Silvia Rayssa preaches one particular message on her dog’s Instagram: “Better than buying a life, is saving one! Rescue the mistreated, save the injured, love the abandoned…” And the story of this Siberian husky, Maya, is a heartwrenching and then heartwarming testimony to that. One animal rescue story a day reminds us that there are still good people among us.

Up until 5 years ago, Maya had only seen the worst side of humanity in her life—she was forced to breed repeatedly in a ‘puppy factory’ in Goiânia, Brazil. Maya was completely worn out and already paraplegic because of the horrible treatment and conditions when she was found. Her irreversible health problems made her useless to the kennel, so they were about to get rid of her. But Rayssa stepped into the rescue and gave this dog a second chance at a happy life and by saving Maya, she also saved herself.

Bored Panda has reached out to Rayssa and she told us the whole beautiful rescue story, so prepare your tissues in advance.

More info: Instagram

A Siberian husky named Maya was being forced to breed in a kennel in Brazil and had only seen the worst side of humanity

Image credits: maya_especial

The kennel was going to get rid of her because she was no longer useful to make profit because of her horrible health condition

Image credits: maya_especial

“I think we have all asked ourselves: ‘is our destiny already set? Or is it all just a fluke?’ I have certainly asked myself this many times…

A colleague (also a protector of animals) received a complaint: the owners of a clandestine kennel were trying to ‘get rid’ of the mother since she was no longer serving to generate profit (puppies), they wanted to give her rat poison to ‘end the suffering of the poor thing.'” Rayssa told Bored Panda.

Maya was severely injured and already paraplegic when she was found in a cold cage in 2016

Image credits: maya_especial

“August 28, 2016 is a date that I will never forget. When we think we have seen everything in this life, I realize that we have never seen enough. We got there and she was lying, totally hurt. She drank her own urine and ate her own feces, a scene that broke my heart. As we put Maya in the car, it was possible to see her relief at leaving that place.”

“She drank her own urine and ate her own feces, a scene that broke my heart,” Rayssa decided to bring the dog home and give her a fresh start

Image credits: maya_especial

“She became paraplegic because she was beaten up, she was tied up, it was very heavy to hear”

Image credits: maya_especial

“When we think we have seen everything in this life, I realize that we have never seen enough,” Rayssa said

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Maya appeared in Rayssa’s life when they both needed it the most: “she was the one who saved me”

Image credits: maya_especial

“I have always been passionate about animals, I always felt that I had a different connection with them… After all, how can I explain so much love?

I was in a difficult time in my life, you know when things lose their meaning a little? As if you were losing your strength day after day? I felt that way in the face of all the evil that I saw happening in the world.

I was not living, I was simply existing… I still vividly remember the day when my heart cried out for a ‘big and special animal.’ What I felt in my soul after that, I will never find words to describe…”

Image credits: maya_especial

The new owner didn’t leave Maya’s side for the first 48 hours. She was very weak, but had a strong desire to live in her eyes

Image credits: maya_especial

“The first 48 hours I did not leave her side for even 1 second, because we were afraid that she would not resist because of the serious condition in which she was found; but I saw in her eyes that she would not give up, that she was very strong and would not give up… I saw her desire to live!”

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

“Maya was a little skittish at first, but who could blame her? She had never known the love of a family, she never knew a caress. For 5 years of her life, she only knew a cold, dark cage. She only knew the worst side of the human being.”

After that, she went on a year-and-a-half-long treatment trying to restore both her physical and mental health

Image credits: maya_especial

“Then we started her long treatment, we took several trips to veterinary clinics. Knowing about Maya’s history, I already imagined that she wouldn’t walk again, and that was never a problem for me… But to know that she became paraplegic because she was beaten up, she was tied up, it was very heavy to hear. I can’t imagine even a shred of the whole nightmare she’s been through.”

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

“About three weeks later we were still struggling hard to restore her health until we had a big scare: she urgently needed a blood transfusion, otherwise she would not be able to resist. That day my world turned upside down. I tried to be strong for her. But I could see in her eyes that she was being strong for both of us!”

Since she couldn’t walk, she started her adaptation to the wheelchair: “since then she has been free to fly, free to go wherever she wants”

Image credits: maya_especial

“We started her adaptation to the wheelchair, and from the first moment she got into her car seat, she already knew, ‘now I am free’ and since then she has been free to fly, free to go wherever she wants.”

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

“Maya was in continuous treatment for about a year and a half. And she has always shown herself to be stronger every day! And learning to leave the nightmare she lived in the past. Learning that her future would be written together!”

After almost 5 years, Maya has come a long way since August 28, 2016 and has transformed unrecognizably

Image credits: maya_especial

“More than four and a half years have passed, and even today the transformation of Maya is remembered by everyone who followed it closely for the incredible desire to live that she always had!”

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Her incredible desire to live and finally being able to experience the good side of people brought Maya to the wholesome life she has now

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

“People say that I saved Maya, but I always answer the following: ‘no, she was the one who saved me.’ Maya changed my life, and that of many people with the history of overcoming, compassion, and love that we are still living today. There are no wounds that love cannot heal!

And Maya is a great example of this, she was welcomed with such respect and affection that even the deepest wounds of her soul, today, are just scars that show that she was stronger than what hurt her because her scars are the marks of overcoming that only a warrior has.”

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

Image credits: maya_especial

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