HOUSTON – Connie the Container Dog has a new “leash” on life after she was rescued from a shipping container at a Houston port.
On Tuesday, Connie will be flown via private plane to the Forever Changed Animal Rescue in the Washington DC metropolitan area. She will be checked out by a veterinarian and cared for by the rescue’s director until she’s ready for adoption.
“As you can imagine we have received a mass amount of inquiries and requests on Connie,” the Forever Changed Animal Rescue said in a Facebook post.
Connie stole hearts across Texas last week after marine inspectors with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston found her as they selected random shipping containers for inspection. They heard scratching and barking coming from inside one of the containers in a stack, about 25 feet high.
The Associated Press reported that a crane was used to move the shipping container to the ground. When they opened the door, Connie popped out.
“She was right there, like she knew we were going to be there to open it for her. And she just, she wasn’t scared or anything. She just seemed happy more than anything, to be out of that dark space and in the arms of people that were going to take care of her,” McMahon, a petty officer 2nd class, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Officials said she had been in there for at least a week with no food or water. She “was tired, hungry, and very happy to see her rescuers,” a Facebook post from the U.S. Coast Guard Heartland read.
She was given water and driven to the Pasadena Animal Shelter before she was taken in by a rescue group, Forever Changed Animal Rescue.
The rescue group said in a Facebook post that Connie was a bit underweight, tested positive for heartworm and would be getting treatment for it.
Coast Guard officials are not sure where the container came from, but inside were junked vehicles that were likely being shipped overseas to be sold for parts.
“So based on that, they think that the dog most likely was in a junkyard, in a car. And that’s how she accidentally got put in the container,” Guard spokeswoman Chief Petty Officer Corinne Zilnicki said.
“It would take at least another week to get to where she was going (on a cargo ship) and two weeks without food or water. I don’t think she would have made it,” McMahon added.
You can keep up with Connie’s journey on the Forever Changed Animal Rescue Facebook page.