Puppy rescued after shotgun attack where vets lost count after removing 88 pellets

A puppy who was pummelled with so many shotgun pellets that vets lost count has been rescued and taken in by an animal charity.

The young brown dog was repeatedly shot and left for dead in an undisclosed field in Co Derry, Northern Ireland, but is thankfully now safe and recovering.

Vets removed at least 88 lead pellets from his body - including 40 from the neck alone, reports Wales Online.

The German shepherd crossbreed is believed to be just six months old and was found cowering in bushes by a man out horse trekking, who said he was too sore to move.

He was found tiny and afraid (Friends Of Rescue/Facebook)

Vets lost count of the amount of pellets (Friends Of Rescue/Facebook)

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A spokesperson for Friends of Rescue animal 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 shotgun and the initial gun shot wound was massive but the rest of the pellets covered his body.

"Vets said 'there are dozens of pellets in his body, we stopped counting at 88'.

"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.

There were 40 just in his neck alone (Friends Of Rescue/Facebook)

"Our vets were very upset by his state. He is only 13kg and at most this boy is six to seven 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.

Now the pup is recovering (Friends Of Rescue/Facebook)

He will be given a new safe home (Friends Of Rescue/Facebook)

"We can’t begin to imagine what would have happened to 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."

Do you have a dog story to tell? Contact nia.dalton@reachplc.com.