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3rd October 2023
04:47pm BST
An 11-week-old puppy born with six legs was found dumped in a supermarket car park.
The female spaniel, now named Ariel after Disney's The Little Mermaid, was discovered outside the Pembroke Dock branch of B&M in Pembrokeshire last Wednesday and is now in the care of Greenacres Rescue.
The pup was found in a state of distress by a passer-by and taken to the rescue centre, near Haverfordwest, by the council's dog warden
As well as her extra hind limbs, Ariel, was later also found to have two vulvas but "internally she is normal... Her organs are all as they should be."
She was initially given a check-up at Fenton Vets where she was named Ariel, with staff likening her extra legs which are partially fused together, to a mermaid's tail.
Since then, more than £2,000 has been raised to have Ariel's two extra back legs surgically removed.
The procedure, vets have warned, may also lead to the dog losing one of her remaining "normal" back legs.
Greenacres founder and manager, Mike Lawlor, said the two conjoined extra legs were on the right-hand side of Ariel's tail as "essentially one thigh bone which then splits into two shin bones at the knee joint, but they are not functional and serve no purpose at all".
He said because Ariel had two hip joints on one side, her pelvis didn't form properly and, "as a result, her normal back right leg has virtually no muscle tone, so that might have to come off too."
Lawlor, said when Ariel was brought into the centre she was "very scared and timid".
"She spent that first night at home with me and she was almost completely shut down due to everything she'd been through," he said, according to a report by the BBC.
Thankfully, he did not think Ariel had been abandoned that long ago, on account of her being dry and not hugry.
"It had been raining previously, but when she was found her coat was dry - neither was she hungry or particularly underweight."
Lawlor added that Ariel's extra vulva would also have to be removed, but that will be done when she is ready for neutering.
The plan, for now, he explained to the BBC was to give Ariel a month to "get over her ordeal and settle into life with a foster family, during which time we'll monitor her and see how she gets on."
As well as thousands of pounds of donations, Lawlor said Greenacres had already received more than 200 offers from people wanting to adopt her.
"We aren't taking applications at the moment though, not until we know for definite what the future is going to hold for her," he said.
In an update posted on its Facebook page on Monday, the rescue centre showed a video of Ariel greeting her foster Mum and thanked "everyone that has donated so far, we are a long way off target and a long way off her being ready to be homed but for now she’s a happy little soul."
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