2-Week-Old Puppy Covered in Burns Left Crying in Dumpster Rescued by Family Just in Time
Two horrible animal abuse cases have recently come out of Coachella, California.
In April, a woman dropped a plastic bag filled with newborn puppies into a dumpster on a hot day.
Now someone else in the same city has abused a young animal — and done so in an even more terrible way.
The stories started much the same way. A homeless man discovered a puppy in a plastic bag in a dumpster, according to WGNO.
That’s bad enough on its face, but the situation only got worse once the rescuers opened up the bag.
Burns covered roughly one-third of the 2-week-old animal’s body. The injury started at the puppy’s neck and continued down her back, KCBS-TV reported.
Not long after the homeless man made the discovery, Georgina Zazueta and her daughter Alejandra Espinoza Zazueta took possession of the little dog. Her condition rocked them to their cores.
“Very bad, bleeding and crying and very bad,” Alejandra Zazueta told KCBS-TV. “I mean, what a little puppy can do to you to deserve that kind of thing?”
They took the dog to a veterinarian’s office in Sherman Oaks, California, where she got immediate care. But due to the severity of her wounds, the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation had her transferred to McGrath Veterinary Center.
“She’s so tiny,” Ellie Roberto of Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation said. “She’s so vulnerable, and she’s two weeks old, and she’s witnessed this much abuse.”
Veterinarians knew they had their work cut out for them. The damage done to the dog (who was later named Hope) was extensive.
“Generally, to cause complete necrosis of the skin like that is one of two causes,” Dr. Brian McGrath said.
“Either contact with something very, very hot, a contact thermal burn or getting something poured on that’s chemically corrosive.”
Fortunately, Hope has rallied under their care, and McGrath believes she will recover.
“Combating those complications, she has not developed an infection. Her blood work is getting normal, and she’s getting less painful, and she’s growing more skin every day,” he said.
The only downside is that authorities still haven’t located the abuser who hurt the pup so badly, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped looking.
Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation has offered a $20,000 reward for the arrest of the individual who hurt Hope.
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