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In Leicester, NC, a dog recuperates and a family searches for answers.
The dog is Olive, a 3-year-old mixed breed whose family says wouldn’t have hurt anyone. Olive generally plays with her fur-sib, Ginger, out back behind the house. Olive “chose” Ginger herself on a family trip to the Humane Societ a couple of years back. The two are very close.
Last week, though, the usually close-to-home pair took off running and disappeared for hours. Ginger returned later that night, but Olive remained missing until her owner, Shannon White, found her bleeding and crying on the front porch the next morning. She had a gunshot wound on her rear, right hip.
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt her,” White told WLOS. “She’s so sweet and nice and silly and small, and just a great dog.”
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White took Olive to Pet Vet, where doctors gave her two options: orthopedic surgery to try to save her leg, which may not have been successful, or and amputation, which would likely help the dog adjust better and faster.
White, a single mom with two kids, says they are having trouble understanding why this happened.
“My kids and I are heartbroken,” White said. “There’s a lot of sadness, and anger and disbelief.”
White is a full-time nursing student in her last semester. The bills for the amputation still came to nearly $1,000, more than she can afford. Friends have come forward to help where they could, but she’s looking for more than help with her bills.
She wants justice for Olive and plans to report the incident to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.
“If anything, just to prevent this from happening to someone else,” she said.
If you have information on this incident, you’re asked to call Crimestoppers at 828-255-5050.
