On a cold day in January, one UPS driver named Gavin Crowsley spotted a Great Dane named Phoenix that was so emaciated, he thought the dog was a Dalmatian. Phoenix was on a short chain without food, water or shelter. Even though Gavin was in the middle of his route, he had to stop.

“I could see every bone in his body,” he told his employer. “He was just lying there. I knew if that dog didn’t die from starvation, he was going to die from the weather. I didn’t want to have a confrontation, but I couldn’t just leave him there.”