Police in New Brunswick are investigating animal abuse allegations after a dog nearly bled to death after being shot.
Animal rescuer Nicole Thebeau brought Meliva to the animal clinic after receiving a message on Facebook that the Rottweiler was in trouble.
“This young girl told me about a dog that was lying in a bush near her house. She basically told me he had been shot twice,” says Thebeau.
Thebeau says she had the owner’s permission to bring Meliva in when she found her near Rexton.
“She suffered for over a week. She lost three-quarters of her blood. She was still running,” says Thebeau. “She still wants to be alive, just like any of us.”
When Meliva arrived at the animal hospital Friday evening, she couldn’t walk and had already lost three-quarters of her blood.
“Her red blood count was 10 per cent,” says Dr. Francis Arsenault. “It should be about 40, so she had about 25 per cent of her blood left in her body.”
X-rays confirmed Meliva had been shot twice in the head and neck.
“Right behind the right jaw and underneath her neck,” says Arsenault.
Arsenault says Meliva is expected to survive, thanks to a blood donation program. The clinic put out a Facebook call for canine blood donors and the response was overwhelming.
Arsenault says the blood Meliva received through the donor program likely saved her life, and now they have pool of a dozen dogs on call for serious cases.
“We found a match and that dog came in that night to do a good deed,” says Arsenault.
Meliva will be returned to Thebeau until she is fully recovered and is ready to be adopted.
Police confirm the incident is under investigation.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
