This was the horrific situation that faced vet Ana Barros last week.
“Estrela” as she has been named by her rescuers was discovered in Marco de Canaveses on Friday with a sickle through her chest.
The local resident who first saw her contacted animal association Animarco which immediately got on to Ana Barros.
Mercifully, the damage was minimal.
The razor sharp blade had missed Estrela’s vital organs and veins, and surgery was relatively simple.
The dog with eyes full of gratitude is now recovering well, and her future looks bright. Thanks to the power of social media, there are no shortage of offers by people willing to adopt her.
But that hasn’t stopped Ana Barros from taking this horror to the next level.
She has posted the upsetting image of Estrela as she was when she arrived at the veterinary surgery, offering a €250 reward into any information on how the animal came to be so horribly stabbed.
“I was revolted by the cruelty of the person who did this”, Barros has explained. “I published the photograph and am ready to give a reward to whoever knows who the attacker is. These cases have to be denounced”.
For now, the costs of Estrela’s treatments are being supported by voluntary group Animarco which reveals that it already knew Estrela as one of the town’s abandoned ‘street dogs’ and was feeding her, along with others that have not yet managed to find adoptive homes.
