Reshareworthy reports that a man saw a dog stranded on an island while on a trip down the Amazon River and knew he had to save her.

David Foster was on a river cruise when he first spotted the abandoned, starving dog on the island in the middle of the Amazon jungle. “When she came running down the beach all I could see was this skeletal form,” he said.

In an instant, he realized he would not leave the dog behind, but saving her wasn’t going to be an easy task.

In the video below, you can see Negrita’s remarkable rescue story.

Negrita was rescued from David’s rescue organization Play For Strays five months ago. Now she calls Northern Ireland home and David her father. She even knows her first word in English, “treat”.