ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV/Gray News) – A 7-year-old brindle pit bull is back home after an ordeal that took him far from home and left him with a gunshot wound.
Lawrence Sandoval is Brutus’ owner.
Sandoval said he put Brutus with another one of the family’s dogs in an insulated dog house in the backyard of his Whiteside home in Lincoln County, on Saturday. He said the next morning Brutus was gone.
“This is still mind-blowing right now,” he said.
On Sunday, Tony James spotted a brown dog along Walker Road near Highway KK, and the dog appeared to be injured. So, he stopped to help.
“And I saw that he was in pain and I was like, ‘I’ve got to get him somewhere,’” said James.
The locations are 20 miles apart.
James scooped up the bloody dog and drove him to the Veterinary Specialty Services animal hospital in O’Fallon. It turns out the blood was from a gunshot wound to the dog’s chest.
Sandoval didn’t know where his dog was or that he’d been shot until a neighbor told him about a post on the We Love Troy community Facebook page. An employee at the animal hospital had posted information about Brutus in hopes of finding his owner, and the neighbor saw the post.
Sandoval said his reunion with the family’s favorite pet was a tearful reunion. Remarkably, Brutus only spent one day at the animal hospital before going home.
“The bullet is actually inside of him still. They said it’s better just to leave it inside of him,” he said.
Sandoval said he hasn’t decided whether to report the shooting of his dog to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
He said he’s just grateful for the kindness of James and the fact that Brutus is home again and on the road to recovery.
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