By Karen Blackledge
SUNBURY — The operator of a no-kill animal shelter near Sunbury is furious after receiving two mistreated dogs that had been dumped in the country.
One dog is so scarred that Cheryl Hill, of Mostly Mutts, said she is unsure of its breed or whether it would survive.
The second dog, an 8-week-old, has injuries from an animal attack and must be placed in quarantine for six months.
The first dog was left in the Middleburg area near Richfield and the puppy was left on a mountainside near Rebuck.
“People should be responsible for their pets. They shouldn’t be dumping them,” Hill said as she was transporting the scabbed female dog to a veterinarian in Lewisburg. “I think she’s a pit bull, but I can’t tell because she has scabs all over. Somebody docked her tail. She could be a boxer mix.”
That dog may have mange, she said, and may be a year or two old.
“Somebody called me about her,” said Hill, president, owner and shelter manager of the nonprofit Mostly Mutts.
“The dog was lying on a back porch.
“It angers me that people are no longer being responsible for their animals and dumping them everywhere,” said Hill, who wasn’t sure the dog she was transporting could be saved.
“I assume they will keep her and treat her if she can be saved. Her eyes are even closing. It’s very pitiful. She has got to be in pain.”
The puppy may be a husky mix, Hill said.
“She had huge puncture wounds on the back of her right leg that is broken,” Hill said. “We don’t know what bit her and with her only being 8 weeks old, she never would have had shots.”
A woman brought to Hill the tan and white puppy, which has been to the vet twice. Hill is keeping her in a spare bathroom and she uses a yard her other dogs don’t have access to.
“I am asking people to please be responsible,” Hill said. “We give people food and doghouses and do everything we can so people can keep their own dogs. Everyone in the rescue business is so inundated.
“I’m angry that people don’t value a life of anything anymore.”
She expects treating both dogs will be expensive.
Hill’s shelter has 72 dogs with the shelter successfully placing 10 to 12 dogs a month. The shelter has a waiting list.
n E-mail comments to kblackledge@dailyitem.com.
