The Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons announces the arrival of three dogs and two puppies on Tuesday, March 15th to the East Hampton Airport, including a very special three-year-old Mastiff mix Zeus. Every animal ARF rescues has a story connected deeply to the place it was born. Zeus escaped euthanasia in a Louisiana shelter only to become a laboratory animal in a local university’s veterinary technician program.
By all accounts Zeus was patient and affectionate with the students, but apart from spending a few holiday breaks in a student’s home, he lived a solitary life in the school’s kennel. After almost two years living at the university, a student found a local rescue, Happy Tails, who agreed to take Zeus and help him find the home he truly deserved. His best chance for adoption in this rural region with more abandoned animals that adopters meant that Happy Tails would work to transport Zeus to the northeast.
For all his trials, Zeus had two more challenges to overcome.
Two days before Zeus’ release into Happy Tails custody, another dog would need his help. Mama Marmalade, a young dog that had come into the university for a routine procedure, was clinging to life when an accident caused her to lose a life-threatening amount of blood. Zeus’s blood type was a match, and he saved her life.
Once safe with Happy Tails, the search began for a shelter in a new community where Zeus would have the best chance at finding a home. However, the shelter learned that Zeus was positive for heartworm, and he would not be able to make the trip to out of state until he received treatment. Happy Tails had reached out to ARF, whose transport team travelled to Louisiana following the destruction wrought by category 4 Hurricane Laura during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic before vaccines were available. With support from donors like the Irving and Phyllis Millstein Foundation for Animal Welfare, ARF agreed to underwrite Zeus heartworm treatment.
After months of treatment and almost a year of coordination, Zeus took his first trip in a plane with ARF’s partner and friend, Four-Legged Fliers, as the next step to finding home, along with Happy Tails rescues Buckee (3-yr-old lab/cur mix) and Sassy (2-yr-old lab mix) with puppies Vonda and Venmo (both 4-month-old terrier mixes).
Once medically cleared by ARF’s veterinarians Zeus and his friends will be available for adoption. Please consider opening your home and sharing your life with this four-legged hero and his friends. They have spent lifetimes looking for you! Adoption applications can be found on the ARF website here.
