SANTA CLARA – Thanks to a local charity group, the life of a Dixie State University student’s small dog was spared after someone hit the animal with their car and then left the scene in Santa Clara on Sept. 25. The injured dog ended up on the front porch of a residence, lying there until the homeowner arrived and found her.
“She had probably been there for a while,” Andelynn Hofer, the dog’s owner, said.
Friends of Ivins Animal Shelter, a nonprofit group that supports the Ivins Animal Shelter and Adoption Center, a no-kill facility in Ivins, was contacted by the shelter when the injured dog was picked up by animal control. FIAS President Linda Elwell immediately set to work arranging for the dog to receive the care it needed.
Among services FIAS provides, the organization arranges for emergency medical care and guarantees payment in such situations, when an animal needs immediate help and the owner cannot be located or the animal is a stray.
Ordinarily, the animal’s owner is expected to repay FIAS for the veterinary care, according to an email from FIAS.
“However, the Dixie State University student cannot afford to repay that amount,” the email said. “She is assisting FIAS in other ways to show her appreciation for her dog being saved.”
“I am just so grateful to them,” Hofer said. “It was really awesome for them to do, because I wouldn’t have been able to pay for anything.”
Hofer, currently a student at Dixie State, lives in campus housing where she isn’t allowed to have pets, so she’s been keeping her terrier mix, Roxie, at her mother’s house in Santa Clara. The day Roxie was hit, the dog had found a hole in the backyard and gotten out, Hofer said.
A neighbor on another street later came home to find the dog hurt and bleeding. A veterinarian later confirmed Roxie had been hit by a car.
Animal control was called, and the dog was picked up and taken to a local animal hospital.
The veterinarian bill for Roxie’s care ended up being over $650. Hofer said she was panicking because she had no way to pay the veterinarian.
“They took care of her, and I got there and I was like, ‘I don’t have money,’” Hofer said, “and they said, ‘Well, someone paid for it.”
Hofer said Roxie, whom she adopted from Washington City’s animal shelter, had huge gashes on her leg and road rash on her chest after the accident.
“You could tell she was in a lot of pain,” Hofer said.
But thanks to help from FIAS, Roxie is on the mend.
“She’s actually recovering really, really well,” Hofer said.
When an injured animal is found, animal control should be called immediately, according to information from FIAS.
“Sometimes it is a matter of minutes that can save a pets life,” the email said. “It is not recommend (sic) that you attempt to render hands on care to the injured pet, for your personal safety, but to wait and give information to Animal Control.”
Donations to FIAS, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, are used to help animals like Roxie that are found sick or injured and need emergency medical care.
To donate to FIAS and help the group continue assisting animals like Roxie, checks can be sent to:
FIAS
661 E. 425 South
Ivins, Utah 84738
All donations are tax deductible, and donors will be sent a thank-you card containing information to keep with their tax records, according to FIAS.
Resources
- Friends of Ivins Animal Shelter website | Facebook page
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Responsible pet owners dogs do not “get out”. Ever heard of a kennel? If you want to keep your pet safe it is simple. Kennel them if you are unable to supervise them. Poor dog deserves better owners.
I’m going to go with “it’s these southern Utah driver’s terrible driving.” Drivers should always be aware of obstacles in their path of travel. People wouldn’t be criticizing the dog’s owner (parent) if it was a child who had been hit, now would they? Well, on this forum they probably would but a hit child would be getting more sympathy. I blame the driver of that vehicle and hope s/he gets what is coming to them.
To be fair she could move back in with her mother and use the $$$ for her campus housing to pay for her own dog. I’d encourage folks to keep their dogs out of the road tho…