A disturbing case of animal cruelty emerged out of Hobbs over the weekend.A local veterinarian said a dog is lucky to be alive after it survived an attack with acid.

By Geena Martinez

NewsWest 9

HOBBS, N.M. - A disturbing case of animal cruelty emerged out of Hobbs over the weekend.

A local veterinarian said a dog is lucky to be alive after it survived an attack with acid.

The dog that was attacked is a young pit bull and she's recovering at Dal Paso Animal Hospital. The veterinarian who's treating her said this kind of abuse isn't uncommon.

The sweet dog named Stormy was left in severe pain after someone doused her with acid.

"In my opinion, this is just a horrible, horrible person that inflicted this damage to this dog," Dr. Keith Cloward, the veterinarian treating Stormy, said.

It turned out Stormy had been missing for a week. She was stolen out of her own backyard. She was brought in Saturday by a pet rescue organization after she was found wandering in Lovington.

"Whatever chemical was placed on this dog has caused a caustic burn and that means superficial skin is gonna die and as it does you develop infection underneath the skin and we're controlling that now," Cloward said.

Cloward said she may have fallen victim to the cruel underground world of dog fighting.

"They'll throw acid on the young puppy to see if it becomes vicious and attacks its litter mates," he said. "The ones that do are kept and raised and trained to fight. The ones that are not are usually killed."

Luckily for Stormy, she survived.

"They just abandoned her. That's our guess," Cloward said. "Either that or she wandered up to the wrong yard after having been stolen and someone punished her for coming onto their property."

She's already had one surgery and another is scheduled this week. Stormy is expected to make a full recovery.