UPDATE: How Could Someone Hurt Hortencia?

It looks as if Hortencia Hernandez, the lovable pug with one eye who was up for adoption at the Delaware Humane Association, might have found a home.

Cameo, the nice local artist we ran into there on the same day, says she visited the Wilmington shelter Friday and Hortencia was gone.

"She must've been adopted," Cameo wrote in her e-mail. "It sure makes me happy to think of her in a new home, living the good life :)."

We met Hortencia Hernandez -- the shelter worker said he had been on a Spanish kick while naming animals -- at the Delaware Humane Association's shelter on A Street. The 3-year-old pug had been pulled from the Kent County SPCA in hopes of finding her a home here.

Hortencia suffered a trauma to her right eye, and Patrick Carroll, director of development at the shelter, says someone might have poked it out. It's mind-boggling that someone could cause such harm to such a sweet animal. Hortencia could not have been more friendly -- the face kisses were overflowing.

We also ran into a very nice couple with a digital camera -- that was Cameo and her signficant other -- who enjoy coming to the humane association to look at the animals. They're planning to get a dog after they buy a house. Cameo is an artist, and the dogs and cats give her inspiration. I asked Cameo if she would shoot a couple of photos of Hortencia, so I could include one in my blog.

The chance meetup led me to this: How could this couple have such big hearts and someone else be so cruel as to hurt a defenseless dog? It's an answer we'll probably never know.

Hortencia might have found her "forever home," but there are plenty more -- Cameo said she saw six to eight tiny purebred miniature poodles on her Friday trip -- who deserve one, too. If you're interested, go down to the Delaware Humane Association, or visit a shelter near you. All of the animals without a home deserve something better.