Capital Humane Society rescues 9-month-old puppy found in Pumpkin Patch

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Capital Humane Society received a desperate call to rescue a 9-month-old black Labrador on Friday.

A person found the puppy starving and extremely weak, lying in a pumpkin patch near Nebraska City.

“When Zephyr came in, she had a very difficult time moving at all,” said Jake Bornschlegl, the Director of Veterinary Medicine at Capital Humane Society. “She can’t lift her head up, she can’t move herself in any way, shape or form. She just kind of laid there in whatever position she was at.”

He said right now it’s all about giving her the most support possible.

“It’s a lot of IV fluids, making sure that we’re on an eating schedule,” he said. “Every couple of hours offering food, things like that. As we gain more weight, we can get more muscle back and more energy back.”

And he said it is going to be a long road to recovery.

“She came in at about 12.1 pounds,” he said. “Rough age is probably about nine months based on her teeth. Best guess is she should probably be hovering somewhere around 35-40 pounds at a healthy body weight right now.”

The humane society put out multiple posts on social media calling for the community’s help to get Zephyr back on her paws.

The executive director at the humane society, Matt Madcharo, said they have already received over 150 donations.

“We’re very grateful to everybody that has shared her story, has commented on the post on our Facebook page and all of the words of support,” he said. “She’s doing well, she’s still got a very long road ahead of her but the donations and the support is amazing to see.”

Madcharo said they will be posting updates about Zephyr’s recovery.

Right now, he said they are unsure how long that recovery could take, but they are hopeful.

“The ultimate goal is to get her fully recovered and into a new home with a family that will love and take care of her and not let her end up in a situation like she was,” he said.