A severely injured dog with a deep neck wound is recovering at a Langford animal hospital after being rescued from a Vancouver Island backyard.
The dog was found tied to a fence in a yard filled with garbage and feces, wet from rain and curled in a tight ball in some mud.
Raincoast Dog Rescue Society, a non-profit group created in 2014 in Victoria, got a tip about the animal’s situation, and co-founder and executive director Jesse Adams went to investigate.
Adams said he could smell what seemed to be rotting flesh as he came around the back of the property, where he found the dog.
“It absolutely broke my heart to just see an animal living like that,” Adams said.
It took him a moment to see the dog, because she didn’t move at all or respond to his voice, he said.
“I knew immediately as soon as I found her that I would have to rush her to the emergency vet hospital, and that’s exactly what I did,” Adams said.
He took the dog, who has been named Faith, to an animal hospital in Langford, where she is receiving treatment for a deep and infected laceration in her neck, among other health problems.
Faith is having trouble walking and appears to have muscular atrophy in her back legs, but her movement is improving since she was brought to the hospital, Adams said. She may also have neurological issues.
“She’s showing more improvement each day. She’s wagging her tail. She even gave us little kisses,” Adams said.
She appears to be young, but her age hasn’t been determined, he said.
In a video Adams shared on Instagram, Faith stands still in the animal hospital, her neck and back covered in bandages and looking uncertain. In another, she wags her tail and takes a couple of wobbly steps.
B.C. SPCA spokeswoman Lorie Chortyk said the agency is aware of the dog and looking into the situation, but can’t comment further.
Humane Canada, a national federation of SPCAs and humane societies, recommends that anyone who finds an animal in distress contact the local humane society or SPCA to report it. In B.C., the SPCA’s animal helpline is 1-855-622-7722. If there is no local SPCA, Humane Canada advises calling the police.
“Allowing a professional to safely remove the animal avoids the risk of injury to both you and the animal,” the animal welfare group said.
In Faith’s case, Adams said he felt he had to act immediately.
“There was unfortunately no time to wait for anybody. It was just get her to the hospital and then go from there,” he said.
Adams said he anticipates many will be eager to adopt Faith once she’s fully healed, but that’s still a long way off.
“Everybody has already started messaging.”
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