Beautiful Doggie "Sadie"; Badly Injured by Trap

Animal Lifeline of Iowa ^ | 12/19/2013 | Animal Lifeline of Iowa

[garandgal]

From the Animal Lifeline Facebook Page:

Please Help Save Sadie?

Meet Sadie, our newest shelter resident. She was dumped out in the country and spent the last several months running the fields and getting food from the families in the area.

It appears that Sadie had been caught in a trap. Scared and stranded in the cold, Iowa winter weather with no food or water and in an enormous amount of pain, she found the strength to save herself and used her mouth and teeth to remove the trap from her paw. With bones and tissue exposed, her tongue full of ulcers from the cold metal of the trap, and unable to walk on her leg she found her way to help and thankfully they contacted us.

We are glad Sadie is now safe and is receiving the care and love she needs, but she needs YOUR help! She has a long road ahead of her and is currently receiving extensive vet care to manage the pain, antibiotics for infection, laser treatments, blood work, debridement of her wound and wet to dry bandages …all in preparation for amputation surgery next week when her injured paw will be removed.

Once she recovers from that surgery, we will be working with our vet to get Sadie fitted for a prosthetic foot (paw) and she will receive all the necessary rehab to ensure that the surgery and custom made prosthetic is successful. Sadie has a long road ahead of her, and we need YOUR HELP to give Sadie the second chance she deserves.

[garandgal]

I know that we have many doggie lovers here at Free Republic. This is a wonderful shelter (I know them well) that takes in injured, sick, elderly, and pregnant dogs & cats. They nurse them back to health, and find them new homes...no matter how long it takes. They are a small shelter, and operate solely on donations...when they have a particularly expensive case come in they sometimes ask for a bit "extra."

This hits home for me, because several years ago my husband stopped a tractor in the middle of a road as a cat ran across...only to watch in horror as it was caught in an illegal trap in a ditch. He jumped from the tractor, and managed to spring the trap, but had to stand there and watch the kitty die (it had a collar, and was obviously someone's pet).

This story has gone 'round the World over the last couple of days...so I wanted to share it here, too.

Sadie is a beautiful dog...and quite the "cuddler" apparently; what a HORRIBLE thing that someone dumped her (that often happens here in the rural areas). She stripped all of the skin from her mouth and tongue trying to chew her way out of the trap; when she finally pulled her paw out, it stripped the flesh down to the bone.

There are photos at the source...do NOT look at the close-up if you are squeamish...this one is bad enough.

If you feel so inclined, you can make a donation to help the brave Sadie get back on four feet at the link provided.

[garandgal]

Doggie Ping, perhaps?

[PistolPaknMama]

Sweet girl. How horrible.

[garandgal]

I know...look at that sweet face! I know this shelter well; they will have her rehabilitated and up for adoption as soon as possible.

They will not let her “go” until she is fully healed; and will make sure that she goes to a home where she is likely to spend the rest of her life as a pampered princess.

[Hot Tabasco]

I enjoy the outdoors and hunting just as much as the next person but no matter how hard I try, I just can't bring myself to accept the usage of leg traps, no matter what animal is being targeted.

If you choose to hunt then you have an obligation to insure that the kill is as quick and painless as possible. You don't subject the animal to hours or days of torture first..........

[garandgal]

I agree entirely. When I first wrote this post, it contained my “editorial” comment on traps. I deleted it so as not to be too controversial, given Sadie’s needs.

But, I secretly hoped that someone else would bring up the subject; much obliged. Just yesterday, my husband took our dog out for a hunting outing...he is always worried that she will stumble across one of those vile things.

[DaveA37]

The people who dropped that dog off to fend for herself are the ones that I am, and so should you upset with. Doing so is inhumane and cruel. There needs to be severe punishment for those who do so and particularly in the winter months. There are animal shelters that take those abandoned pets to prevent things like this from happening. Dumping a dog or cat off in the country is cruel and inhumane.

While I feel bad for the dog, is there positive proof that the dog was actually caught in a leg hold trap and the dog was able to remove herself from the trap with her teeth?

