Dog left outside supermarket 'stolen and raped'

A German woman was reunited with her stolen dog on Sunday only to discover that it had likely been sexually assaulted. There may be more than one attacker, vets said.

Kessie, a three-year-old Bardino-Spanish greyhound mix, was stolen from outside an Edeka supermarket in the Neukölln area of Berlin while her owner was inside on Wednesday. Lena H. and her flatmate searched around before hanging up lost dog signs in the area. She received a call from an animal shelter on Thursday, saying Kessie had been found trembling and tied to a fence.



But when Lena H. went to pick Kessie up, vets said the pet had very likely been sexually assaulted and had internal and external injuries of her abdomen. They could have been caused by more than one attacker. After getting a second opinion, she learned that Kessie's injuries “could not have been caused by herself or by another dog,” Lena H. said.

Lena H. has placed a complaint with the police, citing theft and animal abuse. On Sunday, Kessie was said to be in a better condition physically, but the shock of the ordeal would take her a while to overcome, her owner said. Police say if the offender is caught, he faces a sentence of up to three years in prison.