Extraordinary junkyard dog travels same dangerous four-mile route every night for three years to get food for her animal friends

A once-homeless street dog has been caught on video risking life and limb to feed her extended animal family in a Brazilian junkyard.

Lilica has spent the last three years traveling four miles down dark, dangerous roads each night to the home of animal lover Lucia, who gives the dog a bag of food.

The brilliant and selfless pooch then turns around and travels back to her São Carlos junkyard, where a menagerie of another dog, a cat, a mule, and several chickens dig in with their little hearts full of gratitude.

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Selfless: Each night this junkyard dog in Brazil walks for miles along a danger fraught road to get food for his extended animal family

Dangerous: Lilica, who was abandoned at a São Carlos junkyard that then became her home, walks four miles across town and back every day

The journey begins each night at Neile Vania Antonio's junkyard, where Lilica was abandoned as a puppy, just as it did the first time Lilica made her miraculous trek.



Lucia Helena de Souza first met Lilica years ago and fed her, as she would any stray.

'I realized that she ate and then stared at what was in the bag,' Lucia says in a video about Lilica.



A neighbor suggested to Lucia that Lucia might be staring at the bag because she wanted to take it with her.

Generous: Lilica travels to the home of this woman, where she's given a bag of food

Everyone gets a little: Lilica first takes some for herself before starting her journey back home

Unbelievable: Bag in hand, or mouth, Lilica trots back home

And when Lucia tied up the bag and handed it over, that's exactly what happened.



'From then on, that’s what how we did it,' Lucia said of their nightly meetings at 9:30pm.



Upon Lilica's return to her junkyard, the real magic happens: the mothering pooch drops her bag of food and the motley animal crew descends.



One by one, a dog, some chickens, a mule and some cats take turns sharing a bit of Lilica's gift.



'An animal sharing things with other animals is a lesson. A lesson for us,' says Lucia.

Food for everyone! Lilica's extended family of chickens, dogs, cats, and a mule all get a little bit of food thanks to her generous spirit



Happy family: 'An animal sharing things with other animals is a lesson. A lesson for us,' says Lucia



