Chained Dog Left to a Watery Death
www.thecouriermail.news.com.au
February 17, 2005, DARWIN, AUSTRALIA -- A pet dog has been found chained to mangroves and left for dead - below the tide line. Julie Cartwright, 43, discovered the abandoned pet whimpering in the mangroves while on her daily walk along Rapid Creek Rd, in Darwin.
"It beggars belief someone could leave a dog to die like that," she said.
"I don't know how long she'd been there but it was obvious from the tide marks she had been swimming at some stage.
"It's despicable - I felt like bursting into tears."
Mrs Cartwright said the distraught dog - believed to be a pit bull cross - was chained to the mangroves 100m from the bicycle path. "Originally I thought someone might have been torturing it," she said.
"It was one of those decisions where I didn't know if I should investigate or not.
I decided to have a look and was absolutely disgusted by what I found."
Mrs. Cartwright, of Jingili, did not approach the dog at first and went home to get her husband Mick and some food. "She was really hungry and in pretty poor condition," she said.
"It looked like she'd given birth to puppies recently because she was carrying milk. She certainly had a close shave."
Darwin City Council animal officers picked up the distressed pooch and impounded her.
The dog had only recently given birth to pups.
The well-mannered bitch, who is still getting over her ordeal, will be kept at the council pound for a week when she will be handed over to the RSPCA to be put down if nobody wants to adopt her.
Anyone who wants to give the dog a good home can contact the RSPCA.
