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We have a follow-up to our story about Diego, the dog that had been attacked by a mountain lion. It turns out it's only by chance that the dog survived.
It just so happens that a Kamas resident was driving down a dirt road when he saw something that made him stop.
The first thing you need to know about Bronson Butler is that he loves animals. So when, at 2 o'clock in the morning on July 27, he saw an animal lying on the side of the road, he couldn't just keep going.
"As soon as light shined on his face, I could tell there was a lot of blood coming down it. So I went over to it and picked it up. We just can't leave this thing here. We're going to have to take it home and care for it. We just don't want to leave it here because it will die," Butler said.
Bloodied and bruised, it turned out to be Diego the Doberman. Veterinarians believe Diego had been attacked by a mountain lion. His wounds were deep; he was missing an eye and had claw marks from his neck to his tail. And Butler just happened to find him.
"I loaded that thing in the back of my brand new car. It was pretty bloody and it had a bunch of mud all over it," Butler said.
He'd only had his BMW for a week, but he says he didn't care about the car, he cared about the dog; so he took him home.
"We were out there all night. I woke my parents up. They went out there to help me out with him. We were wiping him off and trying to feed him. But he didn't want to eat anything. His mouth was pretty messed up," Butler said.
The next morning, Animal Control picked up Diego and, with the Utah Doberman Rescue group, got him medical help. That's the last Bronson heard about the dog, now named Diego, until we aired Diego's story.
"I was just hoping that he goes to a good home, that's all I wanted to make sure of," Butler said.
Denise Shepherd, who adopted Diego, says, "It's a great, great relationship. He's my buddy."
It looks like Diego's found that good home. Bronson says he didn't want Diego to be put down and had offered to adopt the dog if he couldn't find a home. But Diego did find a home, and, as it turns out, the Doberman serves as a therapy dog to his new owner.
E-mail: lprichard@ksl.com
