PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — The X-rays leave no doubt about what happened, but Maureen Yeo says she still can't fathom why anyone would shoot three construction nails into her dog's head.
Kuma, a two-year-old male German shepherd, went missing from the family business in Prince George, B.C., on June 24.
Yeo said in an interview Tuesday that they searched for the dog and reported him missing right away.
The local SPCA called days later to say he'd been found in Hixon, 47 kilometres away.
When she picked the dog up, Yeo said she knew something was wrong at the top of his head and thought perhaps he had been hit with a pellet gun.
Yeo immediately took Kuma to the local veterinarian.
"She called me about 20 minutes later saying it wasn't pellets, it was nails. I stopped my truck, I got out and I threw up, it was so sick."
One of the nails was lodged inside the skull, while the other two were partially protruding from his head, she said. The X-ray shows three, eight centimetre long construction nails lodged in the top of Kuma's skull.
The vet said they definitely were put in with a nail gun, she said.
The wound was already infected, but Kuma came out of surgery to remove the nails alive.
While Kuma suffered a seizure on Thursday, he is otherwise doing well, Yeo said.
"He seems to be getting more energy every day and he's eating and drinking," she said, adding she's trying to keep him calm but he has been resisting the ordered "bed rest."
Yeo said Kuma, a very trusting and friendly dog, lives at their shop, and while he would never leave their property on foot, he might hop in someone's vehicle.
"He's such a well-natured dog. It totally broke my heart, you know, the pain he must have been in," she said.
Jamie Walsh, the SPCA branch manager in Prince George, said they are investigating the "bizarre" incident as a case of animal cruelty, but they have no leads yet.
Yeo said she wants the person responsible caught and prosecuted.
"Obviously this is a sick person who did this," she added.
