A dog who's a popular fixture of a cafe bar in Swansea city centre returned with a deep 'stab wound' to his hind after being taken out for a walk by a volunteer.
Copper, a one-year-old Hungarian Vizsla, is loved by customers who visit Copr Bar in Castle Street, with many coming in especially to see him.
On the afternoon of Saturday, March 12, after spotting Copper was making signals that he needed to go to the toilet, his owner and bar owner Lee West was about to take him for a walk around the block.
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But with it being busy at the time, somebody volunteered to take Copper for a short walk, which he agreed to. However, after around 40 minutes, the volunteer had still not returned with Copper, giving Mr West serious cause for concern.
"I started to get extremely worried. I went out in the van looking and put posts on Facebook. He was spotted near The Secret, so I spoke to Ryan (Hole, owner) who I know. He was also spotted in The Kingsway and someone messaged me to say they had spoken to the person who took Copper for a walk and that they were on their way back," he said.
The volunteer returned hours after initially taking him, and Copper ran straight to the office area of the cafe, said Mr West, who added: "He was under the table shaking, so I put the heater on for him, but it wasn't until I got him out and he rolled over that I saw a wound on his hind. I was distraught. There was also a feeling of guilt about letting him go.
"We still don't know exactly what happened to him. The wound went up, so it's not as if he's walked into razor wire, so it is a potential puncture, stab wound or slice."
Copper was rushed to the vets in Llansamlet, and they could not work out exactly what the wound was caused by. "They saw it and said he had obviously been sliced by something. It doesn't look like a dog bite, it was too clean in a straight line. They sedated him, gave him methadone, and stitched him up. He has been fine since. I got him back into Copr Bar the next day - he was fine he was mobile, he wasn't wincing or in pain.
"I wanted him to be around people to see how he reacted, I wanted him to get used to people coming up and making a fuss of him and being nice to him again. He is nearly back to his normal self. He is on medication now and then he'll go back to the vets to have his stitches out."
Mr West said he received incredible support from the community after the news got out on social media over what had happened, with a friend of his starting a GoFundMe page to pay for Copper's vet fees. Money raised from the fundraiser currently stands at more than £1,700.
"It's fantastic, it's amazing support," Mr West said. "Within the hour it was close to a grand or something like that. Some people were donating £200 at a time."
Police were contacted about the incident, but Mr West was instead advised to report the matter to the RSPCA, something he is in the process of doing. He added that he was also gathering CCTV footage from various locations where Copper and the volunteer dog walker were spotted.
"I'm just glad to have him back. He's on the mend," Mr West said. "He's a superstar. People come in just to see him, especially when he sits in the window. Everybody loves him."
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