MIRACLE dog Delilah was just minutes from being put down when she arrived at a Gloucester vets with a badly burnt face and severe bite marks to her body.
But two months after being abandoned, the 18-month-old terrier has a spring in her step.
Delilah now lives with Julie Fox, a veterinary nurse at Spa Vets, in Painswick Road, who treated her when she arrived at the practice in a gruesome state on January 17.
"It was absolutely horrific," said Julie, who lives in Stroud.
"Her injuries were consistent with badger baiting as they often use terriers to go into the sets.
"Dog walkers found her and brought her in to us, and she was in such a dire state. If she had owners we definitely would have recommended euthanasia.
"But to our surprise she pulled through."
Delilah's face completely peeled off, her eyelids burned off and her tear ducts were destroyed, leaving her blind.
"There were lots of us who wanted to take her home because she was such a little fighter, but I had her in the end," said Julie, who took her home on February 1.
"Within a week of her being with me, she regained the sight in her right eye, and two weeks later she could see from her left eye. She can see okay now.
"She will have an operation on April 9 at the Willows, in Solihull, to restore her eyelids so she will be able to blink.
"At the moment, I have to administer eye drops six times a day as she can't produce her own tears.
"She is so happy now. All she wants to do is play, she is a lovely little dog."
Meanwhile, Tony Dean, chairman of Gloucestershire Badger Group, said: "These injuries do suggest the dog was used in badger baiting.
"The owners can't take them to the vets as they would get caught out, so they just dump them."
