When a dog was found severely injured in St. Paul last week, a rescue group immediately knew what to name him — Warrior.
He had bite marks all over his face, injuries to the pads on his paws, and his ear was half torn off and infected. The dog was fighting for his life, said Natalie Wicker, director of operations for the Retrievers, a volunteer organization that finds lost dogs and strays.
The dog was the third discovered on the city’s East Side in the last month with serious bite injuries, and St. Paul police and Animal Control are investigating.
Some in the community are concerned the dogs are victims of dog fighting.
“It breaks my heart to think these dogs have suffered like this,” Wicker said.
Molly Lunaris, St. Paul Animal Control supervisor, said she can’t speculate what happened to the dogs.
“It could have been all three stray dogs were at one time together and they could have been attacked by a wild animal,” she said Tuesday. “They could have been attacked by a resident animal where they lived. They could have been involved in organized fighting. There’s too many ‘could haves.’ ”
Police also said they don’t know whether the cases are connected to each other or if they are linked to any kind of dog fighting.
The first injured dog was found about 6:30 a.m. July 27 on East Fourth Street, near Ruth Street, according to a police report filed Monday.
A man reported an unknown person left an unfamiliar dog with an injured leg in his fenced-in back yard. Officers found the small brown pit bull with bite marks all over his chest and leg, and Animal Control picked up the dog, according to the report. A nonprofit rescue group now has the dog, who’s continuing to recover, Lunaris said Tuesday.
Then, on Aug. 17, Tracie Lemke’s 17-year-old son found an injured pit-bull mix at the end of their driveway across from Indian Mounds Regional Park. The dog had a swollen face and his ear was infected.
“His ear was chewed up and kind of torn,” said Lemke, adding that the dog had sores on his legs and was very skinny.
Lemke fed the dog.
“He was very hungry and he wanted human touch, he wanted love,” she said.
The dog was in need of medical attention and Animal Control handed him over the Animal Humane Society for surgery, according to Lemke and Lunaris.
About a year earlier, Lemke said she found a similarly injured dog in Mounds Park. The dog had scarring, half an ear missing and was skinny, Lemke said. She and her family adopted the dog, who they named Ginger.
“It looks like they had injuries from being a bait dog, but you never know, it could have been from being in the wild,” Lemke said.
The most recent injured dog in St. Paul was initially spotted Thursday and captured Saturday. That was the dog named Warrior.
Officers were called about 7:20 p.m. Thursday to the area of Winthrop Street and North Park Drive, near Battle Creek Regional Park, on a report of a dog that appeared injured and half buried, according to a police report. Officers and Animal Control tried to catch the dog but were unable to.
When the Retrievers group was informed about the dog, they also heard about his injuries.
“It sounded like they were pretty bad, so we knew time was of the essence,” Wicker said.
Volunteers put up signs in the area Saturday and got a tip that led them to finding Warrior at Suburban Avenue and Pedersen Street, in a back yard that backs up to Interstate 94, Wicker said.
Wicker approached the dog carefully, tossing treats and slowly approaching. The dog was uninterested at first, but then he tried a treat.
“I could tell he was famished,” Wicker said. “His hunger took over from the fear. Eventually, he was eating treats out of my hand.”
Eventually, other volunteers were able to slowly corral the dog.
“He was the sweetest dog, but once we got closer we saw the extent of his injuries and it was pretty graphic,” Wicker said.
Warrior had old and fresh bite wounds all over his face. His torn ear was in bad shape — when Warrior leaned up against a volunteer, her shirt soon had fresh blood all over it from his ear, Wicker said.
The pit bull was limping and the veterinarian they brought him to reported that the pads on his feet were burned or blistered off, according to Wicker.
“Based on the type of wounds, the vet said he’d been in many fights,” she said. “He’s a very docile sweet dog. From my understanding those are the first to be discarded from fight rings because they don’t want to fight back.”
Animal Control believes organized dog fighting “is quite rare in St. Paul,” Lunaris said.
“We don’t see injured dogs like this coming in very often and it’s unclear what’s going on,” she said. “We do have coyotes in those woods. It’s not outside the realm of possibility it could have been happenstance.”
As for Warrior, who’s thought to be less than a year old, he has been placed with a rescue group.
“Once he’s recovered from his wounds and he’s emotionally healed, he will be up for adoption and hopefully on his way to a brand-new life,” Wicker said.
HOW TO HELP
Anyone with information is asked to contact St. Paul Animal Control at 651-266-1100.