BY LISA CORYELL
TRENTON -- A dog shot in the face and left suffering in a crate for at least a day was euthanized yesterday after animal control officers deemed the beagle's injuries too severe to treat.
The male animal, estimated to be about 3 years old, was found by a man walking along the train tracks behind the Lincoln Homes housing project on Brunswick Ave nue.
The dog was inside a closed carrying crate lined with newspaper. A small pile of dry dog food was inside the crate. Animal control officers said they believe the dog was shot before it was placed in the crate.
"Maybe someone found him wandering around like this and put him in the crate instead of bringing him in," said Eric Maldonado, di rector of the Trenton Animal Shelter. "A lot of people are afraid they'll be blamed. They want to mind their own business."
The dog is believed to have suf fered for a while.
"This didn't happen today," said Kathleen Ranalli, a Willingboro veterinarian who volunteers at the city shelter once a week. "He's been like this for at least a day or two."
The dog had been shot in the muzzle, suffering severe damage to his mouth. He also appeared to have fresh injuries to his neck, face and ears, indications that he'd re cently been bitten by another dog.
Eric Maldonado, director of the Trenton Animal Shelter, said the dog, a docile breed, was most likely used to train dogs to fight.
"People don't want to test their own dogs against other aggressive dogs," he said. "They use smaller, weaker dogs to test how hard their dog will fight. Someone probably fought this dog until they were done with him. Then they shot him and left him for dead."
If caught, the person who shot the dog faces animal cruelty charges, he said. Ranalli cried as she prepared to euthanize the dog, which had been heavily sedated during the examination process.
"It's hard to see a dog in so much pain for no reason," she said.
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