Bendigo dog impaling despicable and deliberate
Bendigo police investigating the impaling of a dog in central Victoria on Wednesday night say it is the most despicable act they have seen against an animal.
A woman in Jennings Street, Bendigo East, was woken by the cries of a dog about 12.15am and found it impaled on a steel fence.
A police spokeswoman said the black female labrador was cut from the fence by firefighters using the Jaws of Life.
A vet, council ranger and police were also on scene, and the dog was taken to a veterinary clinic where two steel stakes were surgically removed.
Bendigo Acting Sergeant Craig Pearse described the incident as despicable and called for any witnesses to come forward.
"It appears that it may be a deliberate act, aggravated cruelty to the animal, although investigations are continuing," he said.
"It's the most despicable act I've ever seen against an animal."
The dog is expected to recover.
Eaglehawk Road Veterinary Clinic vet Dr Raquel Stoll said the metal stakes had gone about 10cm into the dog, between her hind legs and abdomen.
Dr Stoll said the dog was bright and happy, but it was unclear if she would ever walk again.
"We can't say she's definitely going to be able to walk, but she can move herself around and I'm sure there's a lot of trauma to those muscles, so it will just take a bit of time," she said.
Dr Stoll said it was "disgusting" that someone may have deliberately impaled the dog, but said it was possible she had accidentally done it to herself.
"Dogs can occasionally do that to themselves and they can jump surprisingly high as well," she said.
"If it is deliberate, it's just disgusting that somebody could be involved in that."
Dr Stoll said they were yet to find the dog's owners.
RSPCA Victoria president Dr Hugh Wirth said deliberate animal cruelty was on the rise in Victoria.
He said the Victorian government was pushing through legislation to double the fines for animal cruelty from $6,000 and/or jail for injuring an animal, and $12,000 and/or jail for killing or permanently maiming an animal.
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