A dog in Roseville, Mich., chewed off her own paw to escape freezing temperatures on Sunday. Police are looking for the two men seen on surveillance tapes who chained her behind a Wal-Mart on Sunday and left her for dead.
The 2-year-old mixed breed was found by a Wal-Mart employee who called the police. An animal control officer that works closely with Hopeful Heart Rescue organization, headed by Melanie Wittner, was then contacted. The dog was rescued and has been named Courtney. She is expected to recover.
Diana Rascano, president and co-founder of 4 Paws 1 Heart, told the Detroit Free Press, "At the same time that was going on, Melanie and I were getting phone calls. We had no idea if the dog had a legitimate amputation or what the situation was. We discovered that she had actually chewed her paw off. The leash, it was like a cable, it was very thick and had tied around her leg and actually acted as a tourniquet."
The veterinarian that attended to Courtney thinks that the dog's leg became so numb, she was able to chew it off to try to escape.
"She was trying to get away," Rascano told the Free Press. "The vet said what saved her was the tourniquet that caused the blood flow to stop, and the subfreezing weather may have frozen some of the wound so that she didn't bleed to death."
Courtney had to have her leg amputated in emergency surgery Sunday night to avoid an infection.
"They thought the toxins could have easily gotten into her blood system," Rascano told the newspaper. "They amputated it; it was just something we couldn't wait for."
After the amputation, another surgery was needed after it was discovered that Courtney had consumed her paw.
"They felt a lump in her stomach and saw there were shards of bones, which were her paw," Rascano told the Free Press. "She had not only chewed it but eaten it. They had to do surgery because the shards from the bone could have caused issues with her intestine."
There is a fundraising page to help 4 Paws 1 Heart pay for the $2,000 cost of the two surgeries and to help defray the cost of Courtney's care until she is adopted. Wittner's rescue organization will handle Courtney's adoption and has already gotten a few inquires, according to the Free Press.
Rascano called Courtney a "sweetheart," and said the trauma has not affected her demeanor.
"She's been walking around licking everyone," Rascano told the paper. "She's just the sweetest dog. It seems like she belonged to someone at one time and how she winded up in that situation, we don't know, but she will never have to go through that again."
