When Montego Bay resident Roxanne clocked into work at her local garbage dump last year, she was prepared to tackle the day’s usual tasks. Battling the sweltering Jamaican heat, Roxanne started sorting through a heap of overstuffed trash bags but stopped suddenly when she realized that one of the bags looked off.

Roxanne’s instincts took over, and she did something she wouldn’t normally do at work.

“Something told her to open the bag, and that’s when a dog popped out,” Montego Bay Animal Haven (MBAH)’s Sabria Hector told The Dodo.

Roxanne was initially shocked to find a honey-colored puppy in the bag, then overjoyed when she realized the sweet girl was still breathing.

As an avid animal lover and advocate on the island, Roxanne knew just who to call for help.

“Luckily, [the dog] was spotted by animal angel Roxanne, who quickly reached out to our team and had her rushed to the vet,” MBAH wrote on Instagram.

MBAH took the pup, later named Winnie, into their care. Not only was the poor girl dangerously thin and limp, but she seemed to lack feeling in her back legs.

The team quickly diagnosed Winnie with a broken spine, which caused permanent paralysis. While they were able to get answers about her health, the team still wondered about Winnie’s life before she was thrown away at the dump.

“It was clear she couldn’t use her back legs, but we weren’t sure of the extent of the damage or even what had happened to her,” MBAH wrote.

MBAH staff showered Winnie with love and affection every day from when she arrived at their clinic. She sadly never regained strength in her hind legs, but that didn’t stop her from becoming a rambunctious, playful girl once her spine healed.

“She was very spunky and really didn’t let her legs slow her down,” Sabria said. “Despite all the horrible ways humans had been to her, she was never mean or aggressive and was just always loving and friendly.”

When Winnie was finally strong enough to be adopted, the team started searching for her perfect forever home. They were heartbroken when they couldn’t find anyone local to take her in, and then they received a special inquiry from someone who lived over 2,000 miles away.

“Fast forward a couple of months, and we got a message from Susan looking to adopt a special needs dog, and [she] wanted to take Winnie to live a great life in Newfoundland, Canada,” MBAH wrote.

Susan seemed to be Winnie’s perfect match, but the MBAH team faced one huge dilemma: getting the dog to Canada. While MBAH is used to transporting dogs internationally, Newfoundland was particularly hard to get to.

“Toronto is easy, but Newfoundland is hard,” Sabria said. “It took a lot of coordination and collaboration.”

For her first leg of the trip, Winnie flew from Jamaica to Toronto with a loving flight escort named Christa. After arriving in Toronto, Winnie stayed the night with a kind volunteer named Michelle, then went into foster care the next day with a woman named Hope, while the rest of her team figured out a way to get her to Newfoundland.

Four months into her stay with Hope, Canadian Wings of Rescue coordinated a flight for Winnie to finally reach her forever home in Newfoundland.

“Canadian Wings of Rescue is AMAZING, and they made the process so easy for us,” Sabria said.

Winnie flew with Hope and a volunteer pilot named Greg to Newfoundland, where the once Caribbean dog quickly settled into her new surroundings. After months of waiting, the sweet girl was so happy to finally be home.

“She’s spoiled rotten now and even loves the snow,” Sabria said.

Winnie is thriving in her new home and loves exploring Newfoundland’s beautiful landscape with the help of her very own wheelchair. No matter the weather, Winnie is always ready to seize the day and show her team of rescuers how grateful she is to have been saved.

“She really showed me, and all of us at Haven, her resilience and love,” Sabria said.