Shortly before Halloween, a resident of San Antonio, Texas, named Caroline was driving through the city’s Northside neighborhood when she noticed a dog wandering around in the street. It seemed like the dog had been outside for a while, so she stopped
to help him.
Caroline coaxed the pup into her car, and to her surprise, he jumped right in. She started calling him Bubba, and the name stuck.
“She said that when she found him … he was very gentle, that without hesitation he wanted to get into her car,” Lisa Norwood, public relations manager forSan Antonio Animal Care Services (San Antonio ACS), told The Dodo.
Caroline brought Bubba home and quickly noticed that the pup had taken a liking to a giant sloth stuffie she had in her apartment. He was understandably a bit nervous after going from the street to a new environment, but the sloth seemed to make him feel more comfortable.
Caroline posted Bubba’s picture in multiple local neighborhood forums, but no one claimed him. After a little time had passed and she felt sure no one was looking for him, she called San Antonio ACS to come pick him up.
When the San Antonio ACS officer came to get Bubba, Caroline made sure to send the dog with the sloth stuffie he’d grown attached to. Even though it was her personal stuffed animal, she didn’t hesitate to give it to Bubba.
“She told us, ‘This is a stuffie that he has bonded with. I want to be able to let him continue to have that comfort,’” Norwood said.
Bubba cuddled with the sloth stuffie the whole ride to the shelter. Once he got to the shelter, he clung to it in his kennel. The shelter staff was amazed — it was the biggest stuffed sloth they’d ever seen.
The San Antonio ACS team was surprised to hear back from Caroline just a few days later. She shared that she’d originally been unable to adopt Bubba because her apartment didn’t allow pets. But after less than a week without Bubba, she realized she couldn’t live without him — so she decided to move.
“She came in and she was like, ‘Yeah, I have to have him. He is my dog. I am his person,’” Norwood said.
When Caroline returned to the shelter and saw Bubba again, it was clear that he remembered her and was happy to see her. Bubba was overjoyed to leave the shelter with his new mom and his sloth friend.
“Ultimately, Bubba has that happy ending because of a Good Samaritan and a very, very large sloth,” Norwood said.
