A tiny five-week-old puppy has been found abandoned and left for dead in a cardboard box down a remote country lane.
The pup – now named Pumpkin – was discovered soaked, shivering and terrified on Halloween (31 Oct) by two teenagers.
They then rushed her to safety.
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Carers were horrified to find Pumpkin suffering from a severe congenital deformity that causes her back legs to splay sideways.
The little fighter can’t stand or walk, and instead drags herself along on her tummy.
“Pumpkin is just five-weeks-old and should still be with her mum,” a spokesperson for Mayflower Animal Sanctuary in Bawtry, near Doncaster, told Need To Know.
“Someone made the decision to leave her where it was unlikely she would be found – and why?”
Staff have launched a fundraiser to pay for life-changing surgery and physiotherapy, hoping to give the brave pup the chance at the life she’s been cruelly denied.
The appeal smashed its £4,000 target in days, with over 400 animal lovers donating more than £6,700 to help Pumpkin walk again.
The sanctuary added: “Thank you for your continued support – and a huge thank you from Pumpkin, who would say it if she could.”
Pumpkin is now safe, warm and surrounded by love.
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