Dogs are man’s best friends – a title they truly deserve because of the unwavering loyalty and love that they give to their owners.
They are innocent creatures who ask for nothing but our companionship and love. That is why it is extremely heartbreaking when we hear stories about dogs being abandoned or become victims of cruelty.
On a November evening, Zimba, a pit bull mix, was found in Maryland. The rescuers immediately knew that something was wrong as the dog was found alone, and there were no recent reports of a missing pup in the area.
Eventually, he found his way to the Caroline County Humane Society, where it was discovered that Zimba carried a microchip. What the shelter found baffled them all – Zimba’s chip traced all the way to Wichita, Kansas, which is some 1,264 miles away from Maryland.
The shelter reached out to the dog’s “mom”, who told them that her ex-boyfriend took Zimba on a road trip. However, the couple broke up in the middle of the journey, and the guy – angry and upset – decided to abandon Zimba completely. He also stopped returning her ex-girlfriend’s phone calls.
Zimba’s mom, Ikea Mosley, was relieved to hear that her pooch was safe and sound, but she said that she wouldn’t be able to drive all the way to Maryland because of her children and her job.
The shelter wrote on its Facebook page: “We tried contacting Airlines but that proved to be an unsuccessful solution. We even contacted the Humane Society where his mom had originally adopted him. They did not have a solution for us either.”
That is where the hero of our story comes in – Zach Holt.
Zach was a former employee at the Caroline County Humane Society, where his girlfriend currently works as an animal control officer. When he learned of Zimba’s story, he volunteered to drive him all the way to his home in Wichita.
“I’m a bartender,” Zach tells WJZ. “I strictly work, you know, the weekends and Monday and I have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off. And four days is plenty of time to get to Kansas and back, so I said, ‘Why not?’”
With that, the pair set off to their journey. Zach says that Zimba is a great road trip companion and had slept most of the way.
Zach, our hero of the story, has been gaining a lot of praise for his efforts, but he says that he loves driving and that the road trip “is the easy part about it”. Plus, he is taking Zimba home purely as a volunteer, meaning, he didn’t ask for anything.
The shelter, knowing that Zach would shell out money for the costs of the travel, raised money to cover his gas, tolls, and other expenses incurred.
Finally, on a fateful Wednesday night, Zimba was reunited with his family!
The story went viral, and tons of kind-hearted people donated money for Zach’s trip and for the room that he rented on Wednesday night so he could get proper sleep before his journey back.
A big thanks to the Caroline County Humane Society for taking in Zimba, and an even bigger thanks to our hero Zach for taking him home to his mom!
See more of Zimba’s story in the video below from KWCH.
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