A recent TikTok video highlighting the “saddest” dog at an Arkansas-based animal shelter sheds a small light on how these animals feel while waiting for their forever homes.
Shelter volunteer Susan visits the Little Rock Animal Village in Arkansas every Saturday. She works on getting updates and creating content for the rest of the week, hoping to connect an animal with an adopter. This past week is when she met Bumblebee Tuna for the first time.
Listed as a hound mix, Bumblebee Tuna is about a year old. She was brought to the animal shelter on June 26, but was on stray quarantine until Wednesday.
“She was found as a stray near a very busy road in an area of town where we see a lot of strays come from,” Susan told Newsweek via TikTok. “She’s been so shut down since she arrived.”
Susan tried getting her out of the kennel, but Bumblebee Tuna stayed glued to the back wall as seen in the June 30 video posted to the TikTok account @beforeilearnedcivility. Her bright eyes filled with sadness and confusion. She was too terrified to even make eye contact.
All Susan could do was comfort Bumblebee Tuna by staying in the kennel with her, reaffirming everything would work out, despite no guarantee.
Bumblebee Tuna is just one of thousands of dogs across the country going through similar ordeals. Animal shelters are loud environments, with constant barking and small spaces. As much as workers try to get the dogs out or give them attention, most are too overrun to keep up with the demand. Susan wrote in the clip: “A shelter is no life for a dog.”
Each year 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet “Shelter Watch Report” found.
Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.
Bumblebee Tuna’s shelter has about 200 animals or more living in the shelter on any given day, according to its website.
Susan will return to the shelter to work with Bumblee Tuna again on Wednesday. She hopes the dog will be comfortable enough to leave the kennel and, if so, she’ll take notes on Bumblebee Tuna’s personality. Any additional information about the dog will hopefully connect her to the right adoptive family.
What Are Viewers Saying?
The heartbreaking TikTok clip reached over 137,100 views, 25,100 likes and 1,235 comments within three days of posting.
“She’s so beautiful, poor little baby needs someone to love her,” commented a viewer.
Another expressed their experience with adopting a scared dog: “I found my soul dog by falling in love with the terrified dog trying to hide in her kennel and she is the best friend I could have ever asked for.”
A third person wrote: “BOOSTING, SHARING and PRAYING for this baby to find her forever home today!!!”
Susan vowed to help find a rescue to transport this dog to those TikTokers who shared an interest in adopting her from out of state.
Do you have stories, videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
The post Face of the ‘Saddest’ Shelter Dog Too Scared To Come out of Kennel appeared first on Newsweek.
