Animal Group: Bullet Removed From Puppy Found Roaming SW Miami-Dade
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A puppy is getting much-needed help Monday afternoon after she was found wandering the streets in the Redland with a gunshot wound to the jaw.
A group called "Redland Rockpit Abandoned Dogs" said the female Doberman mix named Clover is about a year old and was found near Southwest 216th Street and 209th Avenue.
"She got basically half of the jaw hanging, full of blood and everything. After the evaluation, they found metal parts on the jaw. That's why they believe she's been shot," said Esteban Lopez of the Doberman Rescue League.
The Doberman Rescue League and Grateful Paws teamed up with the Hollywood Animal Hospital to get her some help. On Monday, vets were evaluating her, checking to see what can be done.
"I believe she's missing a little part of the tongue also and a few teeth," Lopez said.
Clover is said to be feeling better after getting cleaned up and on pain meds.
"We do see some metal pieces inside there, indicative of a possible gunshot, we don't really know. But then on top of that, she does have half her to a quarter of her tongue missing," said Dr. Natalie Savo of Hollywood Animal Hospital. "We have two routes, we don't know if she'll have the route where she keeps her jaw or if she'll have the route where she gets a little bit of a change-up and she'll get half of that jaw removed to get rid of dead tissue and dead bone."
It turned out those metal fragments where indeed from a gunshot wound. A bullet was eventually removed from Clover's cheek and much of her jaw had to be removed.
The good news is that the surgery was a success. And after treatment, Clover will be going to a foster home.
"The great thing about Clover and her recovery is that she is going to not only get the TLC here, but she's also then going to live with a family in their home and be very comfortable in her recovery," said Jill Banaszak of Grateful Paws.
Police have been notified. For now, rescuers are just hoping she can get the help she needs.
"I can't even think who would do something like that," Lopez said.
Rescuers are just grateful they were in the right place at the right time to save this young dog.
"Sometimes it's just in the timing. Sometimes we're early, sometimes we're late. Sometimes it just was our luck to be there yesterday," said Bonnie Rubenstein of the Redland Rockpit Abandoned Dogs.
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