SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- “I missed ya bubba." Those are the words of Emma Niting, the dog owner who is reunited with her beloved Levee, all thanks to her neighbors.
Levee is a two-and-a-half-year-old husky who had found his forever home with Emma. This week, a hit-and-run accident left him in the direst of circumstances.
But thanks to some of his North Park neighbors, Levee was given a second chance.
“He hops and he looks at me, and I think," reminisces Emma. "I think this is my dog.”
Emma recalls the time she first met her Levee. It was a week ago at the San Diego Humane Society. She says instantly, she knew that he was hers.
Emma had just recently moved to San Diego, and for Levee's first whole week in his new home, they were inseparable. However Sunday, everything changed, when she went on her walk with Levee right before bed.
“My heart just dropped because he wasn’t on a leash," in tears Emma shares, "and that was my fault because he was just a happy guy, he just wants to run, and then I see him just going for the street, and I can see the lights coming.”
It was a hit-and-run accident that left Levee severely injured. It was thanks to neighbors like Jordan Waechter who rushed in to help. She along with others, slowly propped Levee onto the top of a plastic crate and rushed Emma and her pup to Veterinary Specialty Hospital.
“To be so up close and upfront with such an extreme situation there of course is a personal connection that I feel too Levy now and Emma," expresses Jordan, "and to our community.”
Levee ultimately had to lose his left leg and suffered a large abrasion across the lower part of his body. With no pet insurance, the cost was roughly $8,500 dollars. It was a fee that neighbors have slowly stepped in to take care of.
“It’s so humbling to be in a place when you need help," shares Emma with tears in her eyes, "I had really done my research before getting a dog and making sure that anything he needed I would be able to provide. And I just never anticipated this.”
The total as of Wednesday afternoon was more than $7,000. It's all thanks to strangers who showed up when they did not have to.
“It was a really unfortunate event that happened," states Jordan. "but in life when things do, it’s how do we come together?”
A community raising money, to make sure Levee and his owner have years of loving and cuddles ahead.
“He is my responsibility and I was going to figure it out somehow and the fact that we really don’t have to worry," emphasizes Emma, "it just lets me focus on him and be more present with him.”
“I think that it goes without saying," says Jordan, "that is really what community is all about”
Emma says that she expects Levee to be back up and playing within weeks.
Levee's GoFundMe pagecan be found here.
