Hearts have been broken online by a dog who has been looking for a forever home for more than 500 days.
Priscilla, a pit bull terrier, has been at the National Animal Welfare Society in Mokena, Illinois, for more than a year, and her rescuers are now pleading for someone to open their home to her.
On August 8, TikTok user @frangrzesik, who’s affiliated with NAWS, posted a video of Priscilla, saying she’d been with the shelter for 506 days
The video showed a sign on Priscilla’s kennel that said: “I need a home, not just a place. I have been at NAWS for a long time. Please consider opening your heart/home to me.”
In the clip, Priscilla can be seen curled up in her kennel, going on walks with staff with a teddy bear clutched in her mouth and being showered with love from shelter volunteers.
While the staff clearly love her, it’s not enough.
In text that appears in the video, which shows Priscilla cuddling with multiple teddy bears, the TikToker wrote: “She has waited over a year for a home. Her favorite thing on the entire planet are her stuffy toys. Which we love to spoil her with, but she is tired of waiting.”
The video ends with a montage of Priscilla cuddling up and playing with her rescuers, while these words appear on-screen: “Please consider fostering or adopting for your local humane society. We won’t give up on you Priscilla.”
Newsweek has contacted @frangrzesik for comment via TikTok and email.
Priscilla’s video has racked up more than 126,000 likes, 820,000 views and 1,000 comments, as viewers shared the appeal for someone to adopt Priscilla.
“Nah if I could I would adopt every dog I could,” one viewer wrote, while another said, “I hope she gets a wonderful home with all the toys and pillows.”
“I’m quite literally sobbing,” a commenter added.
Another wrote, “I hope this princess gets adopted.”
Many users inquired in the comments section about the possibility of adopting Priscilla, and some asked how she behaved around other dogs.
The poster said in a comment that Priscilla “likes other dogs as long as they are calm,” adding that she’d previously had a bad experience with a highly energetic dog.
One user said she had previously fostered Priscilla, who she said had got on “fantastically” with her other dogs.
The NAWS website said Priscilla would do well in a home with older children and could happily get along with a cat.
The pup has been “let down” by many people in her life previously, making her “a bit apprehensive upon meeting strangers,” the shelter wrote, adding, “But once she warms up to you, you’ll never know a greater love.”
The NAWS rescue is a no-kill shelter, meaning Priscilla can remain there until she finds her forever home, without risk of euthanasia.
TikTok @frangrzesik
However, not all animals are as lucky. About 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized each year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That includes about 390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats.
This figure has declined over the years. In 2011, about 2.6 million shelter animals were euthanized, the ASPCA said. The reduction in numbers is partly explained by the increase in the number of animals adopted from shelters each year, about 4.1 million.
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