In Winchester, Ohio, someone found a female dog lying beside a country road on the night of Friday, August 28. Beside her were five newborn puppies, still covered in amniotic fluid.
The Brown County Humane Society arrived thinking the mother had been hit by a car. She was weak, with a swollen face and struggling to breathe. But X-rays at Rolling Hills Veterinary Service in Bethel revealed something else. Bullet fragments lodged in her head and neck. Someone had shot her in the face, perhaps a week earlier, and yet she had given birth to and nursed her five offspring to the limit of her strength.
Her jaw was fractured, and the bone beneath her eye was too. They named her Mercy.
With antibiotics, steroids, and fluids, she began to stabilize, although the medication prevented her from continuing to nurse. The puppies were placed in ongoing care while Mercy awaits surgery during which the veterinarian will not be able to remove all the bullets from her body.
Whoever shot and abandoned her could face up to twelve months in prison under Ohio’s Goddard’s Law. The police are still searching for the person responsible, and the shelter is looking for foster homes for her long recovery.
Mercy did not choose to survive. She chose to give birth first.
