SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - An abandoned dog that was left chained to a fence along Interstate 20 and later was rescued by a Shreveport police cadet and animal rescue group is on the road to recovery.
Susan Fant Votaw, an animal rescue volunteer with the POLA Foundation who retrieved the dog, now named Justice, from the Caddo Parish Animal Shelter, said the young female pitbull mix has received her first round of shots and heartworm treatments.
Votaw said the POLA Foundation also placed Justice with an appropriate pet foster parent, Lory Kowaleski, while searching for a forever home, including getting along well with puppies in Kowaleski’s home.
“She is very nurturing to the foster’s baby puppies,” Votaw said.
Votaw said that several people have expressed interest in adopting Justice but that nothing has been finalized. She said the dog still needs a caring permanent placement.
Natalie Zweydoff, a cadet with the Shreveport Police Department, first discovered Justice chained to the fence while in training out near the Fairgrounds. At the time, Justice was emaciated but friendly.
Zweydoff called Animal Control to the scene and waited with the puppy until an officer arrived. For that role, her academy class recognized her with a special plaque.
Her class gifted Zweydoff the “Life Saving Award” plaque, which contains a picture of Justice at the Caddo Parish Animal Shelter and the quotation from a Times article.
The quotation: “Zweydoff nicknamed the mossy-eyed grey pitbull mix Justice ’because,’ the cadet said, ’she deserved something- a name at the least.”
A Shreveport police spokeswoman, Cpl. Angie Willhite, said she supported Zweydoff’s class recognizing her compassionate role in Justice’s ploy.
“Her class put it together and felt like it would be a good way to honor her,” Willhite said. “They’re supposed to uplift each other in academy, to operate as a family, because once they are out on the streets, they have to act as a team.”
Zweydoff, who is in academy training during the day, was not available for an interview prior to the publication of this article.
The Times first learned of Zweydoff’s award when tagged in a social media post by Pamela Kelley-Kennedy, a Shreveport parent who helped raise awareness about Justice’s situation, as well as the funds needed by the rescue to pull her from the parish shelter.
“She’s going to be a wonderful police officer,” Kelley-Kennedy wrote.
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