Canadian man Brayden Morton went through one of the most devastating experiences any pet owner can have: his dog was stolen.
One day last month, his Shar-Pei Darla was sunbathing in the backyard while he was occupied in the house. He heard a strange noise and when he looked out, he saw Darla gone, his fence open, and a blue truck speeding off.
He told the Washington Post, "I immediately started running after them. They were gone. I couldn't believe what had just happened."
Morton quickly went to Facebook with his story and plea for help, and his post went completely viral, and ended up being shared over 34,000 times.
One of the people who saw the post called Morton crying one afternoon, right as he was following another lead to Darla that proved to be falsed.
He recalled talking to the young woman on the other end of the line, "As I'm sitting in my vehicle waiting to find out I get a phone call from a blocked number I answered and all I heard was what sounded to be like a young lady crying. I knew in my heart that this person had my dog or knew where she was. She was hysterically apologizing and said she had grabbed Darla from where she was because she couldn't live with herself for assisting in taking her."
Morton immediately returned home to grab the reward money to meet the woman. As soon as he walked up to meet her, Morton knew she had a problem.
"As soon as I saw this young girl I knew she was addicted to drugs," he said.
Morton happens to be a Drug and Alcohol Interventionist, so he said he was able to understand what she was going through. In fact, he walked right up to her and have her a gigantic hug, even though she just stole his beloved Darla!
The woman couldn't bear accepting the reward money, since she was the one who stole Darla, so Morton insisted he use the money to send her to rehab. After a while, she accepted.
Not only did Morton pay for the thief to go to rehab, he bought a random man and his dogs a hotel room for a week after accusing him of stealing Darla, after he was tipped off to his blue truck which looked very similar to the one used in the crime.
Morton concluded, "Tonight was a night I will never forget and I am truly humbled. I hope this gets shared as many times as what all you great people shared to find her. Hopefully it sends the message as people we need to be there for each other and our experience sometimes isn't for us it's for someone else and don't always write someone off there are a lot of good people who are addicted to drugs sometimes they just need someone to talk to and to go for help."
"I am so grateful for the people who didn't give up on me and I'm grateful for the ones who did. Thank all you guys so much you have no idea what this means to me."
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