“Someone was hunting this puppy. They wanted him dead,” Stray Rescue of St. Louis said.
ST. LOUIS — “He was being hunted,” said Stray Rescue of St. Louis.
The animal shelter was referring to Lucky Charm, a dog it took in from East Prairie, Missouri, on Monday.
The 1-year-old mixed breed had a broken-off arrow shaft sticking out of his neck. The dog was transported from Mississippi County to Stray Rescue, where staff gave him pain medicine and sedated him for x-rays.
The scans showed the arrow was sitting near his spine and his esophagus, and they also uncovered something even more chilling—he had a bullet lodged in his abdomen.
“He’s so kind, so sweet, so gentle,” Stray Rescue said in a post to Facebook. “It enrages us to even think about how someone could be so heartless to do something like this to such a sweet soul. How could someone do this?”
“Someone was hunting this puppy. They wanted him dead,” the shelter said.
Stray Rescue said staff were preparing for surgery when they discovered the arrow was piercing his trachea and would require a specialist’s skill to remove. A video posted by Stray Rescue showed staff carefully wrapping Lucky Charm in blankets and strapping him into the back of their Jeep to be taken to a specialty surgeon.
“We sent him with love and so many kisses. Saying goodbye to him was really hard, but it’s the only chance he has, and he deserves our EVERY effort,” Stray Rescue said.
The shelter said it would be keeping everyone updated on the outcome of his surgery on its website.
Anyone with information on who shot Lucky Charm was asked to email info@strayrescue.org.