SAN DIEGO
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While Spirit, a puppy savagely beaten near the San Ysidro border crossing, continues to recover at the home of a dog-rescue volunteer, the reward is growing for the arrest of the man who left her for dead.
The reward fund has hit $6,900, and additional donations have come in to help pay Spirit's medical bills, said Lt. Dan DeSousa with county animal services.
“Money for the reward has come in from Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona – all over the country,” DeSousa said.
He said Spirit, a terrier mix thought to be about 10 weeks old, has a brace on her right hind leg to hold it in place after surgery to repair the shattered bone. She also suffered rib and spinal fractures.
“She is on bed rest, antibiotics and painkillers,” DeSousa said.
He said a local volunteer with Coonhound Rescue and Friends is caring for Spirit until the dog recovers. Spirit left the veterinary hospital after surgery earlier in the week.
“She may need prolonged care,” DeSousa said. “It depends on how the leg bone heals. If it doesn't grow, it would have to be broken and stretched, then let it heal and maybe break it again, to get it to the same length as her left leg.”
He said the county would pay for such surgery even after Spirit is adopted.
The reward fund has grown with pledges of $2,500 from the Humane Society of the United States and $1,000 each from San Diego Animal Advocates and the San Diego-based Animal Rescue and Protection League. Individual donations total another $2,000, and students in the Border Patrol Explorer Program donated about $400.
The money would be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man shown on a U.S. Border Patrol videotape punching, choking and slamming the puppy against a fence July 2. By the time agents arrived at the spot about a half-mile east of the San Ysidro port of entry, the man had scaled the fence and escaped into Mexico.
Donations to help cover costs of care can be sent to the Department of Animal Services, 5480 Gaines St., San Diego, CA 92110. They can also be made on the county Web site at sddac.com/donations.asp.
Pauline Repard: (619) 293-1893; pauline.repard@uniontrib.com
