MORE than £4,500 has been raised to help an injured rescued greyhound who was mauled by another dog, near Hagley, just days before heading off to his forever home.

Volunteers with the Greyhound Trust Hall Green charity, based at Broadmarsh Kennels, were out walking a group of rescue hounds through woods off Pedmore Lane when four-year-old ex-race hound Dave was attacked.

The incident left the dog fighting for his life and a volunteer dog walker in her 60s was also hurt as she tried to pull the brown dog, believed to be a blue brindle mastiff or rainbow mastiff, away.

Bleeding heavily, Dave the dog was rushed to the vets for treatment and he has since returned to the kennels in Wassell Grove Lane.

But he has been left with horrific wounds and could still lose his leg.

Dave the rescued greyhound suffered horrific wounds in the incident in woods near Wassell Grove Lane

The volunteer dog walker was left with a fractured finger and multiple bruises, which she sustained as she tried to wrestle the dog away from Dave.

She told on Facebook how she managed to grab the collar of the attacking dog and put her right leg in the way to try to stop the attack, as two other brown dogs of a similar breed circled. She added: "At this point the brown attacking dog backed out of its collar and bit my right hand, again then going for Dave's neck. I grabbed the brown dog by the scruff of its neck with my left hand, it turned from Dave and made a grab for my left arm so I hit it in the face as hard as I could with my right hand."

At this point the attacking dog turned and went back through the hedge from which it had appeared, followed by the other two dogs, as two male voices called out the name 'Caesar' and three young men in their late teens to early 20s, of Asian appearance, wearing jeans and dark T-shirts, were seen calling to the dogs.

The brave volunteer added: "I called to them to say your dog has attacked a greyhound and they ran across the field away from us laughing."

She later said of her ordeal: "We need to find these people. We are not blaming the dogs, we are blaming the people who had them in their care - who felt it was ok to run off laughing with a severely injured greyhound on the floor and an injured lady protecting him."

Luckily, as the dog walkers made their way back to the kennels after the incident, which happened at around 10.30am last Wednesday (August 28), a passing police officer stopped to help and drove the injured volunteer to hospital.

West Mercia Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident and anyone with any information is urged to call 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, quoting log number 226S of 28th August.

Anyone wishing to make a donation towards Dave's treatment can do so online at www.greyhoundtrusthallgreen.org.uk.

The Greyhound Trust has raised around £4,500 so far but it could cost up to £8,000, chairman Tracey Parbery told the News.

She said of Dave's injuries: "His skin is healing in one area but not in another. We're having to be very mindful that there's still a possibility he could lose his leg. We're hoping the skin will heal but at the moment there's a massive hole in his leg. It's going to be a long haul."