Baby Yoda just got cuter.
Dog rescuer Nikki Carvey regularly saves dogs’ lives through her rescue shelter, but when she saw this pup, with his smushed face reminiscent of the Baby Yoda character from the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” she needed to have him for herself.

The puppy, named Mork, initially was rescued by a group that saves canines fated for the Chinese meat trade.
“Harbin SHS, who saved him, is based in China where it is still legal to eat dog meat,” Carvey tells HuffPost Australia. “Even though those dogs are not bred for meat, there’s not the same industry of adoption for adult dogs in China, so you’ll get puppy mills or commercial places that keep dogs in horrific conditions. If they can’t sell them, then they end up selling them to the meat trade.”
The group saves all breeds, but focuses on getting bulldogs adopted by American owners, says Carver. Mork’s exact breed makeup is not known, but there’s certainly at least some bulldog in him.
“They sent me a photo of Mork, and I said, ‘I love that dog. I will take him,’ ” she says.

Rescuing him turned out to be quite the process: While Mork was found in mid-October, it wasn’t until Dec. 20 that he arrived in Los Angeles — flying not in cargo, but the economy cabin. Once in California, he needed to be hospitalized for severe intestinal issues, but is now thriving. Now Carvey has the 11-pound boy on a special diet for his sensitive tummy. It’s helped him gain some much-needed weight.

“He eats a cooked food diet because of his irritable bowel syndrome,” says Carvey. “He has a special diet of lentils and various supplements. He’s an expensive little guy to feed. He probably eats better than I do. He’s still extremely underweight, and he gets fed four small meals a day.”
Mork has also become an internet sensation since Carvey set up an Instagram account for the small fry, whose 101,000 followers agree he looks like a dog version of Baby Yoda.
“Who would have thought this little #chubbychibbychops rescued from the meat trade in China would become the #babyyoda IT dog,” reads the caption on a recent photo.
Despite his popularity, though, Carvey refuses to run a DNA test, fearful that fans will attempt to replicate Mork. “The last thing I want people to do is re-create Mork because he is ‘cute,’ ” she says, citing his congenital issues.
In addition to being a puppy influencer, Carvey hopes Mork one day can be a therapy dog.
And Mork isn’t the only Baby Yoda doppelgänger going viral: This cat also bears a striking resemblance to the tiny, wizened puppet.