DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - A dog is recovering from serious injuries at a Miami-Dade animal shelter after being shot.
Speaking with 7News on Friday, Maria Serrano, the chief veterinarian for Miami-Dade Animal Services in Doral, said a dog named Mello was shot in his right leg, causing a fracture to the right tibia and fibula.
“It is very challenging to see a dog that – he is so sweet, so charming, he’s amazing, and the fact that he got shot in the leg, you know probably he was going to be shot to kill, and luckily he didn’t [die],” said Serrano.
Some of the dog’s tendons are also ruptured, making surgery a necessity.
“Generally, this is an injury that in a shelter is very complicated to repair, it requires a specialized surgeon,” said Serrano. “and so, normally, we would amputate the leg to give the dog as good quality of life.”
Miami-Dade Animal Services officials said that because of the tendon rupture, Mello needs specialized surgery that can’t be done in the shelter.
Serrano said they’ve been overwhelmed dealing with an increasing amount of dogs.
“We’re trying to do our best to save them and to just provide the best care that we can for them,” said Serrano, “but we would really love the community to step up to come in and adopt, volunteer. There’s so many things you can do for these wonderful dogs. We have programs to take the dogs on a field day, so you can take them to the beach, you can just show them off to other people, you can reduce their stress.”
But for Mello, Serrano has good news about his future.
“Fortunately, we have amazing rescue partners that are willing to step up and take him to a specialist, so he is luckily going to a rescue that will provide the surgery that he needs, and hopefully, the leg will be saved,” said Serrano.
The chief veterinarian doesn’t see a reason why anyone would harm the canine they call a sweet young boy.
“Don’t harm animals if you’re scared of them. We love them,” said Serrano. “And there’s always somebody that will be willing to take care of them, so violence is definitely not an answer.”
As of late Friday night, it remains unclear who shot Mello.
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