Le sadique court toujours...

[Animal 0]

26 août 2006- Halifax-Canada- Cette pauvre chienne Berger Allemand, a reçu une balle dans la tête... et, comme elle n'est pas morte, elle a été en + battue. Elle a été retrouvée, presque mourante, attachée au bout d'une courte corde, à l'arrière d'un bloc appartement. Le vétérinaire a eu pitié d'elle et a décidé de tout tenter pour la sauver.


Teddy Bear’s one lucky pooch
Dog survives being beaten, shot
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Truro Bureau


PICTOU —Teddy Bear licks Dr. Kathryn Finlayson’s hand, seeming to appreciate what the veterinarian did to save her life.

About a week ago, the beautiful gold-coloured dog was the victim of almost unspeakable abuse, so swollen after being beaten and shot through the head that the Shiretown Animal Hospital vet hardly recognized it was a dog.

Ms. Finlayson shook her head, pointing to the bullet’s entry point and the still-raw exit wound at the back of the dog’s head.

"She was so swollen. It took three days before she could open her eyes and she has bruising inside her ears. Look at her gum line," she said, pulling down the dog’s lower lip.

Even one week after an RCMP officer found the skinny, badly beaten German shepherd and Labrador retriever mix tied to a pole behind an apartment building in this town, the dog still has bruising along its gums.

"I was told we might as well put her down because she was so badly injured, but I couldn’t," she said.

"She was shot in the top of the head and it went out the back and . . . she didn’t die. So she was beaten on the head and still she didn’t die," Ms. Finlayson said.

"She didn’t deserve what happened. And if I put this dog down, no one would pay attention to what happened to her. . . . I wanted to make sure people knew what she went through."

Coming up with a name for the abused pooch, believed to be about three years old, was easy.

"She looked like a little bear, so I called her Teddy Bear," Ms. Finlayson said Thursday.

Dr. Finlayson performed Teddy Bear’s surgery free of charge and the grateful pooch has been placed in a foster home.

The name of the dog’s owner has not been released. Pictou RCMP and the provincial SPCA are investigating the abuse.

Cpl. John Currie said Thursday the dog got loose from its owner sometime on the evening of Aug. 14 or early on Aug. 15. Police are still trying to determine who shot and beat the dog.

"We received a complaint and, as a result, we found a dog tied to a pole on a very short leash behind an apartment building, and it was near death," Cpl. Currie said

Ms. Finlayson said the dog’s condition after the attack was appalling.

"We took the dog out for a walk after she’d had the surgery and it had drainage tubes in and looked pretty bad," she said. "Someone stopped us and asked if she had been hit by a car and I said, ‘No, someone actually did this to her.’ "

Provincial SPCA spokeswoman Judith Gass said Thursday the RCMP are leading the investigation because the dog was shot.

"We have no place in the investigation. RCMP are leading because it’s a criminal . . . (matter). But we are there to help in any way we can."

In the meantime, Teddy Bear has a nice home and is being well cared for.

( mmacintyre@herald.ca)