Abandoned animals in Niagara more frequent

Another animal has been abandoned in the Niagara region. The Fort Erie Humane Society is wondering aloud who would abandon a pure bred Doberman pincher? As Lauran Sabourin reports, a good Samaritan found the injured animal in the woods last week.

This is the abandoned and injured Doberman. It was just by chance he was discovered.

Last Friday, Thomas McCleary was shooting archery with a buddy in the woods off Thompson Road in Fort Erie when they heard a dog howling. They went to check and found this Doberman curled up under a tree: “He tried to get up and run. I think he was a little scared at first because of his injury.”

They figure this dog was hit by a car a couple of days before and scampered into the woods. McCleary approached him: “The next thing you know he was licking our face. He was happy to see us.”

SPCA investigator Mark Dickson brought the dog back to the shelter: “Look at how beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. We’ve hand x-rays done. The hips look good. It’s a fractured tibia that we’re seeing.”

The dog will undergo surgery for the broken leg. This five-year old pure bred had been missing for days and nobody claimed him.

It’s not unusual for cats to be abandoned. But the economy in Fort Erie taking a nose dive in the past couple of years the humane society is seeing a disturbing trend. More abandoned dogs, left on farms or even in the woods.

The shelter has a number of abandoned dogs. As for this dog.

When McCleary found him he was dehydrated, emaciated and covered in mud: “He looks a million times better. He was skin and bones. I don’t think he would have made it another night in the woods.”

Surgery will cost about a thousand dollars. The humane society is asking for donations to help pay for it.