From paws burned on scorching asphalt and her tail swarming with fleas, to the comfort of the living room couch and a pink collar around her neck, Lulu has finally learned what it’s like to have a loving home.

“She was left to die in Miami,” said Stuart resident Lauren Provenzano, who adopted the 5-year-old American bulldog after she was rescued and recovered from surgery in February.

When life calls for a pet owner to give up their dog or cat, some people take them to an animal shelter or give them to trustworthy friends or family. Others abandon them in the Florida Everglades.

The epidemic that overwhelms South Florida animal shelters and volunteer rescue operations that desperately need people like Provenzano to adopt unwanted pets dumped in the swamp.

“I’m gonna spoil her for the rest of her life,” Provenzano told TCPalm in August. “She’s doing just fine.”

What happens to dogs that are abandoned in the Everglades

Lulu and abandoned animals like her face a variety of threats in the Everglades, including starvation, dehydration and mosquito-borne illnesses. There’s a long list of dangerous predators such as bobcats, panthers, coyotes, alligators, crocodiles, Burmese pythons and poisonous toads. Getting hit by vehicles is another common hazard.

Lulu was 20 pounds underweight, weighing 60 when she should have weighed 80, according to veterinarian Mary Bressman of Stuart. Lulu had cuts, burns, anal sores and a fistula that made going to the bathroom painful. She had a mammary tumor and myriad other issues she may never recover from, including allergies and missing teeth.

“She stayed a week,” said Provenzano, who helped Lulu’s rescuers get her to the vet. “She had a lot of health issues, unfortunately, that we had to cure for her, and then I fell in love with her. I visited her every day and I decided to adopt her myself.”

Provenzano paid all the vet bills to remove Lulu’s tumor, spay her, give her antibiotics, immunosuppressive medicine and proper nutrition. Now Lulu is on track with her weight and is as healthy as she can be.

In her forever home with Provenzano’s family, she has a cozy bed, reliable food and air-conditioning. She wears pink pajamas and loves playing with her also-rescued siblings, Franklin and Liam.

“She’s been through quite a bit,” Provenzano said. “She’s a good girl. If people learn from this, that’s the best thing. You got to do something, got to help.”

Dog rescue, animal shelters, pet adoption

Provenzano is friends with the mother of Chicago resident Emily Loomis, who was on vacation in Florida when she rescued Lulu.

After a long day of snorkeling in Key Largo, Loomis wanted to visit some national parks. While at a stop sign near Biscayne National Park, she saw Lulu roaming loose in the dark around 9 p.m. on Feb. 23.

Emaciated and afraid, Lulu stood under a dim wooden streetlight until Loomis opened her car door. Lulu jumped right into the passenger seat, panting and licking the hands and faces of her saviors.

“By the look of her skinny body, burned skin and paws, and all cut up, we knew she must have been out there for days,” Loomis told TCPalm.

Loomis said she called about a dozen phone numbers in search of help — to no avail. Everyone told her the same thing: Abandonments are common and there was nothing they could do.

“The National Park Service’s mission is to protect and preserve natural habitats,” Biscayne National Park Service spokesperson Elizabeth Strom told TCPalm. “Park staff follow the same steps anyone would: Contact local shelters/rescues for assistance.”

Most seemingly abandoned pets are animals that have strayed too far from their nearby homes, Miami-Dade County Animal Services spokesperson Gabriella Dominguez told TCPalm. Regardless, the agency doesn’t disregard any calls and determines whether to send an officer on a case-by-case basis depending on the circumstances, she said.

“Due to the current overpopulation crisis at our shelter, we are prioritizing space for dogs that are sick, injured or may pose a risk to public safety,” she said. “We kindly ask the community to assist in reuniting healthy, non-aggressive found dogs with their families whenever possible.”

Lulu was checked for a microchip, but she didn’t have one. After Loomis took Lulu to her Airbnb and bathed her, her mother contacted Provenzano for help.

“She didn’t have any luck from rescues down there,” Provenzano said of Loomis. “I met her in Palm Beach Gardens and brought her up here, got her in to see the vet … and before I sent out information for her being adopted, I took her myself.”

Traumatized dog symptoms

Traumatized dogs’ reputation for being dangerous is mostly undeserved, Bressman said, but there are exceptions.

Pam Robb, a volunteer at 100 Plus Abandoned Dogs of the Everglades in Oakland Park, was killed when a rescued Everglades dog attacked her and a coworker, who survived with minor injuries, in 2022.

Such incidents are rare, but people should be cautious around standoffish rescues, Bressman said.

“Dogs and cats like Lulu can definitely be affected emotionally,” she said. “It’s tough living with that stress of missing their family that they knew before. They don’t know why they got dumped. They miss what they had before and they’re scared because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.”

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Provenzano said she’s never been afraid of dogs and has an affinity for rescues. Lulu is mostly timid and never been aggressive, even though she is protective of Provenzano against strangers. That’s common, Bressman said.

“They tend to be nervous when they first get rescued,” Bressman said. “Once they get in a loving environment again, in a safe space again, they do settle down.”

This article originally appeared on Marco Eagle: Lulu, a dog abandoned in the Florida Everglades, finds forever home