A pup who had been shot repeatedly and left for dead is being cared for by an animal charity in Co Derry after vets removed dozens of lead pellets from his body.
The young dog was discovered in an undisclosed location by a man out horse trekking. He alerted Friends of Rescue who took the dog to safety.
The German Shepherd type dog is believed to be under a year old and was found hiding in bushes.
Vets removed 88 lead pellets from his body including 40 from his neck. Friends of Rescue have now taken the dog in to keep him safe and allow for his recovery.
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A spokesperson for the charity, said: "We at first thought he was attacked until we realised that in the wounds surface and deeper he was covered in pellets.
"He has been shot with a shot gun and the initial gun shot wound was massive but the rest of the pellets covered his body.
"He was being shot to be killed and as a result he was left scared, sore and alone in a hedge until he was found.
"When he arrived at our vets, our vets were very upset by his state. He is only 13 kg and at most this boy is 6/7 months old…he is only a baby.
"Our vets got as many of the pellets out as they could. He isn’t walking and we imagine this is because he is sore. He is a pitiful site.
"As you can expect this wee gentle soul is traumatised. He knows we are helping him but he is so afraid. We can only imagine what his short life must have been like to find himself in this position.
"We can’t begin to imagine what would have happened him had he not been spotted. We know he was there to hide and probably didn’t want to be found, but he was too sore to get away.
"In rescue people always think that you become hardened or used to it or ‘seen it all’ and sometimes it can feel that way but then we are heartbroken all over again.
"He has no voice, no one is listening….we have got to protect the vulnerable, the ones who need us most and he is the prime example of why we do what we do."
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