Community Corner

Dog Burned Last July Recovers and Gets Adopted

Indy was nearly killed by some fireworks intentionally strapped to him, but he's bounced back and finally heading home.

What began as a sad story the day after Independence Day last year has finally reached a happy ending with the adoption of badly injured dog that's made an amazing recovery, NBC4 reports.

Last July 5, someone tied some fireworks to a 3-year-old Staffordshire Terrier pup, later named Indy. The explosives went off, nearly killing him.  Indy ended up undergoing a series of surgeries to heal wounds to his stomach, legs and paws.

"There were fireworks strapped to him and they lit them on fire,” Dr. Daniel Slaton, of the Westlake Village Animal Hospital, told KTLA last month. “That’s the burn mark patterns through the back of the legs,” Slaton said. “As he was walking, it was burning the back of his feet.”

Now, Indy is finally heading to his forever home.

The pup was adopted by an employee at the animal hospital, who started working there after Indy was brought there.

"You can’t not love a dog like that so every day it was just more love, more love, and then finally he became a momma’s boy. I became a doggy’s girl,” Jenny Mandel told NBC4.

Click here to read the full story.

The search is still on for who badly injured Indy. 

On July 4, a vehicle was reportedly parked at Kittridge Street and Hamlin Street, one block east of Laurel Canyon Road. A witness spotted a male suspect pulling a wounded dog by the collar off the truck's flatbed, according to an LAPD statement. 

The suspect was confronted by the witness and fled the area. He's facing animal cruelty charges.

His vehicle is described as a possible late 1980s white Toyota Pick-up, with dark stripes on the side of the vehicle, a toolbox in the bed of the truck, large off-road tires, a sunroof, and small extra cab windows. 


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