A dog was left with a maggot-infested eyeball after the poor pooch was locked up in a shed.
Police rescued the poodle, which was tied up and locked up, only to discover that part of its face had rotted away so badly that its eyeball was left hanging out.
The dramatic animal rescue happened in the Brazilian municipality of Bela Vista, in São Paulo
Police officers jumped the wall of the empty property and found the pooch inside an outhouse in the garden.
Officers said the dog was famished, dehydrated and had several wounds, including part of its face rotting away.
They took the poor pup to a private veterinary clinic where it underwent surgery and had its injured eye removed, with veterinarian Patrick Meira providing the treatment for free.
According to the vet, the removed eyeball was infested by maggots. The police believe the dog had been tied up and abandoned for five to six days.
Officers attended the scene when a neighbour the distressed dog's barks and called the authorities.
They managed to locate the woman who used to live in the property in a rural settlement some 28 miles away.
The elderly woman told officers that the dog was not hers and that she found it in front of her house the night she was packing up her belongings and let it go into her garden.
The woman, who is semi-literate and unemployed, had moved out of the house because she could not afford to pay rent. She denied tying the poodle up and shutting it in the outhouse.
Officers did not believe her and she was fined BRL 1,000 (£132), but there may still be further criminal charges which could see her jailed for up to five years if convicted.
The poodle has since been placed with a new owner.
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