Dog found abandoned with rope around its neck in Pontiac

An abandoned dog who was found in Pontiac with a rope tied around its neck has been taken in for care.

The dog was found by a volunteer near the Michigan Animal Rescue League (MARL), which is near Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard and Featherstone Street. The male pit mix was badly emaciated and barely able to stand on its hind legs. It was also suffering from frost bite and caretakers at the shelter have no idea how he got there.

MARL took the dog, now called Winston, to a veterinarian. Winston was obviously neglected but the veterinarian determined the dog wasn't facing any immediate life-threatening conditions.

Magee Humes, Executive Director of MARL, said a volunteer out walking a dog in front of the building made the discovery.

"The dog he was walking started pulling on the leash and barking and he didn't notice right away but there was this dog that we had never seen before, up against our building," Humes said. "There was Winston - we found him there - he had a rope tied around his neck. The rope was tied really tight. It was really long, probably about 20 feet long. We assumed that someon had tied him up to our building to surrender him but it wasn't tied to anything at all."

He didn't have a collar, tag, or microchip and Humes said their security cameras don't show anyone dropping him off. MARL has been in Pontiac since 1953 and Humes believes that whoever dropped him off, knew he would be safe in their hands.

"We are not sure if he wandered off and knew that this was a safe place to come or somebody had purposefully left him somewhere near us to surrender him. But what we do know is that we're so glad he's here so that we can care for him and get him back on his feet," she said.

Right now, MARL is treating Winston as a stray. He can stay with MARL for a few more days and will get proper nutrition, love and care during that time. The badly malnourished dog can barely walk and only weighs 44 pounds - at least 15 pounds lighter than he should be at this age.

"He's been neglected for quite some time - you can see he's pretty skinny, he's very malnourished, he's got some untreated wounds on different parts of his body. He's also go what we think is frostbite underneath, so we think he's been laying outside in the cold for quite some time," Humes said.

It will take about six weeks before Winston is healthy, happy, and ready to be adopted. If anyone is interested in possibly adopting Winston when he is available, contact Michigan Animal Rescue League (MARL) at (248) 335-9290.

For more information on MARL, visit www.marleague.org