A disheveled dog whose smile went viral when he was living in a “euthanasia holding facility” on a Pacific island has seen his defiant grin take him to a better life in the United States.
Abandoned pooch Mort was in a terrible condition, suffering from mange, tick disease, worms, ticks, and fleas while in a shelter in Saipan, a U.S. Commonwealth in the Western Pacific Ocean.
On January 22, Aria Keilbach, co-founder of animal rescue group Boonie Babies, visited the shelter, which she described more as a holding pen for dogs that are undesirable and will later be euthanized.
Saipan has a large numbers of boonie dogs – free-roaming, often mix-breed strays – which end up in such shelters.
As part of Boonie Babies’ work, Aria occasionally visits this shelter to see if there are any dogs who are adoptable to the public and pass an initial temperament test.
While walking through the shelter, Aria noticed a small, curled-up, hairless dog, but despite his horrendous condition, he immediately jumped up with excitement and started to smile.
Putting her cellphone around the gate and recording the big grin, Aria captured the rawness of this initial interaction, which many saw as the dog being so positive in the face of adversity when the video was posted on Boonie Babies’ social media.
Named Mort, the dog was taken home with Aria, where he was treated, and his hair quickly grew back.
As Aria and her sister Grace posted about Mort’s journey on social media, donations for their work started to come in, with more and more people asking for updates on Mort’s next steps.
Given how big a part Mort has played in the foundation’s journey, Grace and Aria felt they needed to keep him close and part of the family, and so it was decided that Grace, who now lives in Washington, D.C., would adopt him.
On September 25, having been treated for heart worm, Mort made it to the United States, where he continues to smile and live out a happy life.
Boonie Babies was founded in 2018 when Aria and Grace started spending time living on Saipan with their mom, and they hope Mort’s journey inspires donations to rescue other dogs in similar positions.
Grace said: “This is truly such an emotional job, where even just talking about it makes me tear up because of the dogs that we have been able to save versus the dogs we haven’t.
“But stories like Mort are what makes it worth it – being able to share his story to bring attention to the other dogs has been the most beautiful thing.
“Mort is amazing. He does have his smile and that is a rare characteristic, but every dog at this shelter has something unique and incredible about them.”
Aria added: “It’s the entire point of everything we do: we take these dogs from the verge of the end and we turn them into something that we think is beautiful and was beautiful the entire time.
“Now everybody else is able to immediately recognize that beauty and share it as well.
“I think Mort wears that so obviously, it’s just the perfect story of everybody can smile like Mort.
“Everybody has their own trials and tribulations; they may not have been stuck in a shelter starving like Mort was, but everybody has their problems and their issues.
“Every dog that we rescue has been through it as well, and although each of them may not smile like Mort does, the recovery is still the same.
“The pride is still the same when you see them recover like that.”
