At Animal Humane Society, every animal who walks through our doors comes from a unique journey and backstory that brought them to their second chance at our shelters.

For Desoto, a 7-month-old terrier mix, his journey started in Tennessee — with one of the worst cases of an embedded collar our animal welfare partners had ever seen.

Desoto was rescued as part of an ongoing humane investigation case, where the agents were called to rescue a dog who was bleeding from his neck. The collar, likely placed on Desoto as a puppy, became smaller and tighter on him as he grew — squeezing and slicing into the vital tissue on his neck.

This wasn’t an accident. Someone had purposefully left this sweet puppy to suffer. Desoto needed help and thankfully our rescue partners could bring him to immediate safety.

While the local vets were able to safely remove the embedded collar and stop the bleeding, Desoto needed specialized care to repair the damage that was done.

Animal Humane Society was the first to be called.

The surgery to repair Desoto’s neck was high risk and took an extraordinary amount of time to carefully close the large wound — but our expert veterinary staff knew exactly what to do.   

Desoto’s surgery was successful, and the 7-month-old rebounded quickly, seeming to know his life was about to change forever. Once trapped in a life that was suffocating, he could now be playful and free — and experience a world filled with the love he’d always deserved.

In an average year, AHS transports more than 4,000 animals in need from within Minnesota and across the country to our shelters. We provide them with the medical care, behavioral rehabilitation, and second chance they may not have otherwise received, thanks to the support of our animal-loving community.