Dog Found Stuffed In Garbage Bag Recovering, Rescuers Say

GOWANUS, NY — The dog found stuffed in a garbage bag with his mouth taped shut near a Brooklyn highway has been taken out of the intensive care unit and rescuers expect him to leave the hospital soon.

The 10- to 11-year-old shepherd breed, which rescuers named St. Vincent, was found in the black bag in Higland Park, near the Jackie Robinson Parkway and Pennslyvania Avenue, last month. He's been treated at VERG-North in Gowanus since and was taken out of the ICU over the weekend.

"He’s doing real good," said Craig Fields, founder of rescue group the New York Bully Crew. "He’s starting to get movement back in his legs. He’s going to be leaving the hospital pretty soon."

Fields plans to foster St. Vincent at his Long Island home when he's released and the New York Bully Crew will start to accept applications to find a permanent home for the dog soon.

St. Vincent was found in the park at about 8:20 p.m. by a passer-by who noticed the black garbage bag moving and heard the dog struggling to breathe. The person called police who cut the bag open and found the dog inside.

(Image via New York Bully Crew)

The Bully Crew took the dog to VERG-South in Flatbush but he was eventually taken to their Gowanus base. Vets there said he was covered in his own urine and couldn't move his legs because of spinal injuries left untreated by previous owners for years.

"His conditions didn't happen over night; this is weeks to months of neglect," Dr. Brett Levitzke, medical director of VERG, previously told Patch. "His quality of life might have been so much different had he been treated."

The Bully Crew raised more than $7,300 last week to offer as a reward to find the person who tossed St. Vincent out and Fields said they've gotten several promising leads since.

Image: Facebook/New York Bully Crew