Yoda is a three-year-old Pit Bull mix in Tickfaw, LA, who needs $1500 for urgent care.

Yoda waited alone, injured, sick, and in pain in the Louisana woods, hoping someone would find him. He had lived through years of being a bait dog and then likely got dumped in the woods when Hurricane Ida hit; if he made it this far, his luck just had to change.

And that's when Sarah M. unexpectedly found him. "I was walking my dogs," she tells Waggle. "My dogs stopped and started pointing toward this place in the woods. I saw him. He was really sweet and submissive. Then I saw he was injured."

Sarah called animal control, but they could not respond because they were overwhelmed after the hurricane. They told her no one reported a dog fitting his description missing. So she got some food and water, and the dog came right toward her. "He was covered in bite marks," Sarah says. "He had deep, bloody puncture wounds all over. But he was still the nicest, sweetest dog ."

She named him Yoda based on the swamp scene in *The Empire Strikes Back*. "The wooded, swampy area I found him in reminded me of Yoda in the movie," Sarah says. "Yoda looked like this craggily, beaten-down old man, but he was so resilient and had so much strength."

The next stop for Yoda was Companion Animal Hospital. The veterinary team went to work right away, and the poor dog was a medical mess. Yoda had a 102 fever, abscesses, a fractured jaw, and teeth that needed to be removed. He was emaciated. He has severe heartworm and a massive ear infection. He's missing nails in some of his paws and walks flat-footed.

"I'm like, 'Oh my god.' I was so upset. It's so upsetting people do this to an animal and watch them suffer and get pleasure from it," Sarah says.

Yoda was hospitalized, put on antibiotics and pain medication. The veterinary staff also scanned him for a microchip, and he did not have one. Sarah is now committed to fixing up Yoda! It will be a long road, but with your help, she knows he will pull through. He is now home with her and fits in perfectly with her family. "My kids love him," she says. "It's like he doesn't have a mean bone on him. He's grateful. He's at peace right now."

She wants the Waggle community to know Yoda is worth every penny! "Amazingly, this dog is so happy," Sarah says. "He's been almost beaten to death. I think his message is a good lesson for us all; no matter how much we're beaten, we keep going."