Seeing Justice for Bandit
SEEING JUSTICE FOR BANDIT
He wears hardware store zip-tie fastened to his collar as whiskers. It's the only thing that initially gives away any clue that there is something different about this 80 pound black and white giant. Just by looking at this happy go lucky fellow you would not know he has been through hell and back and has managed to keep a sweet disposition and wagging tail every moment.
It's been almost one month since Bandit was found bloodied and beaten blind in both eyes, with an enlarged spleen and limp. He was huddled on the porch of a residence in Taylor County, just a jaunt from where his human mom Colleen was found murdered on February 9, 2016.
On February 15th, Red-Line Animal Rescue, after hearing about Bandit's quandary from a fellow animal rescuer in Crawfordville, Florida moved to take over his care and pull him into rescue, meeting an hour from their home base in Tallahassee with the Taylor County ACO and the Perry vet overseeing his care.
The prognosis was not good. He survived a heartless beating and lost vision in both eyes; his right eye lacerated and likely irreparable, his left eye so brutally swollen that it could not initially be accessed as to whether he would ever see in that eye again.
The photos detailing his initial injuries are VERY GRAPHIC. Please be warned.
Bandit and RLAR Intake Coordinator visited Dr. Faith Hughes that same day, for basic vaccines and for intake, at time it was noted that something was amiss with his spleen AND that he was slight positive for Heartworms.
The following Thursday Bandit met with Dr. Norm Griggs to access the extent of the eye injuries. Radiographs indicated that there was no bone damage, but the soft tissues and vision of his eyes were beyond that which the tender hearted Griggs could be salvaged by immediate surgical intervention. Only time would tell. The swelling had to first go down.
On February 29th, RLAR took Bandit in for an assessment with Dr. Hughes. It was unclear that morning if one or both eyes would benefit from being removed. He would also be neutered. The outcome: we decided that Bandit would maintain a more normal appearance if we simply let his eyes continue to shrivel and combat any fastballs when the time came. Incidentally, the swelling in his left eye did subside, but it's likely that the cells and tissues in the eye that produce the fluid that maintains the eyes shape were damages. The swelling in his left eye has gone down, but only to reveal that vision in that eye will also never be a reality.
The man facing charges for the murder of Bandit's mom will likely never see sentencing for the cruelty he committed against Bandit.
We want justice for Bandit.
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