Dolly Parton proved once again that there is only one Dolly Parton after she pledged on Sunday to adopt an adorable white dog who was heartlessly abandoned at the Glastonbury Festival last weekend — and who was given the name “Dolly” in honor of the 68-year-old country music legend.
Despite a brief controversy over whether she lip-synched her performance at Glastonbury, Dolly Parton was the hit of the festival for her stirring performance in front of 150,000 people in Somerset, England. Parton adamantly denied faking it at Glastonbury.
The dog was found by member of a work crew cleaning up after the massive festival. Whoever owned Dolly brought her to the festival and, for some terrible reason, just left her there cowering and terrified in a tent that had been used by festival-goers.
Whoever abandoned the dog knew what they were doing, leaving Dolly with a supply of food and water, apparently in hopes she would be found.
But most of the water had evaporated in the steaming hot tent, so when Colin Williams, 60, found Dolly in the tent, he found more water for her, which she eagerly lapped up.
“It was such a hot morning,” said Williams. “That dog could have died. We know dogs die in hot cars so she could have died in that hot tent.”
But Dolly did not die, thankfully, and though she is now at an animal shelter called Happy Landings, in Somerset, she may soon have a new home, with Dolly — Parton, that is.
Saying she was “honored and flattered” that Dolly’s rescuers named the dog after her, Dolly Parton released a statement saying that unless another good owner is found for Dolly the Dog, she’ll take Dolly herself.
“I had my manager call the Happy Landings animal shelter to make sure the dog is being treated and cared for properly. At this time, nobody has claimed the dog and the dog is in great hands at the shelter. I will take her home to America if nobody claims her within a reasonable amount of time.”
The dog’s owners, however, are nowhere to be found.
“How anyone could do such a thing is beyond me,” a Happy Landings spokesperson told Britain’s Mirror newspaper. “She is a sweet-natured older lurcher, and clearly very stressed to find herself in this predicament. We had hoped that an owner would come forward but there has still been nothing.”
Dolly Parton fans may be rooting for the owners to remain anonymous, however, so that Dolly Parton can become the dog’s new mommy herself.
If we actually needed one more reason to admire Dolly Parton, we have one now. And so does Dolly the Dog.
