Stray dog refuses to leave fellow canine on side of the road after Florida car crash breaks 3 of his legs — a year later they’re still looking for a home

A pair of stray dogs that helped keep each other alive while living on the streets after one of them was struck by a car are still waiting at a Florida rescue shelter for their forever homes.

Zorro, a grey and white mutt, was hit by a driver on Interstate 95 at Exit 10 in Miami-Dade County last year.

He had been mangled as whoever hit him just kept on driving, sustaining three broken legs, a fractured right elbow, a dislocated left hip, and a deranged right knee, leaving him virtually incapable of moving at all.

Grover, an American Bullie and Staffie mix, had stuck by Zorro’s side and used his body to shield his injured brother.

“The picture of them together on I-95 — the fact that one was hurt and the other one wouldn’t leave him, and like I said, he had a huge open space, the dog could have gone anywhere, and he wasn’t going to leave his friend, just brought tears to my eyes,” Leslie Fernandez with Interstate Partners for Animal Welfare told Local 10.

“I went to the shelter without a plan, I just had to take this dog out.”

While Miami-Dade Animal Services were trying to figure out a way to save the two, another driver had picked up Grover and he was lost in the wind. Fernandez, touched by the brothers’ unbreakable bond, dedicated herself to reuniting the duo.

Her personal project, bolstered by the dogs’ story, drew other sympathetic do-gooders to the cause.

“To me, this is one of the most heartwarming stories I have ever seen in the 50 years I have been a veterinarian, because I have never seen one animal protect another one that was injured,” Dr. David Wise told Local 10.

“All he could do is lay on the floor and wag his tail. And I said, ‘Whoah, we are not putting this dog to sleep, I don’t care what happens.’ Because he’s sitting there in that kind of shape, wagging his tail, so happy to be alive. I said, ‘We’ve got to help this dog.’”

So, a team at VCA Knowles Central Animal Hospital scheduled more than six surgeries and rehabilitation for Zorro while Fernandez tracked down Grover in Broward County, roughly 40 miles north of Miami-Dade County.

The two were reunited five days after the accident. Zorro, empowered by an unmatched indomitable spirit, used his one good leg to practically crawl over to Grover.

Following months of surgeries and therapy, Zorro was able to walk again without needing a single amputation.

The two dogs survived against all odds, but their time at the IPAW Rescue is quickly running out.

They have been boarded there for a year and the vet clinic is “no place for dogs to be for a WHOLE YEAR,” the rescue wrote on its Instagram.

No one has stepped forward to adopt the two and the rescue worries that they might have to separate them to give at least one of them a good home, but that is the last resort.

“We don’t want to do this but THE TIME HAS COME! We have to do something different for these boys. What we are doing isn’t working. They have been forgotten and we feel we have failed them as well,” the rescue wrote on Instagram.

Zorro is a gentle giant who can comfortably interact with others, including the smallest kittens. Grover is a bit more excitable and practically requires a yard to roam in, but is all smiles with Zorro by his side, according to the IPAW Rescue website.