WARNING: Content in this story and video may be disturbing to some viewers.
Veterinarians from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) are calling it one of the worst cases of animal abuse they’ve ever seen.
This past Monday, while responding to an unrelated call, Buffalo police were told there was a “dead dog” in the basement of a home on Milford Avenue in Buffalo, New York.
Police contacted the SPCA, who arrived on the scene to discover the dog was in fact alive – her fur so badly matted that she was unable to move.
“I didn’t know what I was looking at,” New York State Peace Officer Jessica Coughlin said in a press release. “I thought it was simply a ball of fur. There was no movement. I couldn’t tell if it was an animal, and if so, what kind of animal it was. I couldn’t tell one end from the other, couldn’t tell if whatever the animal was was alive or dead.”
Underneath all that matted and clumped fur? A Shih Tzu pup, unable to move but still breathing.
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Over the course of two and a half hours, vets from the SPCA shaved off over four pounds of matted, filthy fur from the dog, whom they named “Dori”.
“We see matted dogs but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Erie County SPCA Executive Director Barbara Carr told WIVB News in Buffalo.
“This was really horrendous.”
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After the pounds of fur removed, vets discovered Dori had numerous broken bones, along with a host of illnesses.
SPCA Veterinarian Dr. Helene Chevalier discovered a piece of twine had embedded itself in Dori’s left rear paw, working its way into the soft tissue and almost into the bone.
She was also severely underweight, and suffering from ear infections and damaged eyes.
Dori has been surrendered to the Erie County SPCA by her owners, who are scheduled to appear in Buffalo City Court later this month.
Despite her harrowing ordeal, things are looking up for Dori as she continues her recovery with the hope that she could one day be adopted by a loving family.
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