A California dog needed 1,000 stitches after being brutally stabbed and beaten not far from his home in South Los Angeles, veterinary officials and police said.
Spartacus the pit bull was stabbed several times by an unknown attacker Saturday morning at around 4 a.m. near Hyde Park, the Los Angeles Police Department told KTLA. The attacker also smashed a shovel over the 2-year-old dog's head.
"It almost looks like they tried to cut his head off, it's ear to ear," Alex Kyrklund, office manager at the Pet Care Veterinary Center, told the station.
A local nonprofit named the Ghetto Rescue Foundation heard reports of the stabbing and transported Spartacus to a vet. The dog was said to be recovering Sunday after a grueling two-hour surgery. The suspect, who remains at large, is believed to be a neighbor of the dog's owners.
Kyrklund said Spartacus, which he described as the "sweetest dog in the world," never did anything to deserve the stabbing.
"This is a breed that terrifies people, but this breed, this particular dog, sat there and did not attack this person. It's not the breed to be afraid of, it's the people," he told KTLA. "Somebody tried to kill this dog and slice this poor baby up. He's sliced up like you wouldn't believe."
The Animal Cruelty Task Force of the LAPD is investigating the incident.
Spartacus is expected to make a full recovery.
"We are all thinking of Spartacus with big tears and heavy hearts!" the Ghetto Rescue Foundation, which helps struggling families and animals, wrote on Facebook.
