PARK CITY, Utah - A dog named Ben was hit by a car three weeks ago, but with the charitable spirit of some Park City residents, he's expected to survive.
Ben, a Great Pyrenees, was hit by a car near Browns Canyon in Park City. As he lay bleeding and broken, the driver who hit him and another woman called Friends of Animals Utah.
Lisa Allison, executive director for Friends of Animals Utah, says they would leave Ben in the care of Dr. Carl Prior and they'd see how he responded to decide what they would do. Prior rushed out of church on Sunday to help out.
"He had a fracture in his spinal cord and a lot of trauma to the nerve was due to swelling," Prior said.
For the past three weeks, Ben has stayed at the Park City Animal Clinic, but he hasn't been alone.
Billie Harsch, the woman who found Ben, and her friend Daintrie Zega, along with others, have been there to help Ben recover. Other Park City residents were able to track his recovery on Facebook.
"I'll be sitting here and people will just wander in and see him and ask if he's the dog on Facebook and come and tend to him some will come in and pay his bill cause that ran up pretty high over the weeks he's been here," Zega said.
Even though the Park City Animal Clinic donated a lot of the medical services Ben needed, Friends of Animals Utah is responsible for the rest of the bill.
Allison says the community has made him their pet project, donating money to help pay for his recovery.
"The community the staff everyone pitched in we did our part, but everyone else did their part and Ben did his part, so it was a team effort," Prior said.
Ben is now up and walking with the help of a wheelchair, but Prior says he won't always need it.
"He still has deficits in his hind legs. He can move around and isn't in pain. In the right situation, he'll be a loving member of someone's family," Prior said.
Anyone interested in adopting Ben should contact Friends of Animals Utah at 435-649-5441 or visit foautah.org.
