Abandoned in the cold, he was small and freezing when we found him. On the way to the vet he went completely still, and then he showed us he had the will to live.
His name is a nod to the actor Hugh Jackman, and to the day the doctors thought he might be a jackal.
Watch the video27:29He Barely Survived After This Happened · February 10, 2024 · Open on YouTube ↗
It was a very cold day when the emergency call came. Locals had seen a puppy abandoned out in the cold, and we had to hurry. The road was long and the terrain hard, and with a good distance still ahead of us, we did not know whether we would reach him in time.
We were getting closer, and he was somewhere nearby, when the road came to a dead end. From there we went in on foot. We saw tracks in the snow and kept searching until, at last, at the foot of a wall among dry grass, we found him. He was so small.
He was freezing cold when we carried him to the car, and although we wrapped him in a blanket and did everything we could to warm him, he did not look well. We were hurrying to the vet when he stopped moving and lay completely still. We held a pouch of food to his mouth, hoping it might help. It did, and as he began to eat, he showed us he had the will to live.
After that we made sure he stayed warm, tucking him inside a jacket, blanket and all, before we drove on. We had a long way back, and to our relief he fell asleep. At one stop we filled a bottle with warm water and set it beside him. He warmed up a little, but it was not enough.
By the time we reached the emergency clinic, he was in critical condition. The tests began, and his temperature was so low that the thermometer could not even register it. Blood tests came next, and with them another worry: the vets believed he might not be a dog at all, but a jackal. Extra blood tests would be needed to be sure.
The results, when they came, showed no major diseases, and that was a relief. Even so, his temperature remained very low and he was severely underfed, so the vets made a special rehabilitation plan to get him back on his feet. If all went well, he would be up and running in a few weeks. Once we had finally warmed him up, he ate again, and as his appetite grew, he went straight for the can of food.
When we went back to the clinic, the day was brighter, and it felt as if something good was about to happen. He was doing a lot better, and he was up on his feet. The blood tests had settled the other question as well. He was a dog, not a jackal.
He would have to stay at the clinic for at least a week. For now, he could rest curled up on a soft blanket, a long way from the dry grass by the wall where we had found him. When we filmed his story, we were looking for a family for Hugh Jackal.
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