Dog taken in by police officer after being found with scorch marks from fireworks

AN abandoned dog has had the luckiest of escapes after being adopted by a Church Street police officer who found him cowering in a corner having had fireworks shot at him.

Bernie, as he has now been named, was found in a state of distress by Church Street Safer Neighbourhood Team officers on Halloween following reports of youths firing fireworks at a dog.

His left eye was bloodshot from blows to the head and there were scorch marks on his body from the fireworks.

PCSO Adam Sloane said: “It’s a shame that such a lovely dog can be treated so badly.

“We went over and found it curled up in the corner, just shaking. It was very distressed and just really scared.”

The two-year-old Staffordshire terrier was taken to the Blue Cross Animal Hospital in Victoria and on to Battersea Dogs Home, but he had made such an impression on PC Kal Shah that she applied for ownership if no one else claimed him.

Four weeks later, and having gone unclaimed, PC Shah is now the proud owner of Bernie and she says he has fitted perfectly into the family.

“When we found him he couldn’t even walk and he didn’t walk for a day after,” she said. “I didn’t think he would survive, but now he’s a totally different dog.”