Sunday – the dog that was rescued from the freezing cold.

A soaking wet dog was yesterday found tied to a wooden fence in a Mellieħa field where he had spent the night in the cold rain.

“He was shivering so much he could barely sit. The rope he was tied with was barely a foot long, so the poor thing could not even rest his head on the ground,” said rescuer Fabio Ciappara, from Noah’s Ark animal sanctuary.

He said that a hunter had phoned the sanctuary to let them know there was a dog tied to a wooden fence near the Red Tower of Mellieħa.

The hunter had noticed the animal on Saturday but thought that the owner may have tied him temporarily.

But when he spotted the dog still in the same spot on Sunday – after a night of wind and rain – he called the sanctuary.

“When I arrived, the dog initially growled at me. But when I removed the rope and put him in my van he let me dry him with a towel,” Mr Ciappara said.

The dog, a black mixed breed that is about one year old, has been named Sunday.

Sunday was taken to the sanctuary located in the limits of Ċirkewwa where there are about 100 rescued dogs. Mr Ciappara said it was not clear whether Sunday was micro-chipped. A vet will determine this today, he said.