Dog Found Bloodied, Left For Dead Now Recovering In Philly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- On Friday, Nicole Rubino saw Charlie the pitbull for the first time since saving his life earlier this week.

"He was just laying in a big pile of trash and I didn't think he was alive," she said.

After a friend alerted her to the on Facebook, she found the dog bloodied and tied up, left for dead at the Cobbs Creek Recreational Center.

"In all the years I've been working with animals I haven't seen something like this and seen the dog survive," she said.

But this one, she says, is a fighter.

Charlie is now recovering at the Philadelphia Animal Hospital, which has generously offered to cover his entire treatment.

Before that offer, Rubino had started a YouCaring fundraiser for Charlie's medical bills, and it has raised more than $2,400. That is more than triple its initial goal.

"All that money is going to City of Elderly Love Rescue," Rubino said.

Charlie still has a long road ahead and will require treatment for at least another month, says Dr. Kimberly Lockhart.

"When they brought him in, he had maggots in his face, fleas, very very underweight, weak, his face had been torn apart," Lockhart said. "I was so upset, really sad, I had to hold back tears."

The Pennsylvania SPCA's humane law enforcement investigators are tracking down solid leads. They add that they do not believe Charlie was used as part of an organized dog-fighting ring.

But Rubino has a message for whoever left a dying dog behind.

"No animal or any living being deserves to be treated like this," she said. "I hope they never get another animal."