PROCTORVILLE, OH (WOWK) – An animal shelter in Proctorville, Ohio, is asking for donations for a dog that was found at the Beech Fork Lake Park in his carrier in a nearly fatal condition.

The dog, Atticus, was taken to the Huntington Cabell Wayne Animal Control Shelter and has since been transferred to the Proctorville Animal Clinic for treatment.

Employees at the Proctorville Animal Clinic say, looking at his condition, he had to have been in the crate for a long time.

They say when he came in, he was extremely underweight – and explained when he was dropped off, you could clearly see his bones and described him as “a skeleton.”  

“He was very cold. He’s an English massive. Roughly three-to-five years old is what we’re guessing. So, usually dogs that size in that age are anywhere from 120-to-140 pounds; he’s 80 pounds. So, he’s quite literally a skeleton with fur,” Reagan Broughton, an assistant for the Proctorville Animal Clinic, says.

Broughton says Atticus is starting to show small signs of improvement but says they will have to monitor him hour by hour. Right now, she also says, they’re hoping he will be strong enough to stand by the end of the week.

The clinic says anyone wanting to provide food, blankets, or any other donations for Atticus could just bring those within clinic hours.