Emaciated and battered with broken bones, a young dog found Tuesday afternoon in Petaluma along Highway 101 may have been thrown from a vehicle, according to a Petaluma animal official.
On Wednesday, the pit bull or pit bull mix continued to receive emergency medical attention at Brandner Veterinary Hospital in Petaluma for a broken front leg, broken pelvis and busted canine tooth, said Jeff Charter, executive director of the Petaluma Animal Shelter.
“She’s pretty banged up with significant injuries, including road rash to her head, legs and body,” Charter said.
Her injuries seem to indicate she was thrown or fell from a moving vehicle, but what happened remained unclear and Charter was hoping for help from the public.
“At this point we’re trying to figure out, what is this situation. Was she thrown? Jumped out of a vehicle? Or was she lost and made her way there,” Charter said Wednesday. “Somehow she came to be in pretty poor condition.”
He estimated the pit bull or pit bull mix was 2-4 years old and hadn’t eaten in some time.
“She’s a very sweet dog, considering her situation,” he said, describing how the injured but conscious dog offered no resistance to shelter workers who responded late Tuesday afternoon to a call for help.
It was a couple driving north up the highway who spotted her. She was on the ground near some trees on the side of the highway, south of the East Washington offramp.
“A nice couple stopped. They saw her and pulled their car over,” Charter said. They called for help and rescuers found the man seated on the ground next to the dog, trying to comfort her.
“We get reports of dogs being thrown from vehicles a couple times a year, but we don’t often find them in that condition,” Charter said.
It appeared the dog’s injuries could have occurred Monday afternoon, as Charter said they may have been about 24 hours old when she was found.
The signs were good Wednesday for her recovery, including that she was eating a lot, he said. “She’ll rebound, she was looking pretty good this morning.”
The shelter has released a photo and issued a social media request for information to help identify the dog and her owner and to gain information as to what might have happened.
