WICHITA, Kansas -- Titan the dog had it rougher than any of us had previously thought.
The scrappy stray had befriended work crews at the Flat Ridge Two Wind Project near Harper all summer, until one day when the workers found the dog bleeding from the head. They took it to a vet, who removed a .38 caliber bullet from the dog's head.
The story was a happy one after that. Titan survived the ordeal. Besides blindness in one eye, Titan was fixed up good as new. He found a loving owner in Wichita.
But when they took the dog to be checked up and neutered, the vet noticed a hard, sharp protrusion near Titan's side. An x-ray revealed bullet shrapnel lodged in the happy dog's chest.
The news devastated Titan's new owner, Summer Magyar, because it meant someone had shot at Titan, wounded him with bullet fragments, and then approached the dog and fired a shot into the back of his head, execution-style.
"I got very emotional, very upset," said Magyar. "I was fighting back tears."
The vet says most of the shrapnel is inoperable and will remain in Titan's chest for the rest of his life. Magyar is dealing with this new grief, as well as a new medical bill burden.
"He's going to have to go back in two weeks and get the tubes out, he's going to have to go back two weeks after that and make sure everything's okay," said Magyar. "We don't have that kind of money."
Titan's owner have set up a Facebook page for
Titan the Wonder Dog, as they call him. They've also set up
an online fund to cover the dog's medical expenses.
Magyar says any leftover funds will be donated to the Kansas Humane Society.
