Justice for Rango

Co-organized

Xavier Sotelo and Trey Furnival are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello friends and family. This is an ask for help to keep our little guy alive. Rango was shot in the head and left for dead in his own yard by a still unknown person yielding a BB Gun in Kaycee, Wyoming. We are fighting for his life, but we need your help.

Updates below; click "read more" for more.

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On the night of Sunday, May 21st, Trey discovered Rango in the corner of the yard, limp and clearly injured. Rango had seemingly been beaten, or badly bitten. His eye was swollen shut, and the entire right side of his face was bleeding.

Trey was able to immediately get him to an on-call vet who was able to stabilize and ease some of Rango's pain. Within the hour, the vet provided an x-ray that showed a metal BB gun pellet lodged in his skull. The pellet entered through his right eye and traveled across his head, settling above the left side of his forehead.

After getting his pain under control, we made the call to pursue getting him further help, and Trey drove him to the nearest veterinary hospital in Fort Collins, CO. A full four hours away.

Rango is stable at the moment, but will most likely lose his right eye. He's managing his pain better but will require surgery to stay alive. He's clearly fighting and finally able to stand for a few moments on his own.

We're currently waiting for the vet staff to allow us to visit.

This is our plea to help us raise money to pay for Rango's hospitalization and give us the strength to bring justice to this cruelty. It's impossible to imagine what would possess someone to do this to such a lovely, loving, and happy dog.

We don't want to speculate on a motive, or even begin to think that Rango was a target. We love all equally and always expect our neighbors and friends to treat us with kindness and respect. Thank you all for the love and prayers, we'll be sure to keep everyone updated here.

UPDATES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 5/23

We were finally able to see Rango this afternoon. He was stabilized and still pretty sedated -- I had never seen so many tubes come out of a little guy like this before.

He was just lucid enough to recognize Trey's voice, and when he did, he whimpered with as much excitement as his poor little body could muster.

The doctors informed that the pellet had shredded his lense and damaged the inner-lower part of his eyeball beyond salvage. They ultimately recommended the BB pellet stay in place as the safest bet but informed that they would need to do surgery to remove his right eye.

The most comforting news was that the odds of Rango pulling through were getting better with time and that we had made every right decision up to this point.

Surgery is currently scheduled for tomorrow. We're so incredibly grateful to the wonderful doctors and nurses at J. L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital for taking such great care of our guy and rooting for Rango just as hard as we.

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Thursday, 5/23

We were let in today at 2PM to meet with the doctors for the latest and for a visit. He was resting but awake -- our first glimpse of our little dude after his surgery.

I can tell it was hard for him to look up so we got down to his level to chat with him and give him all the "good boys" we could give him in the moments we had. He finally recognized me today, kicking his hind leg up in excitement in that silly bashful way he does -- a sign for us that our old Rango is certainly coming back.

All the doctors and specialists were optimistic and just as happy to see Rango beginning to act like the pup he is. He restarts his physical therapy today to help him manage the right side of his body, and if his progress continues, the doctors are hopeful he'll be able to come home tomorrow.

We are so thankful for the outpour of support from all our friends, family, and pet allies. The near 4k that we've been able to raise so far in support of Rango is nothing short of amazing and will help us immensely in financing his hospitalization.

Rango has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but we intend to do everything possible to ensure our guy lives a long and happy life. You can bet on that. As far as this mystery goes, it will not go unresolved. We fully intend to bring the fight -- not just for Rango today but moving forward, for all pets and animals that fall victim to such indescribable malice.

Please help us share Rango's story with friends, family, and coworkers. The donations are helping us pay for Rango's care, and we're so very thankful for your aid and the relief you're providing us. We're truly thankful.

Love for all. Justice for Rango.

-- Rango, Trey, and Xavier

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Thursday, 5/31

It’s been a tiring few days — the toddler life is real. He’s on the up and getting a little better each day but with the BB on the left side of his brain the right side of his body still feels a bit foreign.

His physical therapy tests his ability to keep his balance and trust the space to his right. But as you can see, he only sees what he sees.

Now, about a week later, he’s definitely starting to act like his old self again — jumping onto and off the couch on his own steam, hopping just a bit when he’s demanding treats, and finding the sunniest spot in the house to bask in.

We’re so incredibly thankful for all the support and concern for Rango. The donations to help us pay for his medical bills have certainly given us a headstart and we’d be very thankful for any new contributions you can add. As you can see by the goal we’ve set, we’re just shy of halfway — if you can’t help today, please share this page to help us generate more support.

It’s interesting to learn that it was President Trump that signed the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, making intentional acts of cruelty to animals federal crimes carrying penalties of up to seven years in prison.

Since this past weekend, Trey has been working with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to complete the formal reporting of this crime and hopefully get us closer to the bottom of this unthinkable action. Our hope is to apply enough pressure on the local community to help us bring the responsible individual(s) forward to confess and SEEK HELP.

This is our wish and again, we’re thankful for the outpour of support in Rango’s favor. We’ll continue to update you on our progress and of course, share more photos of Rango’s recovery and memorable moments.

For tonight, we wanted to sign off with something a little more lighthearted, so… it’s a matter of fact that Rango will let us put *anything* on him and you bet we’re on the hunt for the cutest doggie eyepatch we can find. Proof to follow: