Vets removed 88 shotgun pellets from wounded puppy

Vets removed 88 shotgun pellets from wounded puppy

An animal charity that took in a wounded puppy left for dead in a field have revealed vets removed at least 88 shotgun pellets from his body – including 40 from the neck alone.

The German shepherd crossbreed, thought to be around six months old, was found cowering in bushes in County Derry by a man out horse trekking.

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’.

The injured puppy has been left traumatised by its ordeal     Pic: Friends of Rescue animal charity

“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.

“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.”