Abandoned dog report leads to man clinging to life

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — The Nebraska Humane Society gets a lot of calls about abandoned pets, but the one it received last Friday stood out.

“People don’t abandoned their pets at a groomer,” Kisha Witherspoon said.

Witherspoon, an animal control officer at the humane society, responded to the report last Friday. It came from employees at the PetSmart near 72nd and Dodge streets.

“The workers were very concerned about him, very nervous,” she said.

Workers told Witherspoon a man dropped his dog off to be groomed on Tuesday but never returned. And that wasn’t like him. Witherspoon contacted Nebraska Humane Society Field Investigator Misty Binau.

“Nothing added up as to why this man would abandon his animal at the grooming salon,” she said.

Binau and Witherspoon knew they had to do something.

“We were on it swift and fast,” Witherspoon said.

They went to the man’s apartment. It was a secured entry so they had to contact the apartment manager to let them in.

“It was very muffled but we could hear him calling for help,” Binau said.

They found the man inside his apartment. He’d been lying on the floor and unable to move, for days. He hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in three days.

“He went home to have some lunch and that’s the last thing he remembers, ” his daughter said.

According to his daughter, the 71-year-old suffered a severe medical emergency the same day he dropped his dog off at PetSmart. He nearly died. She said she can’t thank those animal control workers enough.

“Without them being persistent, this could have been a completely different situation. So, our family is completely grateful for everything that they have done. They saved my dad’s life,” she said.

The man remains in the hospital. His daughter brought cookies to the humane society recently as a way to say thank you. She also plans to make a stop at PetSmart.

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