Dog abandoned, collar embedded
Avella, PA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Nov 6, 2008
County: Washington
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Officials and volunteers at the Washington Area Humane Society are accustomed to caring for and about animals of all types of abuse. But a recent incident involving a young dog has them more than angry.
"It is unfathomable, unforgivable how anyone could let this injurious impediment to his growth be ignored, left to cut into his flesh and slowly choke the life out of him," said Faye Kennedy, volunteer coordinator at the WAHS kennels in Eighty Four. "It is nothing less than clear-cut animal abuse at its worst."
Kennedy was referring to Denali (named by shelter staff), a 50-pound, 8-month-old Labrador retriever mix who was found abandoned on the side of a road in the rural area of Avella.
A passerby saw two dogs lying by the side of road, one with a bloodied neck, Kennedy recalled.
"Fortunately, they had not been hit by a car, but when Humane Officer Marcia Rothaar arrived, the dogs had scattered," she said.
The young male, Kennedy said, was "very frightened and distrustful."
"There was no coaxing and catching him," she said. "The female was friendlier and easier to nab. She was limping but finally in good hands. Over the next two days, a trap was set to rescue the intact male. When (Rothaar) finally was able to get close to the dog, she saw the torture he had endured."
The physical torment involved a collar, the size used for 8-week-old puppies, which was embedded in the neck of the now much larger dog.
"His neck was a mass of raw meat that was growing around the nylon-like collar like a tree limb grows around electrical wires," Kennedy said. "And it smelled of a terrible infection."
Where the pair of dogs came from or how they got there is still unknown, Kennedy said, adding that "so many unwanted animals are dumped on country farms or roads."
"Other 'accident' pups are just set free to fend for themselves," she said. "But there can be no question that at some time in his short life, Denali was someone's puppy, maybe even for an instant, their pride and joy. We just cannot understand how anyone could do what they did to Denali, how they could leave this animal to suffer and endure such physical pain for so long."
Kennedy said emergency room veterinarian care was administered to Denali at the expense of the Washington Area Humane Society. The collar was surgically removed.
"The wound, still at least an inch wide, is slowly healing and the infection is under control," Kennedy said. "But Denali is still so very scared of people, which is no surprise from a dog who has endured so much pain."
The WAHS, a no-kill shelter, is seeking help from the public to defray the costs of the surgery and followup care for Denali. Tax-deductible donations are being accepted at the shelter at 1527 Route 136, Eighty Four, PA 15330, or through Paypal on the society's Web site. Checks should be made payable to WAHS and designated for "Denali" in the memo line.
Kennedy said it is animals like Denali who benefit from the intervention of humane officers. WAHS maintains both humane officers and animal cruelty investigators to serve the shelter's mission to help injured, abused and abandoned animals, she said.
"But we also need and welcome help to defray the expenses of such care," she said. References« PA State Animal Cruelty Map
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