A Marine and a three-legged dog he met while overseas have been reunited with the help of a crowd-funding account and a Texas nonprofit, the Naples Daily News reported.
Billy Norris was stationed in the Eastern European country of Georgia when he befriended the stray dog more than seven months ago while on duty in the city of Gori, he told the Daily News. While Gori is packed with free-roaming dogs, Norris admitted his heart went out to a dog he would name Lucky.
"A bone was sticking out of its foot," Norris said. "It couldn't use it. It was leaving a blood trail everywhere."
According to the Daily News, when Norris and his fellow Marines left Gori for the country's capital city of Tbilisi, he remembered Lucky.
"That night, I couldn't stop thinking about this dog," Norris said. "I woke up and told my gunnery sergeant, 'We're going back tomorrow and getting this dog.'"
"We go back to the same place, figuring the dog couldn't get very far dragging its feet around. It was injured bad and starving but didn't want to be touched. Norris took the dog to a veterinarian in Tbilisi and had his front right leg amputated.
Norris wanted to bring the dog back to his home in Bonita Springs, Florida, but United Airlines, which he was flying, suspended pet transports. The Marine found a pet courier who would transfer the dog to the United States for $4,500 per the newspaper.
At a suggestion of a fellow Marine, he started a GoFundMe page for Lucky.
"… We decided to give GoFundMe a try to see if we could raise the money to get Lucky home to the U.S. and start his new life," Norris said on the GoFundMe page. "I would be incredibly grateful for any donations, and anything helps."
Norris raised more than $2,500 to help in his effort.
Puppy Rescue Mission, a nonprofit in Texas, then stepped in and asked for donations for Norris and found a volunteer who happened to be vacationing in Georgia and agreed to accompany Lucky to the United States.
"We assist military men and women, who are deployed on foreign soil, to get dogs and cats they bond with back to the U.S.," Michelle Smith, executive director of Puppy Rescue, told the Daily News.
"(The vacationing woman) was there at the perfect time to pick up Lucky, Smith added.
Lucky arrived at the Southwest Florida International Airport in late April, joining Norris's family, including his wife, their cat named Taco and a 2-year-old dog, Rosie.
"I'm so happy he's here," Norris told the Daily News. "Lucky made it."
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