An eight-week-old puppy was found found 'burnt to a crisp' in a garbage bag outside a McDonald's restaurant in a case that rescuers described as 'beyond heinous'.
A Good Samaritan discovered the female animal and transported her to the Appalachian Veterinary Hospital in Newport, Tennessee, before she was brought to the Friends Animal Shelter in Cocke County.
Shelter staff are now nursing the dog - which has been named Hope - back to health.
Veterinarians said severe chemical burns covered 50 percent of Hope's body when she was dropped off at the vet.
'This is beyond heinous,' Friends Animal Shelter Director Elisha Henry said. 'She had burns all over her abdomen, her ear was basically a potato chip, just crispy. Her tongue was in half... her eyes were hurt.'
A police report on the incident was filed with the Newport Police Department.
Henry turned Hope over to an Asheville, North Carolina-based animal rescue group called Brother Wolf, which started a
fundraiser to pay for Hope's medical expenses.
These include pain medication, antibiotics, topical ointments, wound flushes, and a surgery to remove dead tissue from the animal's ear and tongue, according to the campaign's website.
A Newport man has already adopted Hope and plans to pick her up after she's fully recovered from her injuries.
