Months after a badly abused dog that was later found to have been shot was abandoned in Lauderhill, the generosity of two animal groups and a foster caregiver have her on the mend.
Months after a badly abused dog that was later found to have been shot was abandoned in Lauderhill, the generosity of two animal groups and a foster caregiver have her on the mend.
It was back in January when Lauderhill Fire Rescue made the heartbreaking discovery of Karma, a pit bull that had been abused and overbred before she was left tied up in front of their station.
Karma had parasites and a severe case of pyometra, a uterine infection.
Firefighters called in i Heart Animal Rescue to help.
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"When she was found here, she was close to death. She was emaciated. She had a very bad infection inside and we had to do the emergency surgery to save her life," i Heart's Cindy Mucciaccio said.
Through their lifesaving efforts and a foster caregiver, Jessie Paige, Karma was being nursed back to health.
"Even though she was emaciated, we took the chance that she would wake up and she did," Mucciaccio said.
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Although Karma had surgery for her uterine infection, the discharge coming out of her nose and mouth wasn't getting better, and that's when it was discovered that she'd been previously shot through her jaw and into the roof of her mouth.
“We found out when we did X-rays that she had a bullet fragment that was bursting inside," Mucciaccio said.
"I couldn’t even imagine her being dead. I couldn’t imagine anybody shooting someone like her," Paige said.
The Brady Hunter Foundation stepped in to help cover the costs of X-rays and surgery to take out the shrapnel and close the hole in Karma's mouth with skin grafts.
"She's still sneezing and still snotty but other than that, she’s got energy. She still wants to play. She loves men and toys," Paige said.
Those who came to Karma's rescue are glad she's finally getting some relief.
"It’s saying that she’s strong. She’s a fighter and people that abuse animals need to be punished," Mucciaccio said.
"I named her Karma for a reason, so I’m hoping since we didn’t find who shot her, I’m hoping they got what was coming to them," Paige said.
Karma has another surgery planned for the next few weeks but is getting the care she needs.
"We really need people to stand up for animal abuse," Brady Hunter Foundation founder Josh Fox said. "We need people to speak up and really help to save these animals because they don’t have a voice. We need to be the voice."
