Stray Dog Who Shows Up To Local Subway For Food Every Night Becomes Internet Sensation

Every night for the past year, a stray dog has shown up outside the Subway sandwich shop in Portales, New Mexico. The employees there took a liking to the dog — they've named her "Subway Sally" and make sure she's always fed.

One night, Subway employee Giovanni Luhman filmed his interaction with Subway Sally and shared the video on TikTok. When he woke up the next morning, the video had more than 10 million views, CBS affiliate KRQE reports. The internet had fallen in love with Subway Sally, just like he and his coworkers had.

Luhman continued to share videos of the pup and wants others to learn a valuable lesson from her story. "People should not limit their concern," Luhman told CBS News, urging people to not only care about strays on social media, but in real life, too.

In a video about Subway Sally, Luhman told his TikTok followers she's not the only stray dog in the area. "I live in a very poor town, and more often than not, people can't pay for pet food," he said in the video.

Luhman told CBS News he's been inspired to start a local pet food drive "to help low income families in hopes that their pets won't end up on the streets because they can't be taken care of." He also said many people, including celebrities, have reached out and offered money for his good deed, but he doesn't want to profit from a stray dog.

In the videos, Luhman explained that he can't take Sally home himself because he has cats, and he hasn't taken her to a shelter because the closest one, which is 20 miles away, has a high kill rate. 

Even though Sally went viral and gained widespread attention, Luhman is not going to post about her any more. But he did assure followers he and his coworkers will continue to feed her.

First published on January 15, 2020 / 2:19 PM

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