Dog survives after being stabbed 17 times

FREEPORT, N.Y. — Authorities in New York are looking for the person responsible for stabbing a dog 17 times.

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The dog, a 2-year-old Terrier mix who has since been named Cornell, was injured by a sharp object on Nov. 27, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly told WNBC. He survived the attack but had a long road to recovery.

A woman claimed to have found the dog bleeding on a street in the Long Island village of Freeport, according to the television station. The dog did not have a collar or an identification chip, Donnelly said. There was no evidence that Cornell was part of a dogfighting ring, WNBC reported.

The woman who found the dog is not a suspect, Donnelly said.

“Cornell can’t tell us his story. He can’t tell us what happened. He can’t tell us why or when something like this happened to him,” Donnelly told WABC. “We just know he was found bleeding from the 17 wounds.”

“I’ve seen some pretty horrific things but the extent of the amount of times he was stabbed is unimaginable how someone could ever do that,” Ashley Behrens, acting director of the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, told WPIX.

The dog is now walking, jogging and thriving, barely a month after he was attacked, according to the television station.

“Some of the stab wounds caused his lungs to leak air between his body cavity and his lungs, and they had to be drained a number of times,” Donnelly said, according to WABC. “The other stab wounds were cleaned, were either stapled or sewn.”

Donnelly said there were currently no suspects, but she said her office is seeking the public’s help to find out what happened to Cornell.

“I believe this was somebody’s pet. He’s too healthy and in too good shape to have been a street dog,” Donnelly said, according to WNBC. “We need the public’s health to help us find who did this to Cornell.”

Gary Rogers of the Nassau County SPCA echoed Donnelly’s comments.

“People start out on animals before they move into human beings,” Rogers told WPIX. “Somebody in the community knows what happened. You got to keep your community safe. You need to call the DA’s office and tell them who did this because next time you’re going to look at this it could be somebody else.”

Nassau County SPCA is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction, WABC reported.