Going about her day inside her cozy home, animal lover Sabrina Garcia noticed an unexpected visitor.
A tiny mouse had managed to sneak inside and was enjoying himself among Garcia’s belongings.
Since she wasn’t looking for a new pet, Garcia caught the little guest and hurried outside to set him free. While searching for a safe place to release him, she spotted a sewer drain that seemed like a perfect hideout.
But as she moved closer, she realized that someone else was already taking shelter there.
A Pup Hidden Below
A pair of wide, glowing eyes stared back at Garcia, filled with fear and sadness.
It didn’t take long for her to see that the eyes belonged to a pup hiding inside the sewer, completely cut off from the world above.
Without hesitation, Garcia reached out to Suzette Hall, the founder of a rescue group in Irvine, California.
“They couldn’t believe their eyes when they looked down and saw him. [H]e couldn’t even cry for help because nobody would [have] heard him,” Hall wrote on Facebook.
The pup was named Donatello, and Hall and her team immediately began to figure out how he had gotten inside.
After checking the area, they noticed only a tiny gap, far too small for Donatello to have squeezed through on his own. That’s when they realized this hadn’t happened by accident.
“There was no way he got down there by himself. Someone had to put him there!” Hall wrote.
This shocking truth only made the rescuers more determined. Soon, they located a manhole cover hiding a ladder, just what they needed to reach Donatello.
Two rescuers climbed down into the sewer while Hall and others waited anxiously at the top.
A few minutes later, they emerged with Donatello safely in their arms.
“We did it! He was and is nothing short of a miracle,” Hall wrote.
Healing Journey Ahead
The team rushed Donatello to the Camino Pet Hospital in their van. Exhausted and finally safe, he drifted off to sleep in his rescuers’ arms.
At the Irvine clinic, veterinarians gave him a full medical exam and found that he had survived by eating garbage. They also discovered a small towel stuck in his intestines.
“He was so hungry, he ate whatever he could. He would have died down [there],” Hall wrote on Facebook.
Donatello’s condition was poor, but thanks to devoted rescuers and veterinarians, he received emergency surgery and began recovering quickly.
Though he still had a long road ahead, with steady care, affection, and cuddles, his new friends were confident that he would soon find his confidence again.
With one more surgery still needed, Donatello was already looking forward to the day he could settle into a forever home. In the meantime, his foster family was giving him every ounce of comfort so his fear would slowly fade away.
“[H]e is worth it. It’s time he learns what love is,” Hall wrote on Facebook.