A dog who made national headlines when she was rescued after spending more than a week in a shipping container in Texas is receiving care from a local animal rescue team, and they have some exciting news to share.
Last week, U.S. Coast Guard officers at a port in Houston heard Connie trapped in a shipping container about 25 feet up. They lowered the crate and freed Connie.
"For us to find a dog that's due to be exported out?” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Brian Wainscott said with a shrug.
"When I saw that, my heart just sunk," said Penny Edwards, who volunteers with Maryland-based animal rescue team Forever Changed Animal Rescue.
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She reached out to the shelter in Texas to offer help. The Texas shelter agreed, but a pilot needed to pick up Connie.
"How can I say no to this, right?” Seuk Kim said with a laugh.
Kim has flown hundreds of volunteer animal rescue missions, so he received a call this week about a mission that had already gained national attention.
"'Have you heard of Connie?'” he says he was asked. “And I said, 'No, I don't know anything about her.' And she's like, 'Well, Google her and look her up.'"
Kim and a friend flew Connie to Virginia. When they stopped along the way to refuel, Kim realized Connie’s celebrity.
"The people who worked at the airport, they all came out to give her hugs and treats," he said.
In Virginia, Edwards anticipated Connie’s arrival.
“Trying to see all the planes coming in, like, 'Is that her? Is that her?'" she said.
But her excitement was tamed with nerves. Connie's incredible story of survival also carried a potentially tragic tale that followed her out of that shipping container.
“We didn't know how to handle it,” Edwards said. “We didn't want to tell anybody about what was told to us in Texas."
They took Connie for an immediate checkup, knowing she had heartworms and was likely malnourished, having spent at least eight days inside that container.
Her mammary glands showed signs of recent motherhood, but no puppies were recovered with her. The rumor was Connie had birthed and lost her litter while fighting for her life in that container.
But her checkup revealed she’s a mother-to-be.
"It confirmed that the story in Texas … that she didn't have puppies down there — well, she did, but they were inside of her," Edwards said.
No one knows where Connie came from or how she ended up in that container — and no one really cares. Someday soon, a foster family will give Connie a loving home where she can reminisce about her epic journey over treats with her litter of puppies.
"These puppies are probably fighters just like their mom," Kim said.
Once the veterinarians learned Connie was pregnant, they sent her to be with one of the Forever Changed's owners in Portsmouth, Virginia. That vet will nurse Connie through her pregnancy and then will start heartworm treatments.
Once she's fully recovered, Forever Changed Animal Rescue will find Connie a forever home.
