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Abandoned dog found at Bonneville Salt Flats is adopted three months later

(Photos courtesy of the Utah Animal Adoption Center) These images show Kelly--a dog known for surviving for months in a barren Utah desert--just after she was rescued and later in her recovery. Kelly has been adopted.

Kelly, a female hound found abandoned and in dire health at the Bonneville Salt Flats some 40 miles west of Salt Lake City in January, has gotten the ultimate positive development in her recovery. The Utah Animal Adoption Center recently announced on Facebook that the dog has been adopted.

The Associated Press previously reported that when Sandy resident Matt Bentley discovered the dog while off-roading in the West Desert, the animal had lost all her hair to a skin disease caused by mites and likely would have died within days if she hadn’t been found.

Bentley coaxed the dog into his Jeep, then took her to a veterinarian, who subsequently turned her over to the Utah Animal Adoption Center.

On Sunday, the center — a non-euthanizing animal shelter that oversaw the dog’s recovery — reported that “our sweet girl Kelly went to her forever home.”

Lila Oulson of the center estimated, by the condition she was found in, that Kelly was likely a house pet that had become lost or been abandoned, and was on her own some two or three months before she was found, and that it had been at least a month since she had eaten regularly.

The dog also had a condition called sarcoptic mange, a disease that caused her hair to fall out and left a crust on large parts of her skin.

The center also shared a post from Kelly’s new parents, volunteers there publicly identified only as Trent and Jamie, which said, in part: “Kelly is doing amazing in our home! She loves her brother dog Rocky, loves both of us, she’s right at home. Our hearts are so full right now and we are so honored and grateful to be her parents.”