Animal lovers rescue stray dog shot with crossbow arrow in Beijing’s art district

A stray dog in an art zone in Beijing has been rescued by good Samaritans after it was found wandering about with an arrow through its head, according to a newspaper report.

The black dog, which had the 70cm arrow lodged through the side of its head, was first spotted near the 798 Art District in the northeast of the capital on Thursday afternoon. A photo of the injured animal was uploaded on social media and widely circulated, The Beijing News reported.

A crowd of onlookers soon gathered around the dog. Some people tried to help it, but it became scared and ran away, all the while rubbing its head against the ground, trying to get rid of the arrow, wintesses told the paper.

Someone called the police. By the time officers and vets arrived, the dog had run off into a nearby hutong, or narrow residential street.

“There were many bicycles in the hutong. Riders were afraid their bikes would hit the arrow and endanger the dog’s life, so no one dared to move and could only wait for it the dog to come out,” a worker at a nearby restaurant said.

The dog was found in the art district two hours later, and sent to a veterinary hospital.