Just when Silvia Rayssa thought she’d seen everything there was to see when it came to animal cruelty, she met a Siberian husky named Maya whose condition made her sick at heart.
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A friend tipped Silvia off about the dog, who had been relentlessly bred for five long years at a puppy mill in Goiânia, Brazil.
The dog was underweight and had been beaten and neglected so badly that she became paralyzed from the waist down. She had been tied up, starved, used, and abused, and the puppy mill was about to feed her rat poison to “end the suffering” when Silvia stepped in.
“August 28, 2016, is a date that I will never forget,” Silvia said. “When we think we have seen everything in this life, I realize that we have never seen enough. We got there and she was lying, totally hurt. … As we put Maya in the car, it was possible to see her relief at leaving that place.”
Silvia has “always been passionate about animals,” so the veteran foster mom quickly got to work showing Maya the love and care she’d been denied all her life. She was going through a rough spell of her own when she first met the pup, and now she says saving Maya felt more like being saved herself.
For the first two days, Silvia kept Maya right by her side. The dog was in a lot of pain, but Silvia could tell from the look in her eyes that Maya was a fighter.
“Maya was a little skittish at first, but who could blame her? She had never known the love of a family, she never knew a caress,” Silvia said. “For five years of her life, she only knew a cold, dark cage. She only knew the worst side of the human being.”
With time, love, and plenty of nutritious food, Maya began to flourish under Silvia’s care.
“Knowing about Maya’s history, I already imagined that she wouldn’t walk again, and that was never a problem for me,” Silvia said. “But to know that she became paraplegic because she was beaten up, she was tied up, it was very heavy to hear. I can’t imagine even a shred of the whole nightmare she’s been through.”
Fortunately, Silvia was able to introduce Maya to a wheelchair so she could get around, and the dog took to it like a fish takes to water. The pup was so happy to be mobile again!
These days, she’s able to go on hikes and play all day to make up for all those long years she spent locked away.
It has been nearly five years since Silvia first rescued Maya from certain death, and the husky is now healthy and happy in her forever home.
“People say that I saved Maya, but I always answer the following, ‘No, she was the one who saved me,'” Silvia said. “Maya changed my life, and that of many people, with the history of overcoming, compassion, and love that we are still living today. There are no wounds that love cannot heal!”
This is such a well-deserved happy ending for this sweet girl! It’s deplorable that anyone would treat an animal with such cruelty, but rescuers like Silvia are out there working hard every day to heal their hearts with love.
Share this story to encourage others to consider adopting the rescues who need a home the most.
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