A rescue dog who miraculously survived a brutal pick-axe attack has finally found his forever home. The animal, affectionately named King Whacker, is due to swap the tough streets of Thailand for a home in Scotland. He was saved by Niall Harbison, who was tipped off about the plight of the injured dog.
Mr Harbison, who is in Thailand with the mission of trying to save 10,000 street dogs a month, told Newsweek: “We don’t really know exactly what happened to him, or why.
“Based on the vet examination, he was clearly struck with a blunt object and the wound suggested it was a pick-axe.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding exactly what happened to King Whacker, the Irish national said he was lucky to survive, adding: “He was hit with pretty considerable force, and if the wound had been 1mm deeper, it would have killed him.
“It’s hard for me to say exactly why someone did that, but unfortunately incidents of animal cruelty like that are all too common here.”
King Whacker was likely attacked with a pickaxe (Image: Niall Harbison)
According to a 2021 study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 1.6 million out of 12.8 million dogs are homeless.
Im not allowed to have favorites but King Whacker is one of the most wonderful dogs I’ve ever met. From the moment I found him with his head split open and a millimeter from death I had an incredible bond with him. Anybody who meets Whacker has that same feeling. He just has a… pic.twitter.com/wuZvansyGP
— Niall Harbison (@NiallHarbison) June 27, 2023
Mr Harbison feeds as many as 800 street dogs every day via a centralised cooking operation. He also provides medicine and preventative care to the stricken animals.
The hound-saving hero also is trying to bring the dog population under control via a sterilisation programme.
King Whacker now has a new home (Image: Niall Harbison)
King Whacker is heading to a new home in Scotland (Image: Niall Harbison)
He said he was originally known as Whacker, but when he came out of the vets wearing a large cone, his name evolved to King Whacker.
He added: “He was stitched up, and they put a sort of drainage tube into the wound so that the pus and blood could drain out for a few days.
“Within two weeks, the stitches could come out and the wound healed up almost completely within two months.”
King Whacker was saved by Niall Harbison (Image: Niall Harbison)
Mr Harbison, set up a donorbox page to help fund his work, added: “The hardest part in the early days was just making sure that the wound stayed clean.
“It will be bittersweet to see him go because I love having him around, but I couldn’t ask for a better outcome for him.”