Dog shot ‘execution style,’ left to die in Washington ditch. See his amazing recovery
A dog was shot in the head and left to die in a roadside ditch in southwestern Washington — but he’ll get a happy ending now that one of his rescuers is adopting him.
A crew of public utility workers noticed a dog lying in a ditch on the side of a highway and stopped to check it out, Dylan Shulda told KPTV. Shulda was leading the crew Nov. 2 as they were driving back toward Cowlitz County in Washington, the station reported.
“As we got out of the vehicles and moved toward it, it picked its head up to look at us,” Shulda told the station.
They noticed the dog’s mouth had been taped completely shut with duct tape that wouldn’t budge until they cut it off with a razor, the station reported. But that’s when they noticed the dog had been shot in the head.
“We … saw the flash burns on the head and the hole in its skull,” Shulda told the station.
They brought the pup to the Humane Society of Cowlitz County, where “X-rays revealed that he was indeed shot ‘execution style’ in the head and the bullet struck his eye and is lodged near his jaw,” the Humane Society said in a Nov. 2 post on Facebook.
He was wearing a leather collar with a green Seattle Mariners leash attached, officials said in the post. Cowlitz County is about 95 miles south of Seattle.
The next day, Humane Society officials gave an update that showed the dog was already doing much better.
“He is the most gentle, sweet dog,” officials said in the post. “He’s doing well and will make a full recovery after suffering through this horrific experience. He’s a super trooper.”
The nickname “kinda stuck,” Darren Ullman told McClatchy News in an email. Ullman is the executive director at the Humane Society.
A shelter employee took Trooper home to care for him, and a heartwarming video shows their rescue dog, Ace, licking Trooper’s gunshot wound.
Now that he’s had a chance to rest and recover, Trooper is ready to go to his forever home with Shulda, one of the utility workers who rescued him, Ullman told McClatchy News.
Cowlitz County Animal Control is investigating the incident, officials said. Anyone with information should contact animal control at 360-577-0151.
This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Dog shot ‘execution style,’ left to die in Washington ditch. See his amazing recovery."
