Watson arrived at the shelter with his body covered in sores and a tumor that was already beyond treatment. A student had found him alone in a park in Philadelphia, and by the time Janine Guido, founder of Speranza Animal Rescue in Pennsylvania, saw him for the first time, she knew he didn’t have much time left.
That night, she didn’t leave him in a cage. She made a bed with comforters and pillows in the shelter’s laundry room, lay down beside him, and held him while speaking softly to him. Watson curled up against her and slept deeply, perhaps for the first time in a long while without being afraid of anything.
The next day, he no longer ate or drank. He walked in a couple of circles and passed away. Janine later said that it broke her heart, but that she wouldn’t trade that night for anything: it was enough to tell him, even if only once, that someone loved him.