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3 Legs & A Tale Of Hope & Rescue: An Ann Arbor Woman Works To End Animal Abuse One Dog At A Time

Lisa Barry

Animal abuse is a worldwide problem affecting millions.  But an Ann Arbor woman is working to bring an end to the torture and killing of dogs hoping the impact will be felt both locally and globally.

89.1 WEMU’S Lisa Barry shares her story of hope and rescue.

To say Tammie Gilfoyle is a dog lover would be a huge understatement.

She is a dog rescuer, a dog nurturer, healer, certified dog masseuse in-training, and a champion to animals working to get an entire county to stop torturing and killing dogs.

A recently rescued dog from Jordan, Eva romps in her Ann Arbor backyard with Corgi Pepper.

One knock on her front door, and you know dogs live here.

Pepper is one of two Corgis Gilfoyle and her partner, Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig, own.

Pepper is short for Pepperoni, who is the brother to Sprout, who are all getting used to the newest member of the family, "Eva the Tri Paw Supergirl.”  That is the name on her Instagram account, where she already has hundreds of followers and is where the Ann Arbor gardener first found out about dogs being tortured and killed in the country of Jordan.

Gilfoyle was eventually able to connect with a rescuer in Jordan, and the more she learned about what happens to dogs there, the more horrified and upset she became.

Credit Lisa Barry

Dog abuse is becoming more prevalent in Jordan.  Gilfoyle says civilians are being paid to kill street dogs in Jordan, because there is no spay or neutering programs there, so this is how they are managing the street dogs.

Eva’s back two legs were broken when someone ran over her with a car repeatedly, and one leg eventually had to be amputated, leaving here with 3 legs and in pretty bad shape.

After a home inspection and a fundraising campaign, Gilfoyle was eventually able to bring Eva to the United States, where her health is much approved, and she is getting around much better.

That’s because since she arrived to her new Ann Arbor home, Eva, who is a Cannan, an ancient Israel herding breed, has had physical therapy, acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, chiropractics, as well as daily massages and walks--and toys.  Plenty to play with and lots of positive attention!

There is also a big backyard with lots of room to run on 3 legs and a special doggy bridge to climb on.

Gilfoyle says she often takes Eva the three-legged dog on walks near their Ann Arbor home, which often attracts attention from people driving by.

But the journey is not over for Eva.

Gilfoyle said they recently discovered not only had Eva been run over, leading to the loss of one leg, she was showing some distress and x-rays revealed even more torture to the puppy rescued from Jordan.  There were dozens of bullets, where Eva had been shot apparently by a BB gun in Jordan.

Credit Lisa Barry
Tammie Gilfoyle with Eva.

Gilfoyle says she hopes her efforts have a greater, more widespread impact even outside of Jordan, even suggesting she would like to make Ann Arbor a sanctuary city for dogs from Jordan.

Adding that abuse of dogs is representative of a wider universal problem.

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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You can contact Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMU, or email her at lbarryma@emich.edu

Lisa Barry was a reporter, and host of All Things Considered on 89.1 WEMU.
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