Dear dog lovers and animal friends,
The good news is that our stolen Leonberg Maya was finally freed from her prison and returned to her family after being locked up and severely neglected by her thieves for 1 year and 260 days.
This is YOUR accomplishment, this is thanks to you helping to share and spread Maya's story.
That is a FACT, because really everything, beyond imagination, has been done by both the local police, the animal welfare service Dierenwelzijn and minister Weyts to cover up Maya's theft, false registration in dogID and subsequent abuse that has lasted for almost 2 years and came close to destroying our Maya completely.
From the bottom of our hearts : a sincere and warm THANK YOU for helping to bring back Maya.
It was dog therapist Leen Uytterschaut, specialized in traumatized dogs, who was first on the scene and who gave Maya first care. Thank you Leen !
The bad news is that Maya was returned to us in a horrible state. She was in shock and it took 2 full days only to get her breathing back to somewhat normal. You can watch the videos in this article. Luckily, the Italian Cristina Maretti started treatment right away - and is continuing until this very day. Thank you Cristina !
Maya couldn't eat, could barely drink and walk and smelled like urine. It took 5 days before she didn't throw up her food anymore and a week before she pood. The orthomolecular food specialist Luc Van Loocke - who is also a well known breeder of English bulldogs and bullmastifs and a favored guest in international shows, perhaps some of you may know him - will follow up Maya's diet. Thank you Luc !
Maya's weight went up from 43 kg to a staggering 60 kg from eating mainly old bread day in, day out (the leftovers of the bakery run by Maya's thieves), she has lost all muscles, tripled in volume, she has pain and her legs tremble when she tries to sit up as can be seen here.
Maya's mouth was rotten, with a stinking abces, even the root of one of her teeth lies open in her jaw without any remaining flesh or bone covering it. She can't have surgery now because that requires complete anesthesia, which could kill her in her current condition. Maya's eyes were mostly closed and severely swollen due to eye infections on both eyes. These are slowly starting to heal nicely now, the question remains if there will be consequences for her sight or not.
We found an excellent rehabilitation center for dogs, that gave Maya 6 chances to 10 for recovery, but warned that the trajectory could take a year. Maya is too weak to start rehab now, the next consultation is on March 24th. You can read more about Karen Verhamme here. Thank you Karen !
Maya has been sleeping of her trauma, sleeping most of the day for these past 2 weeks, totally exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She can barely handle short walks, but clearly enjoys going to visit friends (where she also sleeps) and taking part in real life again.
Her thieves refuse until this day to put Maya's chip back in our name. Dierenwelzijn promised to change Maya's registration, but failed to do so. 2 weeks after Maya's return, and despite 2 convictions by criminal court, she is still registered in the name of her thieves. This alone proves how "well" dogID and Europetnet are working, how "accurate" the information is and how "well" your dog is protected by chipping and registering it.
Now is the time to give thanks, rest and heal - but we'll be back with news so Maya and all dogs in Europe can enjoy an effective protection in the future. Because someone will have to answer these very simple questions : (1) how is it possible that a stolen dog could be falsely registered and then locked up and neglected for almost 2 years while everybody knew what was happening - but did nothing about it AND (2) what measures will be taken so never again, there can be another Maya ?
With love from Maya, her mom (Anke) and her sister (Anaya)