Fayetteville, N.C. — A 3-month-old puppy who was shot in the eye is recovering at the Highland Animal Hospital in Fayetteville after being found in a local neighborhood tied to a tree, hospital officials said.

Jogger Robert Dickens found the white pit bull mix, now named Lucky, on Tuesday tethered to a tree with a shoestring in a wooded area along Johnson Street. The animal, which had no food or water, had a punctured eye and was sitting in its own feces. Another white puppy, possibly a litter mate of Lucky’s, was also tethered to a nearby tree, but had already died.

Dickens cut Lucky loose and brought her to the Highland Animal Hospital, where doctors found a bullet under her armpit. The dog had holes in her head and neck, in addition to an infection in her neck from the string used to tether her. The infection was filled with maggots.

Highland Animal Hospital veterinarian Joshua Barkman believes the puppy had been abandoned by the tree for some time.

“She was left to die,” Barkman said.

Hospital workers treated Lucky and performed surgery to remove her punctured eye and the bullet from her chest on Thursday. The bullet had barely missed her brain. 

Despite the abuse she had apparently endured, doctors said Lucky remains upbeat.

"She has a personality that beats anything," Barkman said.

Lucky is expected to recover, Barkman said. After she is well enough to leave the hospital, she is expected to move in with Dickens.