The Humane Society of Richland County is caring for a dog that was found Tuesday in a dumpster in Mansfield.
Humane agent Missy Houghton says the dog appears to be about five years old and has a host of health concerns including a large mammary tumor that will have to be removed.
“She’s about 10 pounds underweight, she has skin infection, a double ear infection and she has parasites,” Houghton said. “What that says to me is that at some point somebody chose not to seek care for her and just let her skin continue to get worse and for her to become more and more uncomfortable and this condition has probably been going on for several months to a couple of years.”
Houghton says a Good Samaritan found the dog and took her to the Humane Society. She says the dog, temporarily named Hopi, has been remarkably friendly.
“You would expect a dog that’s been neglected this long to not like people very much but she seems to like everybody,” Houghton said. “She walks up to people. She wags her tail. She was happy to go on a car ride with me. You know, its times like this you kind of realize that dogs have better souls than people.”
Houghton says she expects Hopi to recover and eventually be put up for adoption.
In the meantime, they are following up on several leads and hope to identify the person responsible.