[Hot Tabasco]

is there positive proof that the dog was actually caught in a leg hold trap

Just the obvious physical trauma on the dog's leg.........I can't imagine any other way the dog's leg ended up as it did but I'm sure you'll come up with something.

[garandgal]

Apparently the dog had been seen by local families in the area; they were leaving food out for her. They know if there are traps around...and her injuries are pretty obvious...go take a look at the Facebook page in the link for a nice close-up. She likely tried to get the trap open, but ended up pulling her foot out of it, since there is nothing left but bones; her tongue and mouth were ulcerated from attempting to lick a frozen steel trap.

Thankfully, she ended up finding help from someone who decided not to joyfully put a bullet in her head.

[Dusty Road]

Trapped here in West TX for many years and over that period I caught 3 dogs, I was able to remove the traps with little to no damage other than a sore foot. I trapped for coyotes, fox and bobcats and used leg hold traps for all. The law requires us to check traps daily, had that one been checked most likely it could have been removed with far less damage. Dogs have a tendency to just lay down when trapped and won’t fight it for a while, unlike the others. The dog still has it’s foot and will recover, had it been a snare type trap it would have died a slow death.

[Dusty Road]

Who ever abandoned the dog is the guilty party, not the trap or the trapper.

[riverrunner]

Nothing joyfully about putting a bullet in her head just common sense.

I so glad that their are people out or are so willing to beg other people for money that they can spend it these stray dogs and cats.

We have no shortage of domestic dogs or cats.

[RegulatorCountry]

Some animals are vermin, pests or a danger to people and livestock, and need to be dispatched, but tormenting them in the process is not right. Then, there are the pet dogs injured or killed by these traps, I really dislike them. There has to be a better way to accomplish the same objective that doesn't lead to situations such as this.

[garandgal]

Nothing joyfully about putting a bullet in her head just common sense.

Knew I would "scare one of you up." That's your language isn't it? I've known plenty of people who have shot perfectly good dogs in the head for no other reason than that they were poor hunters.

[Dusty Road]

“We have no shortage of domestic dogs or cats.”

If I see a loose dog here on the ranch it gets one chance, I’ll try and call it in but if it doesn’t come in or runs, it gets shot. Feral cats don’t get that luxury, they get shot on sight, the same as all coyotes.

[DaveA37]

Instead of putting the bullet in the dogs head, perhaps it should have been put into the person/persons who dumped the dog out in the first place. I have NO sympathy for such people and have seen that practice done more than once in our rural area. If someone chooses to be rid of such animals, do NOT dump them off but instead take them to a shelter (I assume shelters charge for such services and to avoid paying a few bucks, the “dumping” is cheaper. those type people are ba$tards!)

[Dusty Road]

If your pet gets caught in a trap that’s your fault, I do not let mine run loose. I’ll make an honest attempt to remove the trap but I’m not going to get bit. Keep your pets on your property and this is something you don’t have to worry about. If you have a better way to keep calf and lamb killing predators off your property I’d love to hear it.

[garandgal]

This dog is apparently nice...the families in the rural area knew she had been abandoned and had been feeding her for a couple of months.

Just guessing from growing up in the area, but I imagine that they thought she would eventually just “stick around” and become the farm dog. Nothing wrong with that; better life than she had with the person who dumped her. I’m just glad that when she was injured she ended up at the farmhouse of someone who decided to try to help her.

[RegulatorCountry]

Some think they're giving the dog a chance under the assumption that the pound is a certain death sentence. Depending upon where you are, they may be right, but a quick relatively painless death would be preferable to a slow agonizing one lying in the roadway mortally injured from being run down by a car or truck. That's the fate of many if not most dumped dogs. I have a soft spot for them and have taken many in, but I'm just one person, I can't save them all even if I tried. No-kill shelters, widely known and plenty of them in combination with spaying and neutering would greatly minimize this.

[riverrunner]

Sure you have that's your language also.

Hunters and trappers all bad.