Puppy with mouth taped shut rescued after being dumped on Thai riverbank

This is the harrowing moment villagers in Thailand rescued a female puppy that was abandoned on a riverbank with its mouth taped shut.

The seven-month-old pooch was thrashing around in the undergrowth by the side road in Chainat, central Thailand on Saturday (May 25).

A passing motorcycle rider noticed the movement and stopped to look, before calling over more residents who went to help.

But each time they tried to approach to help the terrified pooch, she ran deeper into the bushes.

Villagers spent more than 10 minutes looking for her until one of them bought a piece of grilled chicken to lure her out of the hiding spot.

The brown aspin slowly walked out from the trees following the food smell while some male villagers approached her from behind to gently cover her head with a jacket to calm her down.

She had thick black electrical tape wrapped several times tightly around her jaws preventing her from opening her mouth or breathing properly.

Locals carried the dog to the field by the path where it was easier to tend to her. She was laid on the grass while one local carefully unwrapped the wire tape from her mouth.

As soon as she felt free from being tied up, the dog quickly ran away into the field while the villagers were cheering and relieved to successfully save the stray dog.

They believed that the dog was recently dumped by a cruel owner who also wrapped her mouth with a sticky wire tape, so she was not able to eat or drink and would eventually die.

Resident Apichet Somboon said: "We never saw her around before and she didn't seem to know where she was, so we believed that someone had been cruel and tied her mouth and randomly dumped her here.

"Luckily, we found her just in time or else she may be starving to death. We wish we could feed her before she ran off, but at least we were very happy to see that she was still healthy."

Police in the Baan Kuay district are now investigating to try and find the owner of the animal. Anyone found guilty of abusing the dog could face up to two years in prison.

A spokesman said: ''We have spoken to citizens in the area but nobody knows who owned the dog and nobody saw anything suspicious.

''Those who carry out cruelty to animals without reasonable cause shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding 40,000 baht or both.''