Richard Ewers was a kindhearted man who loved dogs more than anything in the world.
Seventy-one-year-old Ewers spent his life rescuing stray dogs and dogs that were abandoned by their former owners. He gave them a home at his large house in San Antonio, Texas. By 2018, Ewers had 27 dogs, and he loved every last one of them.
Unfortunately, in March 2018, Ewers was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Ewers knew he had about a year left to live, and he was determined to find good homes for all 27 of his dogs in that year. He reached out to friends and family members, asking for help. Soon, word spread around San Antonio. Residents banded together to find homes for all of these pups.
A group of animal lovers created a Facebook page called ‘Helping Mr. Richard and His Dogs.’ They used this page to help spread the word about the dogs.
The Facebook page worked, and soon more and more people came forward to adopt Richard’s dogs. The volunteers also helped put up fencing in Richard’s backyard so the dogs could safely run and play.
Over the next year, the volunteers and Richard worked to find foster or forever homes for all the dogs. They were able to find homes for about half of the dogs.
In April 2019, one of the volunteers posted some sad news to the Facebook page. They said that Richard’s health had taken a turn for the worse, and he was now in hospice. His dying wish was to find good homes for the last dogs left at his house.
“They can’t be here much longer,” Mary Oyler from Save Our Strays San Antonio told KSAT. “There’s no one to give them attention and love. There is no running water. There is no electricity. The conditions are just not ideal.”
A few different local news stations picked up the story, and soon, more people came to adopt the remaining dogs. A local rescue named Amazing God’s Dog Rescue also said they would take in some of the pups.
Soon, there were 11 dogs left on the property. Of these dogs, six were semi-feral. The other five dogs were put up for adoption: Lady, Lucky, Fuzzy, Billy Sue, and Sugar.
Lucky and Sugar both got adopted in early May 2019, and Fuzzy went to Amazing God’s Dog Rescue. Then, a sanctuary in Nebraska reached out and said they would take the remaining eight dogs. Just like that, all of Richard’s dogs had found forever homes or foster homes! The volunteers were so glad they could tell Richard all his dogs were safe.
Richard sadly passed away on May 19, 2019.
“We do believe he found a sense of peace knowing his dogs would be ok…Thank you goes out to everyone for your shares, your prayers, your donations, and all the volunteers that helped through the past year and a half,” the volunteers wrote on Richard’s Facebook page.
Richard was a kind dog-lover who was determined to help stray dogs find a better life. We’re glad that all of his dogs are safe, happy, and loved.
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