’90 percent of his body had to be shaved’: This abandoned dog is on the mend
Police are still looking for his past owner and are asking the public for help.
When a small terrier mix was found in downtown Beverly this past week, his matted fur was brown and grubby and his long toenails were sticking into his paws, making just walking painful, according to officials.But Angel, as the Animal Rescue League of Boston named him, is on the mend and should be ready for a new home within a few weeks, Michael Delfina, a spokesman for the ARL, said Friday.Mystery clouds the 10-year-old dog’s past, and that’s something Beverly and state police, along with the ARL’s own law enforcement, want to pin down. They’re asking the public for help figuring out who let his condition deteriorate to emaciation and filth.
Our law enforcement partners @ARLBostonRescue and @BeverlyPD , @ChiefLeLacheur investigating who caused this dog to suffer such neglect and injury. Please read more here and share any info you have with them: https://t.co/Ejlj5uxmsT pic.twitter.com/0GCLeBdiXQ
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) September 27, 2018
A round of X-rays and some dental work were on Friday’s agenda for Angel, according to Delfina.
The X-rays were precautionary, he said, while the dental work aimed to clear up “some signs” of disease.
“I know he’s already put on a couple of pounds,” Delfina said. “That’s a great sign for him.”
Animal Rescue League of Boston
Angel weighed 13.5 pounds shortly after he entered treatment. That’s without a pound of matted fur that had to be shaved off, Delfina said.
“His fur was extremely matted, so you know, I think it was 90 percent of his body had to be shaved,” he said.
Another instant improvement was trimming Angel’s nails — they had grown to the point where they curled and made walking painful, according to a news release from the ARL.
Lt. Alan Borgal, the ARL’s director of law enforcement, believes Angel wasn’t outside for long, according to Delfina. Typically, the sidewalks or streets would help to file down a dog’s nails.
“They could still be overgrown, but they would be filed down a little bit,” Delfina said. “He believes the dog was previously kept in really poor conditions and was abandoned or dumped fairly recently. So I think that’s really the crux of why we’re seeking the public’s help.”
Despite Angel’s past, he’s “very friendly,” Delfina said. While noting that he can be a tad skittish at first, “he’s very quick to warm up.”
“He seems to know that he’s in a place where he’s getting help, and I think that’s always very encouraging,” he said. “We see that with a lot of animals we find. They tend to know that there are people there to help them.”
It could be at least three weeks before Angel is ready to leave the ARL’s treatment facility in Boston, Delfina said.
Already, the people who found him in Beverly have said they’re interested in adopting him.
“They essentially saved his life,” Delfina said. “That’s certainly a conversation to have. If that doesn’t pan out, he will be made available (for adoption) at some point. There’s no real timeline on it.”
