MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — A starving dog, left for dead on the side of the road last month, is getting a second chance at life.

The images are heartbreaking.

A malnourished year old dog, badly hurt, found by a good Samaritan on the side of the road at the busy intersection of State Road 520 and Clearlake Road in Cocoa, December 18.

"Probably a lot of cars did drive by, but she caught his eye," Theresa Clifton of the Brevard Humane Society said. "He thought it was dead. She raised her head and wagged her tail."

 

The man hurried the lab mix to the nearby Brevard Humane Society.

Clifton put her in a crate and rushed the young pup to Island Animal Hospital in Merritt Island.

"Her health, when she came in, was the worst I've seen in an animal," said Dr. Matt Coris of Island Animal Hospital.

Daisy as she was being called, weighed only 29 pounds, her ribs showed and she could hardly move.

She had eaten a towel, which was blocking her digestive tract.

"She has multiple fractures in both front legs, said Dr. Coris. "I suspect she got hit or trapped with her front legs underneath something, possibly a car."

 

With care over the past several weeks, Daisy is blossoming back to health.

"Dr. Coris was able to bring life back into her," said Clifton.

A life now worth living, with food, water and love.

"It's hard to see an animal and imagine what they went through," Dr. Coris said.

And unnecessary to put an animal through.

Like the eight, mange-riddled dogs recently abandoned and dropped off in one cage under the cover of night at the Brevard Sheriff's Office shelter in Melbourne.

One of the men is facing fines. Fortunately those dogs, too, are getting healthy again.

"If someone has a pet, and can't take of it, please take it to a shelter," said Clifton.

Daisy, and the other eight dogs, will soon be fostered or even adopted.