A malnourished white boxer with 30 to 50 puncture wounds on its back was found at a home on Adams Street, is being cared for at the Vicksburg Warren Humane Society and will be turned over to the Boxer Rescue of Mississippi today.(C. Todd Sherman The Vicksburg Post)

[8/15/03]A dog with 30 to 50 puncture wounds on its back might not have a name, but “Lucky” might fit since he’s still alive.

The malnourished pure-bred white boxer’s ribs could be seen, and when it wandered onto Don and Kathryn Resio’s porch at 1219 Adams St. on Sunday, they thought it wouldn’t make it another day.

“Its legs were wobbly and it was lying down,” said Kathryn Resio. “I thought it was lying down to die.”

Her husband put some food in the back part of their yard, away from their cat and dog, and the boxer followed. Kathryn Resio called Georgia Lynn, a board member of the Vicksburg Warren Humane Society, for help.

“It was pathetic,” Lynn said after seeing the dog. “You could count every bone on its body.”

Lynn and Wendi Moore, who works at the Humane Society, 6600 U.S. 61 south, took the dog to the animal shelter to see how it could be helped.

The dog’s deep cuts appear to be from a cat’s claws, Moore said. She said when dogs have that many cuts, it indicates animal abuse. Dogs found with similar wounds were being trained to fight other dogs, illegal in Mississippi, by putting them in a small enclosed area with a cat and forcing them to fight. Dogs that won’t fight are starved, killed or abandoned.

Lynn said if the dog’s owners were identified, they might be arrested for animal cruelty, a misdemeanor in Mississippi that carries a maximum punishment of a $1,000 fine or six months in the county jail.

Moore said the dog has been following her around the shelter. She feeds it doggie treats, and he licks her face in return.

Lynn said she thought the dog looked like a boxer, so she e-mailed a picture to the Boxer Rescue of Mississippi in Gulfport. Stacey Davis, director of the boxer rescue, called Lynn and told her the white boxer would be cared for in Gulfport, since she thought he was a pure breed. She was scheduled to pick the dog up and nurse him back to better health so he can find a permanent home. Under the boxer rescue’s watch, all medical bills will be paid.

At the Humane Society the dog was wormed, given antibiotics and bathed to help nurse it back to health.

Had the dog been a mixed breed for which no rescue group existed, it would have been euthanized, Moore said. She cited the animal organization’s limited resources and the unlikely chance he would be adopted.

Davis said she has nearly a perfect success rate in placing abandoned boxers in caring homes.

“I’ve placed every one I’ve had,” about 80, she said.

Dogs showing any type of aggressive behavior aren’t placed with families, she said.

And, she said, each boxer at the rescue is neutered or spayed, house trained and taught a few obedience lessons before being released to a new family.

Resio said she was happy to learn the dog she thought might die on her porch was going to be all right. She said she might consider trying to make him a member of her family, but she said it will be a while before “Lucky” is out of the rescue program.

“I would love to adopt it in about a year,” she said.