Owl Is Fighting to Survive After Unthinkable Cruelty

What happened to Owl was not simple neglect. It was prolonged, heartbreaking cruelty.

Someone appears to have watched this beautiful dog slowly starve until she became so weak that she could no longer stand. Her nails grew horrifically long and curled beneath her paws. Sores developed across her skeletal body. Her tail became necrotic. And when she was finally abandoned, she was simply dumped on a Brooklyn sidewalk and left there.

Owl was found near Owl’s Head Park unable to walk and barely strong enough to survive. Estimated to be just 5–7 years old, Owl may have spent years—possibly half of her life—with the person who allowed this to happen to her. Her condition tells the devastating story of prolonged starvation and suffering.

When she arrived at NYC Second Chance Rescue, Owl was severely emaciated, extremely weak, and unable to stand. Her body was covered in pressure sores over the areas where bone protruded beneath her skin. Her nails were so severely overgrown and curled that they showed just how long she had been neglected. Her tail tip has become necrotic and ulcerated, and she may require surgery or even amputation.

Bloodwork revealed significantly elevated liver enzymes, showing just how severely her body has been affected by prolonged starvation. Owl also has a heart murmur and severe dental disease, adding even more challenges to an already critical situation.

Right now, Owl requires around-the-clock medical care and extremely close monitoring for refeeding syndrome. After prolonged starvation, simply giving a dog food again can be dangerous if it is not done carefully. Her veterinary team must slowly and cautiously nourish her while watching for potentially life-threatening complications.

There are no guarantees that Owl will make it. If she does survive this critical period, she is facing weeks of hospitalization, intensive treatment, rehabilitation, and a long road toward rebuilding her strength.

But for the first time in what may have been years, Owl has people fighting for her. And the rescue is also fighting for justice.

They are seeking surveillance footage from cameras near Owl’s Head Park and the area where she was abandoned, hoping to identify the person responsible for what was done to her and hold them accountable.

Owl never deserved this. She deserved food. She deserved medical care. She deserved a safe place to sleep. She deserved someone to protect her. Instead, she was allowed to waste away until she could barely stand—and then she was discarded. We refuse to let that be the end of her story.

Her road to recovery will be long, expensive, and uncertain, but the rescue is determined to do everything possible to get Owl out of the woods and give her the life she should have had all along.

Please help us save Owl. Your donation will help provide the emergency hospitalization, diagnostics, medications, nutrition, wound care, surgery, and ongoing medical treatment she desperately needs.

If you can't donate, please share Owl's story. Help us reach the people who can. Owl has already survived more than any dog ever should have had to endure. Now she needs us to fight for her.