Charlie was found abandoned on the side of the road in rural South Carolina with a broken leg. Pickens County Animal Control was alerted and picked him up and brought him to the Pickens County Animal Control Facility. This facility is so severely under-resourced that it is not set up to facilitate adoptions to the public. Charlie was placed on a 10-day stray hold by animal control; had he not been wearing a collar, his time would have been limited to 5 days. Luckily for Charlie, DC PAWS Rescue was on site at the end of his 10-day hold period.
DC PAWS Rescue saves stray, neglected, unwanted and abused animals from animal control facilities and places them in safe, supportive and loving foster and adoptive homes in the Washington, DC and surrounding areas.
We are a hands-on rescue, and the Directors of DC PAWS regularly visit the Pickens animal control facility. When we arrived at the shelter, we met Charlie, whose stray hold period was expiring. We opened the cage to see a miserable and scared dog. We placed a slip lead leash around his neck to see if he would come with us outside of the shelter, but he couldn’t stand on his own. So we helped him up and he limped out of the shelter with us.
Once out of the shelter, Charlie was a different dog! He was happy and wagging his tail, even though he could barely stand. We placed him in our car and headed straight to the vet to determine what was wrong with his leg. Once in the car, Charlie’s transformation was complete, he realized he was being rescued. He was transformed from a scared, depressed dog lacking all hope to a happy and sweet dog who did nothing but give everyone around him kisses.
The vet x-rayed Charlie’s leg and told us that he had a broken leg that had healed incorrectly. Poor Charlie was left for ten long days on a concrete floor, unable to move on his broken leg, to wait for his stray hold to end.
Charlie needed a specialist to repair his leg, so we took him to a surgeon who performed a successful surgery! After the surgery, the surgeon gave us a small plastic bag containing a 22 caliber bullet. Someone had cruelly shot Charlie and left him to suffer and die at the side of the road.
Despite this tragic start, Charlie has nothing but love for every person he meets.
Charlie’s surgery and post-operative care has cost $3,500, so far and we understand that he may need more x-rays. He will still need physical therapy and heartworm treatment that will likely cost and additional $1,500 in treatment and boarding.
At DC PAWS, we are committed to the animals we rescue, even when faced with serious and expensive medical issues. But we cannot do so without the support of donors.