Tornado dog crawls home on broken legs

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CNN/WBRC) - A tornado picked him up and blew him away, but his will to live was so strong he crawled home on two broken legs and survived for two weeks before his family found him.

Meet Mason. It only takes one look to know he's been through a lot in the last couple of weeks. And while his happy but haunted eyes and halting crawl tell us something about his story, his owners helped the Birmingham Jefferson County Animal Control shelter fill in the rest.

On April 27, Mason was hiding in a garage in North Smithfield when a storm picked him up and blew him away. His owners couldn't find him and had about given up when they came back to their home and garage on Monday to sift through debris. They found Mason waiting for them on the porch.

"He's got two broken legs and they're distal radial unal fractures. They've not been able to be in alignment so neither one of them have healed so he had to crawl on two broken legs to get home," said Dr. Barbara Benhart with the shelter.

"This is probably the most dramatic we've seen as far as an injury in an animal that's survived this long. It's kind of tapering off, the amount of animals we're seeing because of the storm. For an animal just to show up on someone's porch after this time was pretty remarkable, especially with the condition he's in," added Phil Doster, also with the shelter.

Mason's owners asked the shelter to take him because they're not able to care for him while they try and piece their lives back together.

"For an animal to go through what he's gone through and not to be ugly, to be happy for any companionship is remarkable. We're honored to be part of his recovery," said Doster.

Now with a little luck and a lot of love, Mason may become a mascot for storm survivors, both on four legs and two legs.

According to WBRC , the hope is that after he recovers, Mason can return to his original family. If not, the shelter says they will find a home for him.