BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - The Greater Birmingham Humane Society is looking for the person responsible for abusing a puppy found dumped at its Woodlawn location Wednesday.
“Just the suffering. It took a long time for that animal to get in that condition,” GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius said.
GBHS is looking for the person responsible for abusing the puppy, now named Gabby. The humane society is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the case.
“I have not seen a dog in this kind of state. I’ve seen dogs malnourished, I’ve seen dogs with bad embedded collars, I’ve seen dogs with broken bones. I’ve seen other types of cruelties but I have never seen a dog with a muzzle tied up like that," Dr. Russell Johnson, GBHS Chief Medical Officer, said. "Never have and never thought I would.”
GBHS says Gabby, a doodle puppy, was found matted, muzzled and covered in green dye with bruises and urine scalding on her paws. Although she’s believed to be around ten months old, Dr. Johnson says she’s so malnourished, she’s the size of a four to five month old puppy.
“I’m surprised she survived,” he said.
The humane society believes she had been locked in a crate for most of, if not all, of her life.
"When I picture an animal in a crate for that long, that can’t open its mouth, that can’t eat and can’t drink, the suffering that must go on when you’re that hungry, and you’re that thirsty, and the adults that are seeing it, or whoever is seeing that, and not doing anything about it: It frightens me. Because it makes me wonder what else they’re capable of doing," said Cornelius.
Cornelius believes whoever dropped Gabby off at the Woodlawn location was trying to help but says she wants to talk to them to learn more.
"We really do think that someone saw that this dog was in trouble and brought the dog to us early in the morning, but we really need to talk to that person," she said. “I was really shocked that we do not have better camera coverage at the end because Woodlawn is at the end of a runway of the Birmingham Airport. So, we’re going to remedy that immediately.”
They named the puppy Gabby for a reason.
"It means God’s love and God’s protection," Cornelius said. "I can’t believe that dog made its way up."
GBHS says the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the case. If you have any information, you're asked to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 205-254-7777.