For the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of our lives. As we continue to get through this crisis we remember the 2.5 million people worldwide who have lost their lives due to the coronavirus.
After the virus claimed the lives of their whole family, four dogs are suddenly left looking for a home — one where they can stay together and move forward with a new life.
According to the Nassau County SPCA on Long Island, New York, four dogs named Oliver, Winston, Isabelle and Izzy came into their care as their family battled COVID-19.
When their owner Jennifer Stien was hospitalized, her father Barry Stien, who also had the coronavirus, took the dogs in temporarily. But when taking care of the dogs became too much for him, the SPCA took them in, in what was meant to be a temporary arrangement.
“We assured him they would be waiting right here for her when she got released from the hospital,” the SPCA wrote on Facebook.
But that happy reunion wasn’t meant to be. Barry was admitted to the hospital, and died days later. And sadly, Jennifer also passed away.
It’s a heartbreaking loss that has left these four dogs with nowhere else to go. “They’ve lost everything,” the SPCA wrote. “It breaks our hearts when we look into their little faces and they are asking when they could go home, but we are determined to keep those tails wagging.”
With no family members left, the dogs are now in the care of the SPCA until they can find a new home.
“This is the first instance we’ve had an entire family die, and these pets have nowhere to go,” Nassau SPCA President Gary Rogers told CBS New York. “They’ve lost their pet parents, and they are out of their home. And this is the side of COVID that nobody looks at.”
But there’s an added challenge to getting these dogs adopted: the SPCA is hoping they can find all four of them a home together.
While this would certainly be the ideal solution for these dogs — after they lost all their family, it would be great if they still had each other — finding someone willing to take in four dogs at once might be difficult. Still, the Nassau SPCA remains determined.
“Now we have these amazing sweet dogs – hopefully, we can get a home that will take all four of them,” a rep for the SPCA told People. “We are trying.”
The Nassau County SPCA is also seeking donations to continue to care for these poor dogs.
We really hope they can find a home together soon. Our hearts go out to their family who lost their lives to the coronavirus.
Let’s help find these dogs a good home, share this story on Facebook to spread the word!
