A dog shot in the face was dumped in a crate along a Brown County road while she was in labor, and somehow she still found the strength to nurse the five puppies she delivered afterward. The Brown County Humane Society says the dog, now named Mercy, was emaciated, struggling to breathe, and too weak to even clean her newborns when she was found.
The shelter received a tip on August 28 that a dog and her puppies had been dumped in a crate on Malblanc Road in Winchester, according to WKRC. Mercy and her five puppies were found surrounded by flies, the newborns cold, wet, bloody, hungry and still covered in afterbirth. The station reports Mercy had a swollen face and mouth, and a bullet lodged in her was interfering with her breathing.
Weeks of Suffering Before Rescue
Per the shelter, Mercy may have been shot a week or more before she was finally found and rescued. The outlet's report notes she was too weak to clean her puppies herself, leaving rescuers to step in immediately. Mercy and her puppies were rushed to Rolling Hills Veterinary Service, a mixed-animal practice in nearby Bethel, Ohio, just across the county line in Clermont County.
Mercy was scheduled to undergo surgery Monday, though the veterinarian will not be able to remove all of the bullets from her body, the report states. The Brown County Humane Society said Mercy's future and the extent of any permanent damage remain unknown. Initial medical costs had already reached $375 before the surgery even began, according to a post from the Brown County Humane Society Dog Shelter.
Shelter Pleads for Help Identifying Shooter
The Brown County Humane Society is asking the public for help identifying whoever shot and dumped Mercy, and it has also asked for donations to cover her veterinary care. The shelter said Mercy should be given a chance to recover and that the cruelty inflicted on her should not go unpunished. Anyone with information can reach the Brown County Dog Shelter by phone at 937-378-3457.
The shelter operates its physical facility at 100 Veterans Boulevard in Georgetown, the Brown County seat. Under Ohio law, dogs three months and older must be licensed annually with the county by January 31, with those license fees helping fund shelter operations and lost-pet reunification efforts.
What Ohio Law Says About Shooting a Dog
Whoever shot and abandoned Mercy could face a fifth-degree felony charge under Ohio Revised Code § 959.131(C), Ohio's Goddard's Law, which covers knowingly causing serious physical harm to a companion animal and carries up to 12 months in prison and fines of up to $2,500. The statute defines serious physical harm as injury carrying an unjustifiable substantial risk of death, permanent incapacity, or acute pain resulting in substantial suffering, criteria prosecutors would need to match with medical evidence to pursue a felony indictment.
It would not matter whether investigators ever confirm Mercy had a prior owner or was a stray. The Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled in State v. Kyles in October 2024, per WKYC, that felony companion animal cruelty protections apply to all dogs and cats regardless of ownership status, overturning an earlier appellate decision that had briefly exempted strays.
Court fines from convicted offenders under the statute are earmarked specifically to fund the training of humane agents at county humane societies, rather than flowing into general county funds. A recent case offers a benchmark for how such charges can resolve: in July, an Ashland County, Ohio, woman was sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years of probation after pleading guilty to a fifth-degree felony companion animal cruelty count, according to Ashland County Pictures.
Ohio lawmakers have also been pushing to toughen consequences for offenders. Hoodline previously reported on a statewide push for a public do-not-adopt registry, after the Ohio House Public Safety Committee unanimously recommended substitute House Bill 417 in June, which would allow counties to bar felony cruelty offenders from ever owning pets again.
For now, key questions remain unanswered: whether investigators have identified any vehicle leads from Malblanc Road, the final outcome of Mercy's surgery, and whether her surviving puppies will need specialized foster care. The Brown County Humane Society continues to seek both tips on the shooter and donations to cover Mercy's ongoing treatment.
