs remain with their foster family, preparing to connect with permanent homes soon.
“They are now 5 weeks old,” Hicks said. “The entire family will travel to one of our much-loved, foster-based northern partners when vetted and ready to travel, and our partner will place them into great northern homes.”