A dog has been found wandering Houston’s streets with horrific injuries including 25 pellet wounds and string embedded in its neck.
Rob Acuna was horrified after he discovered Gus hiding behind an abandoned apartment building in Southeast Houston earlier this week.
Acuna, an animal rights activist, said the smell from the dog’s festering wounds was overwhelming. He described the case as the most graphic example of animal abuse he had ever seen.
‘We were in disbelief. We really weren’t prepared to find him,’ Acuna said.
A veterinary surgeon had to carefully remove a shoestring that had been tied around the dog’s neck so tightly, and left so long, it had cut through the skin and tissue.
A X-ray also showed that that the dog had been hit repeatedly with a pellet gun. His body show at least 25 pellet wounds, with some pellets still lodged in him.
This is torture, the very definition of it,’ Acuna said.
Acuna said that he’d spoken to neighbors in the local area who said they’d seen Gus walking around sporting signs of abuse for at least a year before the animal was rescued.
Gus is being monitored closely by a Texas A&M clinic where he is being treated with antibiotics, an IV and pain medication, and will be assessed again to see the extent of the damage once stabilized.
It will be some time before he is healthy enough to be adopted.
Houston K-911 Rescue is fundraising to help pay for the dog’s ongoing medical care.
The animal rescue organisation wrote: ‘I can’t even begin to imagine the depth of suffering this dog has endured.
‘To see his head in person fills you with a sense of horror and deep sadness. How in the world is this dog still alive?’
