Fundraiser for husky raises almost £35k after attack on Redcar beach
A woman who started a fundraiser for her husky after it was attacked on Redcar beach has raised almost £35,000 for its treatment.
Marie Hay's husky Naevia was attacked on Sunday 5 February by two "bull type breed dogs" while on a walk on the beach.
Ms Hay, from Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, said her insurance company only paid out £4,000 for treatment and so she started a fundraiser to treat her beloved pet.
It has now raised almost £35,000 and Ms Hay wants to set up a fund in her pet's name which could help other dogs injured in a similar way.
The mum-of-four said: "I just didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have the money to be able to pay for it but I wasn't going to let her die.
"I just thought she needs to live, I would have sold my house if I had to, I wouldn't have let her die.
"It’s just unbelievable the support that she’s got. It started with the whole of Teesside then it was the whole of the UK and now it's the whole of the world because I put stories on TikTok.
"I'm getting messages from all over the world. Everybody's just so supportive of her, they just want her home as much as I do."
Naevia was badly injured when she was attacked by two dogs, which Ms Hay said were not wearing collars or leads.
She added: “She’s got a wound on her shoulder which is about 2 inches by 2 inches wide, so they're [the vets] going to try and close that.
“She’s got an even larger wound, maybe triple the size on her chest so they're hoping there's no infection in there and they can start to try and close things up.
“The first couple of day she was under anaesthetic for four or five hours a day getting multiple surgeries on different things.
“The trauma of the attack had actually caused really bad scarring on her kidneys - that could be something that she never really heals from.”
Ms Hay said Naevia has been making good progress and praised the "super vets" who have been helping her recover. She hopes the dog will be able to go home by the end of the week.
Ms Hay has been documenting her pets treatment journey on her Tiktok account.
The family is currently unsure exactly how much Naevia's treatment will cost but they are planning to give any extra funds to other dogs that have been injured in a similar situation.
Ms Hay said: "When it got to the goal, it just kept on going and to be honest I was just thinking about Naevia so I didn’t close the account or anything.
"I thought I’ll just donate it to a charity or dogs trust or something like that and the vet turned around and said to me you should open a fund in Naevia’s name so people in your situation, who don't have the money to pay out, and the dog will otherwise have to be put to sleep, there’s the money there.
“She can help other dogs so what's happened to her hasn't been for nothing.”
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