Information sought after puppy with slashed throat found on side of highway
A rescue group is seeking help after a puppy was found on the side of a Queensland motorway with a slashed throat, following a “deliberate” act. WARNING: Distressing
QLD News
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A Queensland animal rescue group founder has shared her horror after she said a puppy was found with its throat slashed.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURE BELOW
The approximately three-month-old border collie cross, who was found during the last week in September, was rushed to a veterinarian where he underwent emergency surgery before being transferred to the Domestic Animal Rescue and Education, Incorporated (DARE) Rescue group.
Founder of the Gold Coast-based group, Mika Dargie, 33, said the puppy was found in “northern Queensland on the side of a motorway” but was now recovering in foster care south of Brisbane.
She declined to identify the specific area the dog was found, citing an investigation into how he ended up with a slit throat.
Miss Dargie said DARE Rescue was contacted “on behalf of a rural group” after the puppy had undergone surgery to stitch up the gaping wound on his neck, which she estimated from a photograph to be about 10cm long and 5cm deep.
“Some locals had found him and one of the Facebook pages that deals with pound dogs, a pledge page only, had said ‘Lets generate some pledges and organise surgery’ while they were waiting for a rescue group to take him on,” she said.
“So he got the surgery done up there and we brought him down a few days after that.”
Now named Fluke, Miss Dargie said it was believed the dog had been near the road for at least “a couple of days” with the wound, which she said missed the windpipe and a major artery by a little more than 1mm.
“Where the granulation of the neck tissue had been exposed indicates he had been there for at least a couple of days,” she said.
“We questioned, originally, if (the injury) was caused by a chain if he had fallen off a ute, particularly in a sort of country area.
“But … because the slice was so sharp all the way down to the oesophagus and there was no bruises going around his neck, indicating a constriction injury, it ruled out a chain injury.
“The vet believes it was deliberate, that was their terminology,” she said.
Fluke was stitched up from behind his ear down to his chest and was recovering well in foster care, Miss Dargie said.
“He has bonded a lot with the foster carer’s dog and I think that’s given him a lot of confidence,” she said.
“He’s come out of his shell in the past week and converted into a playful puppy, which is what we wanted to see after going through that sort of trauma.”
The former nurse said she spent “40 minutes” on the phone with the RSPCA filing a report about the injured dog.
“We also put in a thing with the police saying the dog’s been found, and they redirected us back to us the RSPCA,” she said.
But a RSPCA spokeswoman said a record of the rescue group’s report about the puppy could not be found.
“There is no record of an animal welfare report matching (the) information provided,” she said.
“We recommend that anyone with information contact RSPCA.”
If anyone has any information contact the RSPCA on 1300264625 or via the RSPCA QLD web site.
Originally published as Information sought after puppy with slashed throat found on side of highway
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