In an MVP-worthy comeback, a puppy who was rejected by her mother and abandoned at just 1 day old will compete in a broadcast of Sunday’s annual Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.
Wilma, a pug-Shih Tzu mix and her sister Betty were surrendered to a high-intake shelter in Philadelphia and rescued by New Life Animal Rescue in Marlton, NJ, at 2 days old last fall.
A runt, Wilma weighed just 4 ounces and had to be tube-fed every two hours, around the clock, by founder/director Kim Mangione, who fostered both canines. The pup also suffered from high-pressure hydrocephalus, which was causing fluid to build up in her brain and required steroids to treat.
“For several weeks she couldn’t hold her head up, there was so much fluid on her brain pressing down on her eyes so she couldn’t see,” Mangione tells The Post. “She couldn’t really walk because she couldn’t hold her head up; she would just fall over. It was sad.”
Weeks later, Animal Planet reached out to New Life — who had sent dogs to the “Puppy Bowl” in two previous years — for potential recruits, and Wilma was chosen as one of this year’s 78 puppy competitors, who will go nose to nose.
“At that time she was extremely critical, we didn’t know if she was going to even survive. They kept following up, and she started getting better,” Mangione says. “I think they all fell in love with her from the beginning. She’s kind of irresistible.”
Wilma makes her gridiron debut in “Puppy Bowl XIII,” premiering Super Bowl Sunday at 3 p.m., and her foster mom thinks the pup’s underdog spirit and playful nature will be an asset on the field. No matter if she’s on the winning team, this story already has a happy ending: Wilma is now a healthy 8-pound puppy who (spoiler alert) found her forever home in New Jersey since taping the special in October.
Says Mangione: “She and her sister Betty were adopted by sisters, and they live 10-to-15 minutes apart and see each other pretty often.”
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