It’s always heartbreaking when dogs are surrendered to shelters by their owners, but it’s infuriating when they’re abandoned for such senseless reasons.
Recently, one poor dog got ditched by his owners for a truly bizarre reason: they thought he was gay. But thankfully, this dog’s story now has a happy and fitting ending.
According to WCCB Charlotte, a dog named Fezco was left at Stanly County Animal Protective Services by his owners, because they thought thought he was “gay” after humping another male dog, and decided they didn’t want him anymore.
It was a baffling decision that was not only intolerant but showed a lack of understanding of basic dog behavior. According to the ASPCA, “humping” is a normal habit for dogs, not necessarily indicative of their sexuality.
“All dogs do it. It’s a dominance thing and a play thing,” explains Dr. William Pressly of Pressly Animal Hospital told WCCB.
And while dogs aren’t particularly choosy about the gender of their “partners,” they don’t have sexual orientation the way humans do.
“Dogs don’t have a sexual orientation; they pretty much do what they want when they want,” a blog post from World Dog Finder says. “They aren’t evolved enough to understand or feel specific sexual attraction towards one sex.”
Fezco’s former owners apparently didn’t understand that, and decided they couldn’t have a “gay dog” anymore, leaving the 4- or 5-year-old dog in a shelter to find a new home.
The shelter said Fezco is a “good boy” who likes humans and other animals. According to WCCB, the dog wasn’t well-treated by his former owners, and has had to undergo medical treatments.
News of Fezco’s abandonment made headlines, and people everywhere were baffled that anyone would leave a dog behind for such a silly reason. “You just don’t throw ’em away,” Dr. Pressy said. “When you get an animal, he’s there for the lifetime.”
But thankfully, this dog’s sad story has a happy ending. Steve Nichols and his partner John, from Charlotte, North Carolina, heard about Fezco and were moved by his story, and applied to adopt.
As gay men, they understood the kind of intolerance that landed Fezco faced: “We’ve been subject to that kind of bigotry and ignorance throughout our lives together, and we couldn’t always do anything about it,” Steve told WCCB. The couple have been together for 30 years. “We looked at each other and said, we can do something about this.”
“We just thought it would make sense for the gay dog to be adopted by a loving gay family.”
The couple has given him Fezco a new loving home, and a new name: “Oscar,” after the poet Oscar Wilde.
It’s heartbreaking that this dog was abandoned by his owners for such a bizarre reason, but we’re glad that he’s now found a more loving and tolerant new home.
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