Shelter Launches 'Murder Investigation" To Help A Dog Find A Home And It Will Melt Your Heart

Animals | Uplifting | Trending

Shelter Launches 'Murder Investigation" To Help A Dog Find A Home And It Will Melt Your Heart

To find a good home for a 4-year-old Chocolate Lab, one animal shelter got very creative.

Hank, seen with the Fuzzy Pink Hippo before the incident.Fox Valley Humane Association

Since the adorable Hank arrived at the Fox Valley Humane Association with his favorite toy the Fuzzy Pink Hippo, the pair have been inseparable. So when volunteers found the toy ruined in his enclosure one morning, they knew something sinister must have taken place.

Since the hippo never left Hank's enclosure, he was the prime suspect.Fox Valley Humane Association

That's what inspired the shelter's creative director Rebecca Klich to create a murder mystery, challenging the shelter's followers on social media to solve what happened to the Fuzzy Pink Hippo.

A local police dog was assigned to crack the case.Fox Valley Humane Association

After snapping photos of the crime scene, the hippo was rushed to emergency surgery, where the shelter's vets managed to sew the toy back together. But questions still remained, and shelter staff had to grill Hank to find out if he was responsible for the vicious attack.

Someone knocked the stuffing out of the Fuzzy Pink Hippo, but vets managed to put him back together.Fox Valley Humane Association
Do you think Hank is guilty?Fox Valley Humane Association

The shelter even got local police involved to crack this case, and with their help they managed to give this episode of Paw and Order a very happy ending.

Hank needed to get a lawyer, but his friends supported him...

With Hank identified as the prime suspect, the shelter dog pulled in his lawyer to help defend his innocence.

Fox Valley Humane Association

Meanwhile, the Fuzzy Pink Hippo tried to work out just what happened to him, with the help of his therapist.

Fox Valley Humane Association

With the shelter posting about the case on social media, it started to attract a lot of attention. By the next day, there were even picketers outside the shelter insisting that Hank was innocent.

The local Appleton Police Department even got involved in the hunt for the hippo's attacker, bringing in one of their K9 department's new recruits to search the crime scene.

Fox Valley Humane Association

After a long and difficult investigation, officers finally cleared Hank's name, and said he actually tried to protect his friend the hippo. Then, Hank received one more piece of very good news.

Posted by Fox Valley Humane Association on Thursday, July 13, 2017

According to Klich, this case attracted attention from "Asia, India, Canada and all over the states," so it's no surprise that Hank was adopted just after being declared innocent.

Hank and the Fuzzy Pink Hippo pose with their new family.Fox Valley Humane Association

Hank's adoption is good news for the shelter too, since they've "even received donations from people who have been touched by the story, which has helped us save more lives!"

Share this adorable mystery with someone you know!

[H/T: HuffPost]

I write about all sorts of things for Shared, especially weird facts, celebrity news, and viral stories.