A tiny, poor soul standing at the crossroads of life and death
Vet: The whole part here has been cut, so I'm not sure whether this part would be alright or not
It's almost a miracle that he's been holding out this far, in such a horrific condition
Vet: In the worst-case scenario, we may have to remove the end part
Can't hastily guarantee whether he'd be able to
Standing on the edge of life or death! What on heart had happened to this kid..
Been a month since a dog in terrible shape roaming about the neighborhood
Informant: It looked like, his snout's been tied several times with a fishing line, a thing stuck out on the side
Neighbor: Didn't notice at first, whether it's tied or not Thought he was having another meal as usual
PD: You didn't know at first? / Yeah
Neighbor: But like, I saw him outside, on the street once And noticed that he's having trouble eating
Something about him seemed wrong
As we looked closely at him, he couldn't open his mouth wide as if his muzzle's been tied up by something!
Neighbor: Come, come back~
To offer him help, the neighbor carefully made an approach, but he soon rushed out of the scene
Neighbor: He's got all the blood around his mouth ..
PD: Bleeding around the mouth..?
Neighbor: Bad enough to trickle down on the ground
Neighbor: Looked inside the flesh, and it was all rotten
The dog's been tied by an unknown thing tightly around his snout
And the thing is already dug deeper into his flesh..!
Informant: For him to open his muzzle, how tight it must get
He bears such pain to eat
PD: To live..? / Informant: That's right
How long can he hold out in such a condition?
Thus we hurriedly searched for him
Crew: Did you spot him somewhere here?
Neighbor: He was at the back there..
The.. the informant
She followed the dog as she saw him heading that side
Like a second ago, the dog passed by this road
As we carefully observed the surroundings, and quietly chased him behind
And spotted a brownish dog, behind a food waste bin
He's the dog from the video
As if he's hungry, he's rummaging around the bin
Putting his tightly enclosed snout closer, he desperately tries to eat in any possible ways
Eventually, he couldn't put anything into his mouth, and heads somewhere else, looking wary
So we won't startle him, when he's most wary, we kept our distance, while we were following him behind
But at that moment! He turns his direction and goes into a smaller alley
We hurriedly rushed to where he's gone, but he runs without even looking back
Where is he heading, in such bad shape..
In the end, we got lost the track of him, right before our eyes
The next day
We heard the news from the informant saying that she spotted the dog
A dog who's absorbed in doing something in the middle of a farm field
He surely is the one we've been looking for!
As he made eye contact with us, he begins to walk back and leave the scene
Meanwhile, the Animal Protection Group has arrived at the scene
Animal Protection Group: Will place a blocking net around the spots where he can run will enclose the space slowly towards the center to herd him
Placed the net all possible wayouts around the field
And slowly, approaching the dog step by step..!
As if he smelt something fishy, he began to look around
But at that moment! He runs in the opposite direction!
Tries our best to chase behind to herd him towards the net we placed,
It's out of our league to catch him sprinting around an open field
Crew: Catch him! Catch!
But as we got closer, he's scared out of his wits, busy running away
Crew: Where did he go, where? / Rescue Teammate: Think he went that way
While we were busy searching for the dog, in an alley where we missed him
Leader of Rescue Team: Don't hung up
Came a phone call, saying they've spotted the dog not so far away from where we are!
PD: Sir, where did the dog go?
Witness: He went that way, searching around this residence
Leader: He must be somewhere here...
Teammate 1: WE GOT HIM!
Leader: They got him! / PD: Where?
Teammate 1: GOT HIM! Got him here!
At a dead-end, we successfully rescued him!
Yet still, his eyes are filled with fear and terror
What has happened to him..
Hurriedly moved to the hospital nearby, and decided to check his condition first?
Prior to having all the tests, removed the unknown string that's been tied around his snout
Yet, what we've seen from closer, the wound was way severe than we all expected!
Vet: Not sure whether the front part of his snout would be alright. 'Cause this part's been cut off
In the process of opening up his mouth, the string dug deeper into not only flesh but bone as well
He might need to get a huge operation, all the emergency treatments were firstly done and he's transferred to Seoul
However!
Though the doctor pinches his nose a few times, he doesn't give any reaction
Vet: This part looks like it's all paralyzed Probably lost all the nerves
Usually, the dogs need to lick this part, but he doesn't do that at all
The part where he got tied up by the string had an issue with blood flowing, hence half of his face has been necrosed..!
Not only that, his bare-bone body's covered with ticks and all..
Vet: Hodu! Hodu~
The marks of pain left all over the body..
Gently called by his brand new name, and offered a hand, but he rather wants to hide deep in the corner
Vet: He's easily scared by the people, wary of them
Hodu, should get all the treatment and meet a good family
The only evidence that can track us back to a month ago is the string that tied around his mouth
In terms of the thickness and the material of the string, it's most likely to be a fishing line
For a more precise fact-check, we paid a visit to the company which produces fishing equipment
Fishing equipment manufacturer: This is a fly line in which it can hardly be found in normal fishing stores
Only those who need it can have it
This is for fishing relatively large fish in the deep sea, and it's for professional fisherman
Manufacturer: I can actually. But this part here, it's loose
To call the string that it's tied up by an accident, the knot says something different!
Manufacturer: To tie it artificially, can possibly be done only two grown-up men pull the strings from both ends at full power
As the two grown-up men pulled the string from both ends, the knot gets completely tied at last
What does this indicate?
PD: Can only be done by two people pulling at their best?
Manufacturer: Yeah, that's right. Also, can only be done when one's wearing gloves, or utilize extra equipment
PD: How about one person ties the string like this?
Manufacturer: It's almost impossible to tie with this particular line, without any gaps made
And on top of that, it's a moving animal..
Then why, how, and who has done such a terrible thing to him..
To find out if there's anyone who'd remember his presence, we've asked around the neighborhood
Neighbor: Been a few years (since he began to wander about)
PD: A few years? / Neighbor: Two or three years?
He does a lot of digging in the rubbish
Neighbor: He barks all the time, overnight So people weren't really fond of him
Neighbor: So what we suspected was that, somebody tied his mouth 'cause he barked too much
In the neighbor's memories, he was just another stray dog who causes all the troubles
Along the way, we were able to find the owner
PD: Are you his owner? / Owner: Yeah I am
Owner: Whenever I called him Jjang-Ah, he rushed ahead everyone else
Leashed him when he was young, but he hated it so I let him go
He's never got caught even though I tried several times
PD: The string made him be like this
Owner: Yeah, I saw he's been tied with the line, with the fishing line I looked him in the eye and saw him tied with the line
PD: He wasn't like that like a fortnight ago?
Owner: Right, he was just alright..
PD: Who could have done this?
Owner: No idea, how can I possibly know that
The dog farmer took all the strays with him And as they bark too much
he must have tied them all
Owner: I tried to lure him, to let him loose but he just runs his a** off whenever he sees men with the fishnets
From then on, the owner kept on telling us to make sure that he finds a good family
And meanwhile, Hodu's enduring such a hardship all alone
Vet: He had his bone showing at first, but now he has new flesh coming up
New flesh has miraculously come up on the wound
Vet: In the current condition, his flesh is well coming up and Once it comes up more,
we can consider skin reconnection or a skin graft
And one more thing, he began to come out of the light and to feed himself!
He can now empty his bowl in a blink, and has gained a lot more stamina..!
Hope he holds out just like he does now, until the day he gets free from the trauma and meets a new family..★