ALMA

AS TOLD BY HER MUM:

Alma was rescued in Irra, Colombia, in June 2020. At the time she was 8 months old. She had been
living as a stray in a very rural area. One day, a farmer started feeding her. Alma was skin and bones, so he earned her trust. Unfortunately he took her near his house, and there he made her a victim of sexual and physical abuse. The abuse was so bad that she ended up with physical impairments. The details of every horror she had to go through are a very hard pill to swallow, so I will skip most of them. Alma was held captive by this man, and whenever she appeared again, she was limping, whimpering, couldn't pee, bleeding, etc. Nearby people thought the guy had a kind heart because he fed her, but that certainly was not the case. Alma disappeared one last time, and the farmer dropped her at the side of a river after abusing her. He thought she was going to die soon, and she was. A friend of mine was staying with family close by, and decided to take a walk through the river. That's when she found Alma, agonizing, unable to stand, or even move her head. She called me and we transported her from Irra to Manizales, an small city in Colombia, where I live. Here, she received vet care just in time. She spent 3 weeks in the hospital, had a fractured pelvis, a fractured tail, and a foreign object inside her anus. We thought that she would not make it, but fortunately she proved us all wrong. Her story became known all around the country, as the investigation opened and we all pleaded justice for her. In Colombia, animal abuse is not punished at all, so the government dumped the case stating that there had to be "video evidence" for them to declare a culprit, even when the abuser's information was at hand. That decision sparked a lot of anger and sadness. National newspaper wrote an article about it, but no one ever did anything about it. Now, Alma has been my soul mate for a year. She suffers from hard episodes of PTSD, is physically impaired, and can be reactive around men. We have trained, trained and trained, and slowly she started blossoming into a new dog. Her coat grew, she started smiling, accepting treats, going for walks, and sleeping besides me. Alma is Manizales' most well-known pup. Her story, her courage, and her will to love and be loved, have inspired people all around the country. Last month, Alma started attending therapy groups for people who are SA survivors, and it has been an immensely valuable experience for all involved. Survivors can see themselves in her, in her behaviours, in the way she sees the world. A young woman once told me: "If she can overcome hard times with a smile, why can't I?".