Erin

Volunteers Nicolle and Eric from Holland fell in love with Amber at first sight – hardly surprising seeing how cute and loveable she was. In fact, they liked her so much they decided to adopt her and take her back to Holland. International travel with an animal involves a lot of expense and paperwork, and in their case meant changing their ticket so as not to fly through Britain, where they would have had to leave Amber in quarantine.

Before the trip back to Europe they had some days of their holiday remaining, so they left Amber with us and headed off to Lake Atitlán for some good hiking and sight-seeing. And of course they could not ignore the truly pathetic little bundle of skin, bones, and a few tufts of hair that they found scavenging outside their hotel, with probably not many more days left to live. They brought her food, and, better than anything, affection and hope.
 
Back at the AWARE shelter everyone drew back a couple of steps from this creature covered in lice, ticks, and fungus, when Nicolle and Eric arrived with her – after an epic bus ride with the puppy all the way from Santiago Atitlán to Sumpango. She was not a pretty sight, and only the wag of her endearing little tail kept us believing she might survive.A name for her was not difficult – combining Eric and Nicolle, and Erin responded so well to a few weeks of regular meals and medical attention that we soon realised that Little Erin was one cute dog. Eric and Nicolle went back to Holland, taking Amber with them, along with the touching story of Erin’s discovery and rescue. Before long, we received an e-mail from Nicolle to say that her sister wanted to adopt Erin, and could we please make the travel arrangements.

We were very happy to oblige, and Erin is now living the life of Reilly in Holland. Which just goes to show that no matter how down on your luck you might be, and however much hair you have lost, there is always a chance that some kind person will step up and take the responsibility that your original owners did not.