A dog is recovering in veterinary care after two unidentified men threw him out of a car window in North Carolina.
“They just threw the dog out and kicked him, trying to get him to run essentially,” Chandra Gilham, who rescued the dog, told LittleThings. “If they were a quarter mile away down the road, he would’ve ended up in a river instead of my yard.”
Gilham said the mixed-breed dog was in bad shape and appeared to be neglected. She nursed him overnight before turning him over to Tonya Palmer, who took him to a vet. “He was skinny, beaten, and stunk, they definitely weren’t taking care of him,” Gilham said. She described the dog as kind and receptive to touch, though scared.
“I would keep him if my dogs got along with him, he’s very sweet,” Gilham told LittleThings.
Palmer says the dog was in the worst shape she's seen in the five years she's worked in animal rescue. She took him to Boyce-Holland Veterinary Services, where he was treated free of charge by Dr. Lock Boyce.
"The doctor told me he couldn't believe the dog was alive," Palmer told LittleThings. "He had a virus that could be killed off with shots, luckily. His lesions from being thrown weren't nearly as bad as the starvation.
The Stokes County Animal Shelter has been closed for several months, a problem Gilham thinks needs to be addressed as soon as possible. The shelter’s website said it will “not be accepting any ‘Owner Surrendered’ animals until further notice,” as it undergoes renovations.
“There are tons of resources and services around town for abandoned animals, but if the rest of the town doesn’t know about these places, I’m assuming they wouldn’t know what to do,” Gilham said.
The shelter, which couldn’t be reached by LittleThings for comment, made a Facebook announcement asking those with information to come forward and call them at 336-994-2788.
“The people fostering this dog are offering a $450 reward for any information leading to the identification of the animal abusers who did this,” the statement said. Gilham recalled the two men driving a '90s white Toyota Camry.
Palmer hopes to find a home for the dog, and says anyone interested can apply to adopt him at the Stokes County Humane Society website.
“I hope he gets the attention he deserves — I don’t know how anyone in the world could hurt a dog,” Gilham said. “My dogs are my babies and I treat them like children. How someone could do this just blows my mind.”
