Goodluck, Casbert, Caren, Princes, and Kenny are five young animal lovers who live in the city of Arusha in Northern Tanzania. One day, the kids were walking home from school together.
As they walked along a busy road, they saw a puppy standing on his own. The scared puppy stood right by the side of the road, and the kids worried he would get hit by a car.
The puppy was very friendly—when he saw the kids looking at him, he started wagging his tail. The kids picked the puppy up and gave him a name, Jack. They tried to bring Jack home, but their parents said they couldn’t keep him. The kids didn’t want to put Jack back out on the street, and so they contacted another young animal rescuer: Ismael Mungaya.
Twenty-one-year-old Ismael Mungaya runs a small animal shelter out of his parents’ home in Arusha.
Ismael started the shelter in 2016. His first dog was a stray named Tina who had just given birth to four puppies.
“I felt very sad for her,” Mungaya told The Dodo. “I took them [Tina and her puppies] home where I built a small box to cover them from the rain, and I continued to feed them.”
Ismael brought the dogs home and fed them, but he didn’t know what to do next. He turned to Facebook, where he asked for advice about how to care for the dogs. The post was widely shared, and many trained dog rescuers assisted Ismael. They helped him find a vet to vaccinate the dogs, and they brought him food for the pups.
Ismael started rescuing more and more dogs, and he also began adopting the pups out to people from around the world. In his first year as a dog rescuer, Ismael saved over 30 dogs.
Ismael typically takes in about six dogs at a time—he can’t fit more than that in his tiny shelter. Ismael’s shelter was actually at capacity when Goodluck, Casbert, Caren, Princes, and Kenny contacted him about Jack. But when Ismael saw how much the kids cared about Jack, his heart melted, and he decided he could squeeze one more dog in.
“These children are my super heroes. After they have spotted this little puppy, his name is Jack, they have decided to bring him to me. A boy who is holding the puppy asked me if I could help taking care. I said yes,” Ismael wrote on Facebook.
Jack has now settled into life at Ismael’s shelter. Ismael had the dog vaccinated, neutered, and dewormed, and he makes sure the pup gets plenty of food.
Once Jack is strong enough, Ismael will begin looking for the right forever home for him. For now, Jack is very happy at Ismael’s shelter. He’s made friends with two of other Ismael’s other new puppies, Oreo and Daisy. The three love cuddling and playing together.
Jack’s five rescuers also come to visit him as often as they can. The kids love playing with Jack, and they’re excited to see how well he’s doing!
“The kids made me happy,” Ismael said. “Yes, it was difficult as I didn’t have a lot of space in the kennel, but because of their commitment to help Jack, I said, ‘Let me help.’”
Ismael, Casbert, Princes, Goodluck, Caren, and Kenny are all incredible animal rescuers with huge hearts. Thanks to them, Jack is in a safe place, and he’ll hopefully soon find his forever home! If you’d like to help Ismael continue to save dogs like Jack, consider donating to his shelter.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
