Zeb survives fall from bridge

BY JANIE SMITH

A Penrose family is devastated their beloved pet has been injured in what appears to be a case of callous animal cruelty.

When Nicky Williams arrived home last Thursday, she discovered Zeb missing from their fenced back-yard and a note from the SPCA saying that her dog had jumped off a bridge.

Ms Williams and her partner rushed to the vet clinic he had been taken to where they discovered the 10-year-old dog had been thrown or fallen off a southern motorway overbridge, landing in the Sylvia Park carpark in front of horrified shoppers.

 

There they discovered the 10-year-old dog had been thrown or fallen off a southern motorway overbridge, landing in the Sylvia Park carpark in front of horrified shoppers.

The labrador-pitbull cross survived the drop of about 15 metres but with serious injuries including a broken pelvis.

"If it was a person and they fell that far, they would be in intensive care," she says.

The woman who took Zeb from the carpark to a vet clinic in Remuera says it appears he landed on all four paws and then collapsed.

The woman, who did not want to be named, says she was parking her car when it happened and got out to discover him lying on the ground with about 10 people gathered around.

"A lot of them didn’t realise what had happened because you don’t expect a dog to fall from the sky."

She and a vet nurse looked after Zeb while they waited for the SPCA to arrive but after 20 minutes, she decided to take him to the vet instead because he was going into shock.

"He was an absolute angel at the scene. He just knew we were there to help him. He won my heart over within seconds."

When Ms Williams and her partner collected Zeb from the clinic, they drove him to the emergency vet clinic in the back of a ute with Ms Williams sitting beside him holding up his drip.

"He kept stopping breathing and I thought he had died. It was rush hour traffic as well."

Ms Williams says Zeb may have been stolen, possibly by people playing a prank or for a more sinister purpose – as bait for dog fights.

She says several friends have had their dogs stolen for fights and they have later been found either dead or so badly injured they had to be put down.

"It’s pretty horrendous. I just can’t believe somebody would do something like that. It makes me sick."

The couple spent about $1000 on vet bills and have started a fundraising page on the social networking website Facebook because they are running out of money and don’t want to have Zeb put down.

Ms Williams says her children, aged five and 12, were devastated by Zeb’s injuries.

"My son was really upset. We got Zeb when he was about 18 months old so they grew up together."

The family is planning to move from the area after having been burgled three times in the past 10 years and Ms Williams says this incident just reinforces their need to shift.

Anyone wanting to contribute to Zeb’s treatment can search "help Zebby get better fund" on Facebook.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News