EXCLUSIVE
A “sweet and affectionate” puppy was shot in the face “execution style” and left for dead, but has miraculously recovered. Police have launched a manhunt for the mystery attacker.
Chunky Baby, a five-month-old Kelpie Cross, disappeared from his home in Bogan Gate, a town of just 300 people in central-west New South Wales, between 11am and 3pm on Wednesday.
The ‘small and vulnerable’ puppy was found by another dog walker the next day at around 3pm completely unconscious with a small wound between his eyes, outside a grain silo, about five minutes from his home.
Chunky Baby was rushed to Lachlan Valley vets where his temperature was recorded at a dangerously high 42.5 degrees.
The vet discovered to his horror that the dog had been ‘deliberately’ shot between the eyes with a gun.
The bullet narrowly missed Chunky Baby’s brain. Fragments were now lodged in his skull and the bullet was lodged in his lungs.
“It’s so unimaginably horrible,” Chunky Baby owner Maidie Wood told Daily Mail Australia.
“He’s a small, vulnerable animal that would have been so scared, and to think they went up to him and shot a little caring puppy in the face. What a sick, unsafe person to have in the community.”
Chunky Baby, a five-month-old Kelpie Cross (pictured), disappeared from his home in Bogan Gate, a town of just 300 people in the Central West of New South Wales, on Wednesday between 11am and 3pm.
The “small and vulnerable” puppy was found by another dog walker around 3pm the next day, completely unconscious with a small wound between his eyes, outside a grain bin about five minutes from his home.
Farmers are allowed to kill dogs if they reasonably suspect that the animal could injure or kill livestock on their property.
But Chunky Baby’s owner said the puppy was not found anywhere near livestock and that even if he had been, he would not have posed a danger because he would “run into a corner if you just said ‘moo.'”
“It’s extremely disturbing. He’s a puppy. He’s five months old and a very shy dog,” she said.
“If you raise your voice, even because you’re excited, he gets nervous. He just wants to hug you. Who would do that?”
Ms Wood, 42, is currently in the trauma unit of a Sydney hospital where she has been receiving treatment for the past six weeks for an episode of PTSD unrelated to a previous workplace accident.
The former global marketing director left Chunky Baby, her Irish wolfhound cross Barnaby and her cat George with a local friend who was house sitting.
“Last Wednesday I got a text from the guy who was staying with me. He said Chunky Baby was missing. He was devastated and didn’t know how to tell me. He had been looking for him all night,” Wood added.
The vet was shocked to discover the dog had been ‘deliberately’ shot between the eyes with a gun (photo)
Incredibly, the bullet narrowly missed Chunky Baby’s brain, with fragments now lodged through his skull and in his lungs (pictured: white spot at bottom right of photo)
Ms Wood said the news came as a shock to her already vulnerable state, but she immediately took action, calling her local animal control officer and dog shelter and posting a message on social media.
A local dog walker later discovered Chunky Baby lying ‘completely unconscious’ near some grain silos, opposite the Bogan Gate pub.
He was rushed to the vet. They feared he had been exposed to toxins, as his temperature was 108 degrees Fahrenheit. There was a risk of irreversible brain damage.
Fortunately, his temperature dropped quickly.
“But then the vet saw a piece of skin on his nose, between his eyes, and she realised it was a hole,” Ms Wood added.
“She did an x-ray and saw that a bullet had entered the hole. But she said whoever shot him must have misjudged the angle because it didn’t ‘The stuff went straight between his eyes – instead it went down his pointy, long snout and lodged in his lungs.’
“When she told me, I screamed. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and she said, ‘HHe was deliberately shot in the face with a gun.” The prognosis was absolutely dire, so I prepared myself for the worst.”
The incident has left Ms Wood shocked – and she fears the attacker is someone who wants to harm her personally
The vet cannot remove the bullet fragments as this would require specialist surgery at a major animal hospital in Sydney or Canberra
But against all expectations, the next day Chunky Baby started blinking and moving his legs again.
On Saturday she received a photo of him sitting up, and at first she thought it was a joke.
But the vet was equally shocked by Chunky Baby’s recovery.
She was so sure he was going to die that she called the Forbes police to gather information for a possible criminal investigation.
‘TThe vet said: “The only diagnosis I can give is that this is a miracle. This is just inexplicable,” Ms Wood added.
Unbelievably, Chunky Baby is now eating solid food and can walk on his own.
‘H“We’re extremely exhausted and quite slow, so there’s clearly some damage,” Wood said.
“But it looks like he will survive this incident. The partners at the vet’s practice have dubbed him ‘Miracle Baby.'”
Bogan Gate is a village of only 300 people in the Central West of New South Wales
Pictured: Chunky Baby and Mrs. Wood’s other dog, George
Mrs Wood, who moved to Bogan Gate from Sydney in June last year, was full of praise for the vets, whom she described as “miracle workers”.
Grace Ranger, a veterinary nurse at Lachlan Valley Vets, said the team had ‘never seen anything like it’.
“You don’t expect an animal to survive something like that,” she said.
“There are pellets and fragments in his skull, but he’s walking, eating and appears to still be there, which is very surprising.”
Ms Ranger said police looked at the X-ray and believed Chunky Baby had been shot with a .22 calibre rifle.
“There are only about 100 people living in Bogan Gate itself, and there are a lot of farmers working there, so it could be that he just wandered onto someone’s land, and of course farmers carry weapons to deal with wild pests,” she said.
‘Maybe they shot him because they thought he was potentially a fox or a wild dog. Apparently someone wasn’t very happy and decided to shoot him.
“But the location of the bullet is strange, because it’s right between the eyes. It looks like an execution. If it was a random bullet, you would think it would be in the body or the legs.”
The vet cannot remove the bullet fragments as this would require surgery by a specialist at a major animal hospital in Sydney or Canberra.
Mrs. Wood is currently fundraising to pay for the continued care of Chunky Baby.
The incident has shocked her and she fears that the attacker is someone who wants to harm her personally.
“I moved to Bogan Gate for a fresh start. I wanted peace and security in a completely new environment,” she said.
‘I’m in the middle of nowhere with no one I know. And now I don’t feel safe.’
She added: ‘It has been pointed out to me that it has to be someone who knows me or knows about me. In a small place like Bogan Gate everyone knows whose dog belongs to whom.’
She added: ‘Of course I’m afraid for my own safety, but I’m even more afraid of dogs.
“It’s actually really horrible because what should have been my calm, peaceful place is now actually terrifying.”
Despite the vet’s police report, Ms. Wood did not hear from police until after this publication launched an investigation into the story.
A New South Wales Police spokesperson said: Officers from Central West Police District have launched an investigation after reports that a dog with a gunshot wound was taken to a local vet in Forbes through Bogan Gate on Friday 23 August 2024. The dog is alive and well.
‘While the investigation continues, anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.’