Pit Bull Rescued From Abandoned Crack House Adopted By Lower East Side Firefighters
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A pit bull found inside an abandoned crack house in Staten Island has a new home: A firehouse.
When animal rescuers Erica Mahnken and her fiancé, Michael Favor found Ashley the pit bull in January, she was malnourished and covered in cigarette burns, CBS News reported.
"We didn't ask any questions when the person called us and told us the dog was alone," Mahnken told CBS News. "It was freezing out. There was nothing in the house. No, we didn't think about it — we just ran and got her and said we'll figure out what we were going to do after we got her out of there."
The pair didn't have anywhere to keep the dog at the time so they called some firefighter friends from the Lower East Side FDNY station called "Fort Pitt."
The firefighters agreed to temporarily house the dog.
Three days later, they called up Mahnken and asked if they could adopt the nearly year-old pit bull, CBS News reported.
Mahnken told them yes.
"My heart wants to explode," Mahnken said. "Everyone's so quick to judge a dog, especially a dog you don't know where it came from or what kind of person they are and what kind... It is very satisfying," she told CBS News.
The "Fort Pitt" firefighters also seem to be enjoying their new official firehouse dog named Ashley, "Ash" for short.
The dog loves to hang out with the crew in the kitchen and goes on ride-alongs with the firefighters when they respond to a fire. She even has her own little spot on the fire truck, Mahnken added.
Ashley even has her own official Instagram account, which has already garnered more than 2,800 followers. Firefighters give almost updates — almost daily — on the dog's adventures and whereabouts.
