Dog shot and abandoned
Santa Cruz Mountains, CA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jan 18, 2001
County: Santa Cruz
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
A German shepherd-Husky dog was abandoned in the Santa Cruz Mountains, shot and seriously wounded. She was 10 pounds underweight and near starvation when a mountain woman rescued her.
She was named, Leah, and at one time someone cared enough about her to get her spayed and trained her to sit and do other tricks.
Dr Teri Tarshis, Oak Meadows Veterinarian Hospital in Los Gatos said, "She's been around people quite a bit." Tarshis discounted much of the hospital cost. She believes the dog to be about 1 to 2 years old was was probably shot in November. She came to that conclusion by estimating it had been at least two months since a .22-caliber bullet shattered the bone in the dog's upper left rear leg. A specialist has been called in to install a plate in Leah's femur.
There's a possibility the dog got lost. But, some animal advocates speculate that whoever left Leah in the heavily wooded region shot her to make certain she wouldn't come home. Still other conclude the abandoned dog, desperately foraging for herself became so hungry she went after someone's chickens and was shot by an angry property owner.
The people who have met the dog agree on one thing - she is intelligent.
No one has made a complaint to police or to the humane society about Leah's being wounded.
Leah was rescued by Carmel Lawrence who has lived in the mountains above Los Gatos for nearly two decades. It wasn't the first time Lawrence had found an animal abandoned. The dog was sitting off Highway 9.
Lawrence was able to get the dog into her car with doggy treats and then drove her to the veterinary hospital.
Staff members at the hospital decided to care for the animal immediately because, "this dog had captured the hearts and souls of all of us."
When Lawrence got the word out about Leah and her bill, rescue organizations throughout the area responded.
Anyone interested in adopting Leah can reach Cheryl Kleder of Pet Network at P.O. Box 3253, Saratoga, CA 95070 or Kathleen Flynn of Dedicated Animal Rights Educators at bearkats1@juno.com or (408) 369-8475.
References« CA State Animal Cruelty Map
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