American Bully dog ‘mutilated’ by breeder in Spain

A DOG breeder is being investigated for animal cruelty after Guardia Civil on a routine inspection at a vet in Mieres (Asturias) found a mutilated dog.

According to the Seprona Nature Protection Service the animal was “in critical condition, with mutilated ears and several wounds of varying severity throughout the body, was practically immobile and had an elusive attitude. He also had hypothermia and severe dehydration, which was already being treated.”

The worst wound was 25 centimetres long with open stitches and he also had stitches and tears in both ears, paralysis in his right rear leg and an ulcer that had led to the loss of his right eye.

The dog was not identified with a microchip and everything seems to indicate that the mutilation of the ears was the result of being cut with a knife or scissors.

Seprona agents were able to locate the alleged perpetrator, a 25-year-old dog breeder. They think he deliberately caused the wounds to ‘modify the appearance’ of the American Bully.

Once he realised the condition he had put the dog in he decided it was not worth anything to his business as a dog breeder and gave it to an acquaintance. It was the friend, on seeing the desperate state of the animal, who took it to the vet.

The Guardia Civil reminds people that a European Union Convention prohibits surgical intervention aimed at modifying the appearance of a pet or achieving non-healing purposes, and in particular, the cutting of tails, the cutting of ears, the removal of vocal cords and the removal of nails and teeth.

The exceptions are if a qualified vet considers them necessary for medical reasons or to prevent reproduction.