It’s always heartbreaking when animals are cruelly abandoned by their owners, but this is one of the saddest we’ve seen.
Investigators in the Knoxville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania discovered something shocking last week when they found a 2-year-old female pit bull mix left for dead in the freezing cold.
She was found locked in a cage and left on top of a dumpster.
The poor dog was extremely frightened when found. According to CBS Pittsburgh, it is likely that the dog had been used for breeding before being abandoned.
She was brought to Humane Animal Rescue in the Homewood neighborhood, who gave her the care she needed after nearly freezing to death.
“The animal was in decent shape, decent weight,” Dan Rossi, CEO of Humane Animal Rescue, told CBS Pittsburgh. “Obviously has had a couple of litters.”
Despite being in safe hands, the dog was extremely shy and nervous and refused to leave the back of her kennel.
It’s not known why the dog was abandoned. Pit bulls are a very misunderstood and wrongly maligned dog breed. They are seen as aggressive, a reputation that has made them by far the most common dog breed to end up in shelters.
Despite that, this pit bull was nothing but a gentle sweetheart.
““Her demeanor is very scared, she’s very timid, but we had no issues with examining her or giving her meds, so she’s not aggressive at all,” Dan Rossi told WPXI.
The dog’s owners have reportedly been found, and investigators are considering charging them with animal cruelty violations.
If the owners are charged, the dog will be kept in shelter care and eventually put up for adoption, but if there are no charges the dog will unfortunately be returned to them.
But there is a solid case against them. According to WPXI, local law says that animals can’t be left outside for more than 30 minutes if temperatures go below 32 degrees or above 90. When the dog was abandoned, it was freezing.
And officials said that the only way the dog will return to the original owners is if they find out the whole situation was some misunderstanding.
This poor dog! She looks so heartbroken. We really hope this situation works out and this dog finds a happy new home who will give her the love and care she needs.
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