Joe Kirk’s photo of Gregory the beagle snuggling up to his shoulder, snapped just after he saved the dog from euthanasia, didn’t take long to go viral after its posting on Facebook.
The beagle at Franklin County’s dog shelter in Ohio was two days shy of being put down when Kirk laid eyes on it, Cleveland.com reported.
Kirk and his wife Schenley are co-founders of the Hound Rescue and Sanctuary, which has a no euthanasia policy, Today reported, and they often check for condemned animals to rescue from other shelters.
Joe Kirk drove two hours to pick up the two-year-old beagle, but it was worth it when during the car ride home when Gregory climbed onto the car seat and cuddled up with his rescuer.
"The BEST Freedom Ride Picture EVER!," Schenley Kirk said in the Facebook post, noting that Gregory was one thankful and appreciative beagle.
"He KNOWS he is SAFE!," she said, adding that they would "provide him all the love he so deserves and a wonderful future!!"
Gregory will live at the Hound Rescue and Sanctuary until he is adopted, and the offers are already coming in.
Today reported a couple in Columbus saw the Facebook post and are hoping to give the dog a new forever home.
While Gregory's story has a happy ending, not all animals taken in to shelters share his fortune.
The American Society for the Prevention of Animals Cruelty reported that about 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized in the U.S. each year.
That amounts to 64 percent of all animals entering shelters, American Humane noted.
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