You may notice that Murray doesn’t look like other dogs. He is wonderfully unique. And it was his looks, in part, that made his family fall head over heels in love with him.

Murray’s story now has a happily ever after, but for a good, long while, things didn’t look so rosy.

Murray was born in Puerto Rico, where he contracted distemper and was abandoned on Dead Dog Beach — a beach on the southeastern coast of the island where hundreds of animals are left for dead every year.

Distemper is a horrible virus, that often kills the animals that contract it, destroying the nervous and respiratory systems. But Murray survived. The bout left him toothless (as such, he is unable to keep his tongue in his mouth) and with a disfigured head, neither of which do a thing to detract from his sweet, loving nature and zeal for life.

Murray was eventually found and rescued by The Sato Project, which brought him to the United States to be adopted.

But he very nearly wasn’t.

In fact, a vet had Murray slated to be euthanized due to his condition, but then had a change of heart when Murray began wagging his tail before the lethal injection could take place. Again, Murray beat the odds. And that’s when he met the Gallant family, whose love for him was sharp and instantaneous.

“The signature tongue out is just the cutest thing, and his crooked features, if you look at his face closely you notice his ears aren’t aligned right on his head. His quirks make him even cuter and more special,” Mackenzie Gallant told Barcroft Media.

Murray began life with the Massachusetts family as a foster, but they decided they couldn’t give him up and eventually created an Instagram account that’s been helping raise awareness for rescue dogs and The Sato Project in general.

“We made his Instagram when I left for college for friends and family to follow but over the past year he has gained a lot of followers and helped raise awareness of rescue dogs, The Sato Project and distemper,” Gallant said.

To learn more about The Sato Project, visit their website.

If cute dog videos are the pinnacle of adorable on the internet, what happens when you add a baby lion to the equation?

Viral infinity!

Back in 2014, a male lion cub was born at a zoo in Sri Lanka, but sadly, the cub’s mother rejected him. Zookeepers were concerned, of course. They wanted to ensure the baby lion grew strong and felt love while doing so, and since a dog’s love is, arguably, the best love, they decided to try and incorporate him into a newborn family of pups..

At first, his potential new mom was not interested, but, said the dog’s owner, Heshan Mendis, it only took a short time for her maternal instincts to warm her over.

“After five, six hours, the dog changed, and she treated the lion cub as her own pup,” he said. “She licked him and she loves the lion cub more than her pups.”

In the above video, shared by BBC News, Mendis’ sweet dog tenderly nurses the baby lion along with her own biological brood of pups. She did so for three weeks, and the cub was welcomed into the fold by the puppies, too. They all played together like a natural litter and the little lion was a welcome playmate.

Naturally, as the lion grew, he needed to find a more suitable home. He was first relocated to a zoo, and then a sanctuary and today is a beautiful, full grown lion, no longer the tiny furball that Mendis welcomed into his home for a time. The lion, however, never forgot him – and Mendis still visits, and enjoys petting his old friend.

Animal experts say that there are a multitude of reasons why a lioness might reject or abandon a cub. One could be that she doesn’t have enough milk or may favor a stronger cub over another. In rare instances, lions may reject a cub that has been overly handled by humans.

For this once-little lion’s sake, it’s good that a dog mom’s love is so vast, she can share it with other babies, too.

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Jennifer Vaz was walking her own dog, Molly, near a New Jersey beach, when she heard whimpering. Below her, near the rocks and partially submerged by the incoming tide, was a cage with a 10-month-old pit bull inside.

“When I looked down, I saw these eyes looking back at me — these cute little puppy eyes all shivered up and scared,” Vaz told WABC on Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe that this happened in our town and somebody could be this malicious and do that to that dog.”

She immediately hopped the barrier to rescue him, calling authorities once she was home safe with the dog. Now the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.

“The tide was coming in and the water had reached the cage,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. “When animal control arrived on the scene the cage was almost covered by the rising tide. If not for the heroic rescue act of the good Samaritan, the dog could have potentially drowned.”

Vaz gave him the name “River” before she turned him in to authorities. She plans to adopt him.

Jennifer Vaz, right, saved River. Now she plans to adopt him.

Prosecutors believe the dog may have been left there between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. and says he is now in good health.

“Although River is a bit shaken up, he is in good physical shape and seems to have been well cared for,” the SPCA said. “We are working with the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to help bring justice to River.”

The center posted images on its Facebook page this week, showing him snuggled up with a uniformed police officer while sporting his new tags and collar.

It urged anyone with information about the dog or its owner to contact the Monmouth County Cruelty Hotline or the Highlands Police Department.

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Courtney is a lovely, young woman whose many chronic illnesses keep her at home. Awhile back, she decided that fostering animals would be a wonderful way to give back — and have great company! She’s fostered hundreds of pets before they found loving homes. Then she met a sickly, young pit bull who struck a chord. Now she’s found a permanent companion via foster failure! ?

A beautiful story from the Dodo’s “Soulmates” series.

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Glenn Blake’s security camera captured something we all know happens too much — but it’s still achingly hard to watch.

