Dogs are abandoned every day by owners who no longer want them or who no longer have the means of caring for them. It is terrible that they even took on the responsibility in the first place. This story is one from this category – a tale of an abandoned dog. Although, the reason was neither neglect, nor negligence, it was revenge. It also has a surprisingly happy ending.

In A Faraway Land

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Zimba, a Pit Bull mix, was with the wrong person at the wrong time. He ended up getting ditched on the side of the road halfway across America; from Wichita, Kansas he ended up in Maryland, lost and alone.

That’s where he made new friends.  The Caroline County Human Society found him and took him in. The rescuers knew something was wrong because the dog was all alone, and no one in the area had reported a missing pup.

Thanks to his microchip, they were able to identify him and where he came from. You can imagine how shocked the rescuers were when they found out Zimba was from halfway across the country!

Lost And Found

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The society tracked down his mama and she told them the tale of how he had come to be found in Maryland, some 1,264 miles away.

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Zimba had been taken on a road trip with his mom’s boyfriend…soon to be ex-boyfriend. While on the journey his mom and her boyfriend broke-up which resulted in the man ultimately leave Zimba an innocent victim of the whole ordeal. Out of spite, the boyfriend, angry and upset, abandoned Zimba in Maryland and refused to answer calls from his ex-girlfriend.

Here’s where things get complicated…She was certainly more than thrilled to hear that her dog was safe, but she said she wouldn’t be able to drive the 1,000+ miles to Maryland to get Zimba. She has children to care for and a job she could’t take time off from.

So, the Caroline County Humane Society tried contacting Airlines, but that proved to be an unsuccessful solution. They even contacted the Humane Society where his mom had originally adopted him, but they did not have a solution either. That’s when Zach Holt showed up and saved the day.

Road Trip

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Zach’s girlfriend currently works at the shelter as an animal control officers. She told him Zimba’s story and he volunteered to drive Zimba all the way home to Wichita without a second thought.

He tells WJZ:

“I’m a bartender. I strictly work 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?’”

While he got a lot of attention for his efforts, Zach says he loves driving and that the road trip “is the easy part about it.” The hard part was carried out by the shelter when they located Zimba’s home and owner!

He said:

“All the hard work of coordinating everything and having him found, you know, the person that took time out of their day to actually wrangle Zimba and make sure that they got in contact with somebody. I mean that was awesome… it was just as easy for them to just ride on by and be like ‘Oh look, there’s a stray dog.’”

Zach has his own dog, a German shepherd/Shar Pei mix named Forrest, and a cat, named Sullivan. He says:

“I can’t imagine my right-hand man being gone that long. It’s going to be great, I mean, it’s going to be lovely for her to get him back.”

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Caroline County Humane Society posted to Facebook:

“Zimba … safe and content. We would like to once again thank all of you who have followed, supported, donated and cheered on Zach and Zimba during their awesome adventure. And, of course, we can never thank Zach enough for driving all the way from Ridgely, MD to Wichita, KS to make one family’s…. and one dog’s… Christmas wish come true. There truly is no place like home.

Hopefully we can all take a lesson from this… as Zach said in his interview, using the words of his friend Ben Cahall…. we should all JUST TRY. We can all make a difference. No matter how large or how small.

And remember: microchips do work! Zimba would never have found his way home without his…and his mom had properly registered it and kept information current!

Happy life, Zimba! Safe travels home, Zach Holt!”

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What’s most admirable is that Zach didn’t even ask for any compensation for his efforts. Although, the Humane Society did end up raising enough money to cover the tolls and gas he had to pay along the way.

It’s stories like these that make it seem like there should be harsher penalties for those who commit crimes against animals. What do you think?  You can add your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post Bitter Ex-boyfriend Abandons Girlfriend’s Dog Halfway Across America, Kind Stranger Drives Him Home appeared first on Educate Inspire Change.