Stray Dog Found 'Dying' Between Tombstones in Graveyard Now Unrecognizable

A stray dog found hiding between two gravestones, bloodied and barely clinging to life, has made a miraculous recovery.

Stanislav Fosnea of Animal Terra, a stray dog rescue shelter in Chișinău, Moldova, told Newsweek that Aika was discovered caked in "blood and dirt" and hiding in the local graveyard she had come to accept as her new home.

"Aika had been abandoned on the streets by her previous owner and, in an attempt to find cover, had ended up living in a graveyard near to the highway," he said.

The circumstances surrounding Aika's abandonment led Fosnea to suspect she had been left there to die. "We have a very regular practice in Moldova when someone doesn't need a dog anymore," he said.

"They bring the dog to the highway outside of the big cities and leave them there to die. So a lot of dogs we have here were found in the fields, on the highways, gas stations and other uncrowded places," Fosnea said.

The number of stray dogs living in Moldova and other parts of Eastern Europe has risen dramatically in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the situation further. As of December 2020, well over 20,000 stray dogs were living in the area in and around Chișinău, according to animal welfare charity Four Paws.

Had it not been for her accident, Aika could have easily ended up living as a stray on the city's outskirts for a lot longer. One day, in October 2021, while out foraging for food, she found her way onto the highway, where she was hit by a car and was severely injured. The incident drove someone to contact Animal Terra.

"Aika was found by our shelter's caretaker, Svetlana," Fosnea said. "She was driving from the hospital with a few cats when she received a message that a dog had been hit by a car near the city graveyard."

When Svetlana arrived, she found Aika in a terrified state, bleeding and, according to Fosnea, "slowly dying" as a result of her wounds. At first, Aika refused to let Svetlana touch her because she was "too scared." But as exhaustion set in, she allowed the shelter worker to pick her up and take her to a veterinarian.

Aika was in bad shape. "The vets said her peritoneum had been broken when she was hit by a car, and essentially her guts were outside her body," Fosnea said. "They covered the wound, but while they acknowledged she needed surgery they discovered she also had piroplasmosis."

Piroplasmosis, a blood infection caused by Babesia spp. parasites, is usually transmitted by ticks. Symptoms range from fever and a loss of appetite to liver or kidney disease in more serious cases.

It was determined that Aika would need to recover from the virus before she could undergo surgery. Svetlana volunteered to take responsibility for Aika during this recovery period, administering IVs and injections multiple times a day with the rescue dog residing with her.

But while Aika was eventually able to undergo the surgery, Svetlana ended up developing a severe case of COVID which left her hospitalized for two months. Despite her illness, Fosnea said Svetlana "felt good because Aika was finally saved."

By the time she was discharged, Aika was ready to find a forever home and found one with a local man. But soon after Svetlana dropped her off to begin her new life, she received a call telling her Aika had escaped.

Thankfully, after several hours out in the snow calling her name, she finally found Aika. "That was the moment Svetlana realized that they and Aika belonged to each other forever, and the dog became a part of her family," Fosnea said.

Now Aika is living her best life, serving as a foster mother to the many puppies Svetlana brings home as part of her job. "She is very smart and kind and is definitely eternally grateful to Svetlana for saving her," Fosnea said.

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