A Pitbull-Boxer mix named Andre, who was five years old, was recently found in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park with a note on his collar that moved everyone who read it. The note said: “My dad is homeless and has no one to take me. I am a really good dog. My dad’s heart is broken, and no shelter will take me. Please treat Andre with love and kindness.”
Andre’s previous owner, who was homeless, could not keep him due to his circumstances and had no other option but to abandon him in a public area, hopefully expecting someone with a heart to adopt him. According to People, this is an emotional desperate act that was intended to provide Andre with a better chance at ending up in a loving home.
Rescue Efforts Begin
Soon after the dog was discovered in late January just ahead of snowstorms, a couple, who heard his tale on Facebook, took Andre in temporarily. Although they were unable to take him in as their own permanently, they made him more well-known by spreading his picture and the handwritten card, hoping someone who could take him in might see it.
Among them was Tara Borelli, a nonprofit attorney in Atlanta. “I read this cry for help. Andre had been discovered bound in a yard close to Piedmont Park with a note taped to his collar. I believe his owner ditched him there to be seen, assuming that someone would notice him and bring him to safety,” Borelli said in People.
Borelli intervened to provide a temporary home for Andre, where he stayed for a couple of months. Although she instantly bonded with the dog, she was forced to make a painful decision because of her own pet’s health. “Andre was amazing,” she remembered. She put him in the hands of a shelter in April to better his chances of getting a forever home.
Thanks to the continued help of Fulton County Animal Services and area pet advocates, Andre’s tale kept going around. By early May, he got a foster family in Atlanta, where he will remain temporarily for one month.
If the placement goes well, Andre will be adopted forever—bringing a heartwarming twist to a journey that started with abandonment and is now turning into one of compassion, second chances, and hope.
