In March of 2020, Baltimore City Animal Control responded to a call from the city’s trash incinerator facility. A dog had been found on the main dumping floor after a long fall out of a 30-foot roll-off dumpster. Donut, as he has been named, wasn’t initially noticed among the huge piles of trash. It was only when the front-end loader operator saw the dog move that he stopped his machine to rescue him. The operator found that Donut was alive but unable to get up. He quickly pulled Donut out and to safety. It was a very fortunate circumstance for Donut that he was visible on top of the debris at that moment.

When Animal Control arrived, Donut was safely away from the dumping floor, resting on towels, covered in trash and other substances. His body had multiple cuts and puncture wounds, and he was suffering from severe injuries to his front legs.

Donut was rushed to BARCS where our veterinarian team examined him. It was clear that Donut not only went through the terrifying events of the morning and whatever led up to him being in that dumpster but that he had also been lacking care for quite some time.

While Donut physically looked like he was too far gone, he showed us that he still had hope by wagging his tail and trying to move his face close to ours for comfort. Everyone who helped him that morning keeps talking about how all Donut wants to do is give kisses. Donut was only at our shelter briefly before being rushed to a partnering Franky Fund clinic ER, due to his grave condition.

Over several months, Donut had multiple significant surgeries and follow-up appointments to heal his legs and restore his ability to walk. All the while, one of Donut’s rescuers from the incinerator, Kevin Hagner, couldn’t stop thinking about him. Sadly, the day before he helped rescue Donut, his family dog had passed away. He wondered if maybe it was a sign.

Once Donut was ready, we reunited him with Kevin, and it was love at first sight. Even Donut remembered him, wagging his tail and prancing in a new way we had not seen before. Kevin knew that Donut belonged in his family, and so they adopted him. In the words of Kevin, “We give him so much love...but he gives us even more love back.”