They immediately contacted the town's animal control to report the dog, who appeared to have been abandoned.
When the officers arrived at the scene, they could hardly believe their eyes.
900 ticks
The poor brown and white dog was covered in ticks. He was so weak that he struggled to stand on his paws and could only walk a short distance before collapsing from exhaustion. In addition to the ticks, the dog had several bite marks and other wounds on his body.
The officers took the dog straight to a grooming salon to have the parasites removed. The team there worked for four hours on a Sunday to get every single tick off his body. In total, they removed an incredible 900 ticks!
An unbelievable sight
The team said they had never seen anything like it in their entire careers. The dog, now named Tony, was perfectly trusting and allowed the staff to remove all the ticks. Blood tests later revealed that he was anaemic.
Tony is now receiving various treatments and antibiotics. Much to the delight of his rescuers, he is recovering by leaps and bounds. Tony wasn't microchipped, so an investigation is underway to find his owners and to understand how he came to be abandoned on the roadside in such a terrible state.
