Severely injured bait dog transported to GCHS

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Veterinarians at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are treating a bait dog taken in from Collier County.

The dog named Independence, or “Indie” for short, appears to be a Florida Cur breed.

He is severely injured with multiple wounds. Vets say the worst wound is his nose which is missing and appears to be at least several days old.

“We immediately started him on pain control antibiotics, blood panels, and just got him comfortable and stable at this point,” Jennifer Galloway, the Executive Director of GCHS, said.

They also found other injuries on Indie that are consistent with being a bait dog for dog fighting, including scarring and what appears to be an injury from a chain around his leg.

GCHS says they’re looking for anyone who might have information on how this happened to Indie.

“What’s important is we’ve got to let people in the community know that this is going on and that Crime Stoppers has reward money set aside to stop this type of animal abuse and dog fighting,” Galloway said. “If we don’t get that out there in the community, this is going to continue to happen.”

Vets say they’re not sure of Indie’s age right now. Indie was dropped off at Immokalee Animal Control Thursday night with no information.

GCHS says he has a long road to recovery, but things are already looking up.

“He ate two cans of food this morning, he was super hungry. He is very sweet, he lets us touch him all over. He’s very docile, you know really seemed to enjoy the touch,” Galloway said.

Collier County Domestic Animal Services contacted GCHS and they transported him for treatment Friday morning.

If you have any information, call the Collier County Domestic Animal Control at 239-252-7387 or Crime Stoppers at 800-780- TIPS (8477).