Young Boy Leaves 'Mistreated' Dog Outside Shelter Along With Tragic Note

A pitbull puppy was found at a shelter in Mexico tucked up inside a cardboard box - with a letter from a 12-year-old boy explaining the heartbreaking reason why he'd had to give up the animal.

According to CNN, the puppy was left at a shelter in the Mexican state of Michoacan on 13 February, having been placed into the box with a soft toy and a letter.

The note came from a young boy called Andrés, who said he'd had to hide the dog from his dad, who had been mistreating the poor creature.

Refugio Xollin/Facebook

The message read: "My name is Andrés and I am 12 years old. My mum and I decided to leave my dog in your hands, hiding it from my dad because he is thinking about selling him. But he mistreats and kicks him. One day he kicked him so hard that he hurt his tail. I hope you can help and take care of him.

"I left him a stuffed animal so he won't forget me."

The dog is now in the care of Refugio Xollin, a dog rescue group in Michoacan, where he will be adopted once he recovers.

The group shared photos of the poor little pitbull on Facebook, where his plight caught the attention of animal lovers across the world - with the post racking up 1,900 likes and hundreds of shares.

One person commented: "What a shame for that little boy, I imagine how painful it must have been to make the decision. The puppy is beautiful!"

Another said: "Poor boy, he will have broken his heart by leaving his friend."

A third added: "I just hope that someone helps that boy and his mother to get out of that situation. And that maybe he can get his puppy back. For that little boy to do what he did he has a huge heart."

Refugio Xollin/Facebook

An update from Refugio Xollin explained that it had been inundated by requests to adopt the dog, reminding people that it has 120 other animals at the shelter that people can also help.

Roughly translated into English, the group said: "Once we identify your health status we will start with the protocol for vaccines, deworming and sterilisation."

The rescuers added: "If everyone opened their heart and their home like this little dog, they would have adopted all our dogs from the shelter."

Thankfully, the dog is on his way to a healthy recovery, so hopefully it won't be long before he finds his new forever home.

Topics: Dog, World News, Feels, Mexico, Animals

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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