Volunteers, samaritans save dog

It was 4:30, maybe 5:00, on Jan. 29, when Cebele Cambron saw it happen.

Jonna Spelbring-Priester/Local

The Miracle Dog

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Jonna Spelbring-Priester/Local

Debbie Weakly strokes the head of a dog hit by a car on I-71 last week. The dog survived, and Weakly is serving as a foster home.

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Jonna Spelbring-Priester/Local

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A dog, about 20 pounds, was hit by a car on I-71. The dog crumbled in the right hand side of the northbound lane. The car that hit the dog kept going, without even tapping the brakes, she said.

But Cambron and another driver who saw the hit did stop.

Cambron, who lives in Cincinnati and is a Spanish teacher at Oldham County High School, said she waived drivers into the other lane while the other driver — whose name she didn’t know — picked the dog up and moved to the shoulder.

There, they called 911, and eventually Henry County Animal Control responded to the scene.

While waiting for animal control, Cambron said she refused to give up on the small dog. “I said ‘I’m sorry this happened to you’,” she said. “She started breathing a little bit different, and I was afraid she was taking her last breath.”

Henry County Animal Control’s Suzanne Schulte took the dog to the Henry County Animal Clinic, where Dr. Muncie Pryor examined her.

The examination and subsequent tests revealed that the small dog was lucky — she had no broken bones. But both of her lungs had collapsed, and her front left leg showed signs of nerve damage. She also had some head injuries that caused a loss of motor control.

But over the course of a couple of days, the dog got better, and was eating, Cambron was told, “like a trucker.”

By Friday, Pryor said the goal would be to get the dog to walk on the three good legs, in the event that the front left leg didn’t ‘wake up.’

“If the worst that happens is she loses a limb, but lives a happy, healthy life… she’s a lucky dog,” Cambron said.

Schulte called a potential foster who jumped at the chance to help the dog.

Friday afternoon, Debbie Weakly and Fleur Bryan, of Utopia Animal Care, visited Milagros.

“God, you poor little thing,” Bryan said as she greeted the dog.

Weakly stroked the dog’s head, murmuring to it. “You’ll be okay,” she told the dog. “You’re going to come stay with us for awhile.”

Milagros will recouperate with Weakly and Bryan, and after that, Cambron said she wants to adopt the dog. This dog is so lucky, she said, she will name it Milagros — the word for “miracle” in Spanish.

“We’re just waiting to see if she pulls out of the woods,” Cambron said. She added that officials who responded to the scene said the dog likely was dumped.

Schulte said donations are welcome to help with the dog’s vet bills. Those interested in making donations are asked to call the Henry County Animal Clinic at 845-4429.