Yesterday, an SUV pulled up near Blake’s home, east of Springfield, MO, let a dog out and then sped off. You can see the dog give chase after the vehicle leaves the frame.

Blake later posted the video on Facebook with the following statement:

Person dumping dog in our neighborhood this morning 10 July at 10:13. Please share. I had no idea this video whould (sic) spread so fast and so far. Here is more information all in one place. This is at Farm Road 148 and Farm Road 205. Three miles east of Springfield, MO just off of Hwy D. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office was notified. Deputy Turner was able to locate the dog. At this point the poor dog was getting dehydrated and weak. The Deputy was extremely concerned and caring and provided the dog with water and comfort. The temperature reached 96 degrees today. GCSO called Rescue One https://rescueonespringfield.com/ and they promptly arrived to care for it.

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As stated above, Blake got in touch with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, which dispatched a deputy in response.

“Really, all the credit should go to Deputy Turner,” Blake told the Springfield News-Leader. “He went out of this way to find the dog, get a hold of it, get it cooled off and get it water. And the adoption agency (worker). Kudos to both of those people.”

He told reporters the deputy spent at least a half-hour tracking the dog and checking with neighbors to see if they’d seen her.

Once found, she was handed off to Rescue One, a Springfield-based dog rescue with a vast network of fosters. An emergency volunteer from the organization met the deputy at the scene. A rep for Rescue One confirmed the dog is now safe in foster care, though she was badly dehydrated and had suffered some burns to her paws from the hot pavement.

Knowingly abandoning an animal without making arrangements for its care is illegal in Missouri. The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate.

“Somebody knows this person, with all the views the video’s gotten,” Blake said. “I’ve got a feeling that at this point, this person knows she’s been caught.”

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Hopelily was advertised on Craigslist as a “mini-bulldog” whose owners wanted $800 for her.
In reality, the “3-month-old” was about 4 weeks and terribly undernourished.
But then, she was rescued by Road Dogs.
And now, her life is charmed.

You can follow her (and her sister, Sunday) on Instagram!

Great story from The Dodo!

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Louis came into rescue neglected, in need of love and affection.
Louis’ foster mom’s father had just the right touch, and it turned out he needed Louis as much as the little pup needed him.
Watch this beautiful story from the Dodo’s Soulmates.

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He went to the shelter and found a wonderful dog.
But then he found another…and couldn’t just leave him there.
Check out this beautiful foster dad’s story from the Dodo.

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The above video (we couldn’t get through half a minute of it without crying) was posted by Sacramento’s Front Street Animal Shelter last week.

Robert, who adopted his pit bull, Meaty, from the Front Street a few months back, but now — having been evicted from his home — has been having trouble caring for the dog while trying to find a place for his family to live.

“My name is Robert, I’m 47 years old, I have a family, a career, a master’s degree, a pet – and I’m homeless,” he says earnestly….

Few shelters allow pets, and so Robert has been sleeping in his car with Meaty.

“…because he didn’t want Meaty to be cold and alone,” Front Street wrote in a Facebook post.

Robert came to the shelter to try to find a foster for Meaty until the family found suitable housing, but in the process of making the video, shelter manager Gina Knepp, the Sacramento Bee reported, was moved to action, paying for three nights at a dog-friendly hotel to keep them all together.

Later that week: even better news.

Thanks to the community’s heartfelt reaction to the story, a rental home was found for the whole family!

It is just one story in a sea of sad ones. Housing costs in the area are rising faster than many can keep up.

“I have lots of questions on how we can solve this problem, but I think primarily No. 1 for me right now is reaching out to our community, people that live in Sacramento, to agree to open up their homes for a pet – whether it’s a week, a month or three months – while their human being transitions into permanent housing and gets back on their feet again,” Knepp told the Sacramento Bee.”

Do you live in the Sacramento area? To foster an animal at Front Street, click here!

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Emma was at the end of the line. On deck for euthanization at the Charlotte Animal Shelter in North Carolina, it seemed her fate had been sealed.

And then a rescuing angel named Nicholas stepped in to save her … but Nicholas’ big-hearted act of kindness was even bigger than he thought! He had no idea that Emma was pregnant at the time of her rescue.

Nicholas’ friend had seen the dog and knowing her plight, and that Nicholas had fostered dogs in need before, put him in touch with Jesse’s Place Rescue, Inc. in Lake Wylie, SC. Predictably, Nicholas was up to help out and jumped in to coordinate Emma’s rescue.

“I’m interested in fostering and possibly adopting this sweet girl…I’m very patient, calm, gentle, and have plenty of time to work with her. My last rescued boy died in 2016 from cancer,” he wrote to the organization, FOX13 reported.

The rescue was able to pull Emma from death row and she went home with Nicholas — except no one at the shelter had mentioned that Emma was very, very pregnant!

Luckily, Nicholas had some experience with birthing farm animals and opted to deliver Emma’s pups at home. When the time came, Emma gave birth to six puppies — two females and four males — without any difficulty.

All the babies, and momma, are doing well and Nicholas has their care all under control!