ST. LOUIS, Mo. (WFLA/KMOV) – Police were horrified when they discovered a dog that had its mouth and legs duct taped in the middle of a quarry.
Despite all Jimmy the dachshund has gone through, Doctor Laura Ivan thinks he will be fine.
But 30 years of practicing veterinary medicine didn’t prepare her for Jimmy’s arrival on Saturday.
“He couldn’t move nor could he bark or open his mouth,” she said.
Investigators believe Paul Garcia bound the dog’s paws and mouth with electrical tape and threw him into a ditch, where he sat for 12 hours cold and malnourished.
“They had to go and freeze [the] tape that was on him, little by little, and pull it apart bit by bit by bit in order to find that [Garcia’s] fingerprint and maintain it,” said Grant Bissell, with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
That fingerprint helped Jefferson County’s prosecutor charge Paul Garcia with animal abuse and armed criminal action.
“It is probably a pet to somebody and that something really bad happened either between two people or just some random really horrible person,” said Dr. Ivan.
Jimmy will remain with Dr. Ivan for treatment.
If no one claims the dog, he’ll go up for adoption.
