3 local high school rugby team members save stray dog's life, make him team mascot
HOUSTON - Flashback to a month ago, the St. Pius X High School Rugby Team was practicing at a park they hadn't been before when a stray dog showed up,
"You could tell he was a stray. He was looking around for food. He's dirty, we saw him and he was friendly with us instantly," said team member Grant Stringfellow. "He was being incredibly friendly with us."
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"There were these two dogs and they were chained up, but there was no fence around the house," said team member Burke Battenfield. "He went over there to make friends with them. He thought they were friendly too, but they started attacking him."
"He had no idea what to do. He looked like he was just waiting to die," Stringfellow said.
"I got a blanket out of my truck, Burke got a water bottle out of his and a little bowl to give him some water," said team member Hayden llorens.
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"In the truck ride with my brother and his friend Hayden, he was just thankful to be somewhere warm. It was freezing and wet outside, so you could tell he was just happy to be around people, and know he would be taken care of," said Riley Battenfield,
They rushed Buster to a 24-hour emergency vet hospital.
"We immediately started fundraising. Then we immediately started looking for a foster, because when you pick that animal up, when they say come and get him, where is he going to go?" said Barbara Ballance, Vice President of Animal Justice League.
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"In order to take him to get help, we had to have a foster, so there was no way we were not going to foster after what the boys did to save the dog," said Grant's mother Tricia Stringfellow.
"These guys did such an amazing job. A lot of people would have just turned the other way. They didn't. I'm just super proud and love this story," said Corley Garcia, Marketing Communication Director for Animal Justice League.
"What they did for him is going to be an experience they're going to take with them for the rest of their lives. They are going to know the reward they get out of helping someone," said David Selby, Varsity Rugby Team Coach.
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"His life went from roaming around eating trash, bleeding everywhere, to now he's sleeping on a coach," said Grant Stringfellow.
"He has two beds and more toys them any dog could want."
"It's really special," Llorens said. "He's a fighter. We're fighters, so we are all just trying to stay in the fight and win."
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