Nobody can say for certain how or why Zoe sustained her injuries. Only that someone hacked off her paws and ears in a wanton act of unspeakable cruelty. Then, they left her to die on the streets of Cairo, Egypt, along with her litter of newborn puppies.

There she might have remained, if not for Debbie Pearl and her connections with the Orthotics and Prosthetics department at CSUDH.

“Seeing that kind of cruelty just struck a chord in me, and I knew I had to do something,” says Pearl, founder of the nonprofit Unstoppable Dogs.

Pearl initiated Zoe’s relocation from Cairo to her Unstoppable Ranch in Huntington Beach and reached out to Mark Muller, program coordinator and chair of CSUDH’s Master of Science program in orthotics and prosthetics, for help in getting her new prosthetic legs.

“She was just so lovable and kind, and she really trusted us,” says Muller, who, with assistance from CSUDH alum Chad Marquis, manufactured and fitted four new prostheses for Zoe over several weeks at the university’s O&P center in Los Alamitos.

Pearl sees Zoe and her other Unstoppable Dogs as ambassadors of hope. “They have all come through unthinkable circumstances, and yet they’re still here.” 

For more information about Zoe and Debbie Pearl’s other ambassadors of hope, visit theunstoppableranch.org.

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