In the first week of 2015, a resident of Wilson, N.C., saw a half-starved Pit Bull chained to a plastic crate. Since the temperatures were below freezing when he spotted the poor dog, the kind man decided to help the canine. His primary concern was that the dog couldn’t possibly survive another night in the cold, so he contacted For the Love of Dogs NC to save the neglected dog.

When the owner of the non-profit organization Max Fitzgerald came to the rescue, he thought it was too late. The female Pit Bull showed no signs of life and looked like she was frozen to death.  However, when Fitzgerald touched her, the dog wagged her tail.

To make things worse, she was not the only abused dog on the property. A male pooch was found inside a plastic crate filled with feces, trying to stay warm.

Both the dogs were taken to the shelter where vets struggled for hours to save their lives. The female Pit Bull was named Elsa after the Frozen character and the male pooch Colin. They have been abused for years and, although they are now safe, Elsa and Colin have a long road to recovery in front of them. Sadly, Elsa is also heartworm positive, but cannot be treated immediately because she was found malnourished and underweight.

The people from For the Love of Dogs NC have hired an attorney and will do everything in their power to make sure that Elsa and Colin’s abusers face justice.