WILMINGTON, N.C. – Doctors had little hope for Gary Prentiss.

The landscaper and stonemason came south from his home in Waterville, Maine, seeking work as he does each winter, living in his van with his four dogs.

But in late February, he was attacked and left near death. With no family to care for his pets, police turned them over to Animal Control Services.

In the weeks Prentiss lay comatose, seemingly beyond recovery, all four were adopted into new homes.

Then Prentiss woke up.

Now he hopes to locate the dogs – if not to take them back, at least to reassure himself that they’ve found good homes.

“I would like to have them back and would be happy to give money for them,” he told the Star-News in a story published Saturday. “But maybe someone else fell in love with them.”

Prentiss, 50, said he came south this year in the company of Mack, a German shepherd he had owned for more than eight years; Brutus and Midnight, brother-and-sister Labrador retrievers; and Terra, a black Lab he found starving with an extension cord tied around her neck in South Carolina.

During jobs, he would let the dogs out near his van. At night, he would park on construction sites or in parking lots, sleeping in the van on a makeshift cot. His dogs would lay beside him, though Terra preferred the front seat.

They had only been in the area for a short time when Prentiss was attacked. He remembers little of it. Police said three or four teenagers assaulted him at about 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 24. No arrests have been made.

Prentiss suffered broken ribs and legs and was unconscious when he arrived at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. Doctors placed him on a respirator and didn’t expect him to live, he said.

The dogs were taken to Animal Control, where they were held for weeks in case Prentiss recovered, director Jean McNeil said. In mid-April, they were offered for adoption.

“We had them here such a long time,” McNeil said. “We hoped he would be able to take them back. But that wasn’t possible.”

Late that month, Prentiss emerged from his coma. He has been recovering gradually in a retirement home in Castle Hayne, though his speech and gait are slowed and his short-term memory is spotty.

But he remembers his dogs and hopes to learn their fate before he returns to Maine in a month or so. Animal Control has been unable to contact the adopters, so he placed a classified ad seeking information.

“They were definitely family,” he said. “I love them as much as people love their children.”

At first, he was angry with Animal Control officials but now praises their efforts. The agency has offered him a new German shepherd puppy, though he has yet to decide whether to accept.

His heart is still with his four missing friends.

“I’ve had dogs all my life,” he said. “I’ve never given away one. Once I adopt them, they’re mine.”