CHARLOTTE — An airline worker, animal rescue and foster family stepped up to help after a dog was surrendered by its owner at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
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“We’ve taken her to the vet and she’s really friendly with everybody,” said Robin King, who is fostering the dog, Baby Girl.
King said the two of them have been inseparable for the last 48 hours.
The former owner of the dog, who did not want to be identified, said she tried to take Baby Girl with her when she moved from Shelby to Iowa.
The former owner told Channel 9 she surrendered the dog at the airport because the crate would not fit under her seat.
“Baby girl was not abandoned at the airport. I surrendered her,” the woman said.
She didn’t have the money to pay the cargo-transport fees. Baby Girl’s then-owner, who is visually impaired and on a fixed income, said she left the dog with Furbabies before boarding the plane.
She said she wouldn’t have left Baby Girl if the dog was not in good hands.
“I wouldn’t have gone on the plane,” the dog’s former owner said. “I would’ve been homeless. I would’ve stayed on the streets of North Carolina with my dog.”
An airline worker contacted Daryl Strickland, with Furbabies Animal Rescue. King picked the dog up from the airport Tuesday.
“When you find a dog that’s been abandoned like this, you just feel compelled to make sure it doesn’t ever go through that again,” Strickland said.
The dog lovers are trying to give the 14-year-old beagle a fresh start with a new family.
“She’s an older dog so she would have to go to an older family,” King said. “She likes her little walks but not very enthusiastic like little dogs would be.”
King is confident that Baby Girl will be enthusiastic once she finds her forever home.
Furbabies Animal Rescue said that Baby Girl needs blood and dental work before she can go to her new home.
The group estimates it will cost about $1,000.
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If you would like to help raise funds, click here.
If you want more information about adoptions, email furbabiesanimalrescue@gmail.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/FurBabiesAnimalResQ/
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