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New Best Friend: Donor Pays For Hurt Dog's Surgery

Bindi was found in a pool of brackish water with part of her part of her front right leg gone and her jaw broken.

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By AMERICA DEUPREE

News Channel 8

Published: July 31, 2008

TAMPA - A good Samaritan has offered to pay for the surgery of a dog that may have been attacked by an alligator.

Bob Reina, 42, will cover the medical bills of Bindi, a German shepherd mix who was found Wednesday near phosphate mines in a remote area of eastern Hillsborough County.

Bindi, named after the daughter of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin by veterinary technicians, was found missing a part of her front right leg and her jaw broken.

"I've been fortunate enough in business that I am able to give a little something back," said Reina, the owner of Talk Fusion, a Brandon company that specializes in video e-mails. "It's about the animals. I just love animals."

Reina volunteers for Hillsborough County Animal Services and heard about Bindi's plight from an employee of the agency.

Employees of Mosaic Phosphate in Plant City saw Bindi on Wednesday near a pond of brackish water, Hillsborough County Animal Services officials said

Animal control officer Roger Parker said Bindi "was just lying there with her eyes shut." The dog's front left leg was partially gone and about 8 inches of bone was protruding from the wound, he said.

Parker thought that dog was dead and muttered, "Poor baby," he said. At the sound of his voice, Bindi got up and limped toward him.

Instead of waiting for a transport that would take the dog to the vet, Parker took her there himself.

"I was already attached. She was just so calm considering the extent of her injuries," Parker said.

It is "not out of the question" that Bindi may have been attacked by an alligator, said Animal Services spokeswoman Marti Ryan. "It is highly possible, considering the type of water that the dog was found near."

Ryan said that although it seems likely, vets at Florida Veterinary Specialists have yet to categorize the injury as a gator attack. Ryan said another possibility is that the dog got her leg caught in an animal trap.

The 40-pound German shepherd mix underwent surgery this afternoon.

"She is doing pretty well," Ryan said. "She is even moving around a little on just the three legs."

Parker said that the injuries that Bindi sustained are the most severe he has seen and he "has no idea how she didn't bleed to death."

Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report.

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