Pit Bull Mutilated By Owner Gets Help (Miami, FL)

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Pit Bull Mutilated By Owner Gets Help
POSTED: 5:22 pm EST January 26, 2007
UPDATED: 5:51 pm EST January 26, 2007
MIAMI -- It is a crime one South Florida veterinarian said he believes is on the rise -- incidents of severe animal abuse.
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Case in point -- the rescue and now recovery of a pit bull mutilated by her former owners.

"It's going to be ok," Dr. Peter Fernands said.

Those words of comfort may be small consolation for Abbey as she recovers from what her veterinarian calls a heinous case of abuse.

"The ears were a mess, one was cut off, they had fishing line wrapped around and pinned, someone wanted to amputate both ears to make her look mean," Fernands said.

A Miami-Dade police officer, one of Fernands' clients at Aardvark Animal Hospital, found the pit bull badly injured and brought her here for help.

The doctor had to finish cutting Abbey's ears in order to save the skin that was left.

Fernands said that the Pit Bull is in pain now, but she'll be ok.

It will take about two weeks to heal, but "She's going to have strange looking ears. She should be fine, once she gets over the pain of the mutilation."

But what about the emotional results of Abbey's injuries?

Surprisingly, the doctor said Abbey is still friendly and trusting of humans and according to various vets, that is a common reaction in animals that have been abused.

"They tend to forgive and forget more than human beings," Fernands said.

Fernands also said it appears more and more animals are also falling victim to humans at an alarming rate. He noted that he has treated an increased number of abuse cases over the past two years.

In fact, in 2005, Miami-Dade Animal Services received 1,352 abuse neglect complaints.

In 2006 that number rose by more than 700.

So far in 2007, there are already 120 complaints.

Fernands urges anyone who has an animal who can no longer care for it to not abandon or abuse it, but to offer it up to an animal rescue program.

For information on South Florida agencies, visit http://www.nbc6.net/petpals/.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/10854411/detail.html