A Tennessee animal shelter reunited a homeless mother with her beloved dog Lilo after she was forced to give up the pet due to her financial and living circumstances.
Earlier in January, a resident of Chattanooga found Lilo wandering the streets with a handwritten note attached to her collar. “Please keep my name. My name is Lilo,” the note read. “Please love me. My mom can’t keep me and is homeless with 2 kids. She tried her best but can’t get help. I cost too much for her. She really loves me and I’m a great dog and love to be loved on. Please don’t abuse me,” the note read, per the Washington Post.
The resident subsequently took Lilo to the McKamey Animal Center where the staff and director Lauren Mann were determined to reunite the dog with its owner. “We all cried reading the note. We see a lot of sad stuff every single day, but it just really hit us all. The last line is gut-wrenching,” Mann said.
“We decided collectively that we were going to do everything we [could] to reunite them and get them back on their feet,” she added, according to the Washington Post.
The staff at McKamey Animal Center reached out to the community on social media in hopes to find the owner.