After three years, an animal rescue decided to euthanize lonely Leo, then an amazing thing happened

We all can use a story from time to time that restores our faith in humanity. This is one of those stories.

On Thursday morning through a social media post, the Bridgeport Animal Rescue Crew of Connecticut relayed some disheartening news concerning one of their rescue dogs Leo.

“After three excruciating years of begging and pleading, this dog has remained homeless, without a family. We have tried everything. We spared no effort, cost, or amount of time, but after three years, Leo has become so depressed living this way that we’ve been advised it might be best to put him at rest. Yes, that means euthanasia. We realize for those who do not understand RESCUE it’s easy to get lost in the emotions derived from hearing the term “euthanasia.” It’s easy to become angered and lash out at the shelter or the rescue group or the vet or the trainer—or the world.”

The rescue went on to say why it appeared that it was best to put Leo out of his misery despite being a fixed, healthy, and sweet dog that is great with kids.

“Living a life locked up in a cage without proper love or care or stability is the opposite of rescue. Living that way for over 36 long, lonely months and 27,000 hours of near solitary confinement is simply cruel. Could you live this way? More importantly, could you, in good conscience, sit by and watch someone suffer in this way? The truth is, there is no end in sight for the suffering for Leo because not a single soul in the last three years has wanted to adopt this dog. Why? Hes got the trifecta: He’s got all black fur. He’s a Pitty. He loves his humans but is terrified of other dogs because he was attacked by accident at a young age. As a result, he cannot be with other dogs.”

The volunteers tried so hard to get Leo adopted that they spent over $10,000 to have him professionally trained by one of the top trainers in the county. The social media post was a last-ditch effort before putting Leo down. What happened next was a total shock to the rescue.

Within a day, the post had been shared 23,000 times from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York and across the country.

On Friday morning, BARC CT revealed that they had so many applications for Leo that he was no longer at risk of being euthanized.

“Good morning. Thank you, guys, so much for the love and support—so unexpected to receive this kind of interest in a forgotten dog. We have a full heart this morning. We have received many applications…..please know Leo is not at risk for euthanasia today or anytime soon while we now have applications for him.”

The next time you feel like all hope is lost in humanity, here is at least one story that can restore a little faith.