Veterinarian 'optimistic' for puppy hurt in troubling video
Man, 18, charged after Facebook video circulated of young dog being tossed onto pavement
A puppy that a man tossed into the air and onto pavement in a remote central Manitoba community is sore and scared but recovering, a Winnipeg vet says.
Manitoba Underdogs Rescue initially believed Asha was paralyzed after members of the group drove more than four hours on Wednesday to Easterville to rescue the dog.
"She came in and she was clearly very unhappy and unwilling to walk … When she did try to walk, she was limping on both her right front leg and her left hind leg," Bartley said.
X-rays have since determined Asha has no major fractures.
"But she certainly does have a lot of soft tissue injury at this point," Bartley said.
And those injuries could mean complications in the future.
"She has a lot of bone growth that still has to happen so her growth plates are still open … There is the concern that there may have been some damage to the growth plates that may affect the growth later on," Bartley said.
Young man in custody
RCMP arrested an 18-year-old man after a video circulated on Facebook of a man throwing the puppy into the air and onto the ground in the community, located 464 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
He has been charged with causing unnecessary pain and injury to a dog and breach of undertaking, RCMP said Thursday. He remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court in The Pas on Aug. 6.
Trust and resilience
Bartley says Asha's story shows that puppies are easy targets for abuse.
"She's a really good example about how trusting puppies are and how easy it is to abuse the trust that a puppy will have in people," Bartley said.
