An animal sanctuary that discovered an abandoned dog on its doorstep on one of the hottest nights of the year has already received several offers to give the frightened pooch a new home.
The boston terrier was dumped outside the PACT Animal Sanctuary in Woodrising, near Hingham, on Monday night.
He had been left in a cat carrier with no food or water and just a scruffy blanket to lie on and was in a stressed and dehydrated state.
Workers, who named the dog Marty, said they were lucky to find him as they had been out on several emergency call-outs and had he stayed there all night it was likely he would have perished in the heat.
But after his story was shared on our websites and social media last night sanctuary owner Chris Rockingham said they had four calls by this morning offering him a new home.
'We will need to keep him for a few days just in case his real owner comes forward and says he was stolen,' she said. 'But his future is looking a lot brighter.'
Marty is micro-chipped and the details lead to an owner in Lincolnshire where he was used as a stud dog, said Mrs Rockingham. It also says he is not even eight years old, even though he looked older due to the stress he was under.
'We haven't been able to contact them on the phone numbers listed with the chip so it appears they may have moved,' she said.
'We would not let Marty go back to them if they abandoned him but if someone says he was stolen they will have to have evidence before we hand him over.
'If that doesn't happen we will do home checks on the offers we have had but he will remain a PACT dog and go out on foster care so we can keep checking up on him.'
Marty appears to be bouncing back to health after his traumatic time and is eating well and showing no signs of aggression to the staff or other dogs.
'He is a lot more confident today,' said Mrs Rockingham. 'He has been very, very hungry, in fact he hasn't stopped eating.
'I was totally appalled that people could be so cruel, unthinking and callous.
'Someone could have just called us. Just to dump him at the gate is the cruellest way of doing it. He could have been out there all night and that would probably have been fatal.'
Anyone with information should call PACT Animal Sanctuary on 01362 820775.
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