Philly The Dog Rescued By LAPD Cops; Funds Needed For Vet Bill

RescuingPhilly / Facebook

It always makes our eyes roll when a Beverly Hills debutante mentions her side career in dog rescuing, which is usually a much more self-congratulatory way of saying you paid too much for a used dog (shots and all that), usually one with breeding. Rarely do these "rescues" seem to involve Eastside Rottweilers or the South L.A. pound.

But what three LAPD officers did recently, now that's a rescue. Listen up:

Cruising the mean streets of Watts they came across Philly.

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This pit bull was a hot mess laying in the street.

It all happened Jan. 10 at 108th Street and Central Avenue, according to the trio. They had cruised by en route to the Southeast Division station and, noticing the pit bull laying in the street, stopped to feed him some taco meat and water from a local stand.

Locals told the officers, they said, that the dog had been there, in the same position, for five hours.

Then they did what any good cops would do: They scooped up the dog, named him for their sergeant, and took him to the vet.

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At the vet's office they were told he had a radio-frequency ID tag embedded under his skin that could ID his owners, they said. But when they took him to their door, they said they didn't want the trouble.

You see, Philly had been hit by a car. His leg was shattered and he had two fractured ribs. He'd need work, expensive work.

So the owners signed him over to the cops, and the three entrusted him to the care of Advanced Veterinary Care Center, which promised to work with them in terms of payment.

RescuingPhilly / Facebook

The three state:

As a team we agreed to fundraise to cover the expenses we would incur. The Vet agreed to work with us and accept payment as the donations came in. Philly underwent surgery to repair his left front leg which was fractured at the elbow.

Now the officers are asking for help with Philly's surgery and recovery. You can donate by checking out this page or by sending donations care of Philly to:

Advanced Veterinary Care Center, 15926 Hawthorne Blvd., Lawndale, CA 90260

You knew the streets of South L.A. were ... ruff. Philly's a survivor.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]