A dog rescued by “Hunger Games” actor Jena Malone while it was being beaten suffered another setback, a friend of the owner said Thursday.
“Champ has more issues. he has a fracture in his chest.. they are needing to make sure [he’s] able to have surgery tomorow,” wrote the organizer of a GoFundMe page for the dog.
On Twitter Wednesday, Malone, who recently had a recurring role on Amazon’s “Goliath,” recounted her pursuit of a man she saw kicking and choking the leashed dog in Hollywood. Malone first yelled at him from her car to stop, then chased him on foot. She was joined by five men in the pursuit of the man with the battered pup, she wrote. She then returned to her car and drove to where the men surrounded the suspect, who no longer had the dog.
A fight had ensued between the man and the rescuers as they attempted to wrest the animal from him, but Malone said she did not see it. Video released by NBC Los Angeles (watch it below) showed the men beating the suspect without the dog as well.
Police arrived, Malone said, and after she took possession of the dog she waited for another officer to take the animal to the hospital.
“I can’t imagine the level of torture it had suffered to this point,” she wrote.
According to NBC Los Angeles, the LAPD arrested the man for suspected animal cruelty but did not charge the group that “attacked the man.”
The LAPD did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
Champ, a small pooch with fluffy white hair, had been missing for five days and has been reunited with owner Kelly McKinney. He was already reported to have broken ribs and a hind leg broken in two places on the GoFundMe page.
