Dog rescued after being tied to heavy rock and thrown in river

'This was an evil and nasty thing to do,' say police

A dog was saved from drowning in the River Trent after being thrown in the water while attached to a heavy rock (Nottinghamshire Police)

A dog has been rescued after it was tied to a rock and abandoned in a river in Nottinghamshire, police have said.

The drowning animal was spotted in the River Trent by a passerby, who dragged the brown Belgian shepherd to safety.

The dog – whose name according to her microchip is Bella – had a carrier bag containing a heavy rock attached to her lead, Nottinghamshire Police said.

Bella was taken to a local vet after her rescue, where she is being treated.

The dog was pulled out the water in Farndon, a small village in Nottinghamshire, on Monday morning, according to a police appeal for more information.

PC Adam Pace from Nottinghamshire Police, said: "This was an evil and nasty thing to do to this poor dog and we are making every effort to find out who is responsible.”

He said: “We are lucky that the kind member of the public found and rescued her.”

Nottinghamshire Police said they are looking into Bella’s microchip, but reminded the public the dog may have been known by another name.

PC Pace said: "If anyone recognises her and knows who owns her please get in touch on 101, quoting incident number 103 of 6 January 2020."

This rock was found tied to the dog drowning in the River Trent (Nottinghamshire Police)

The dog was pulled out the water near Long Lane in Farndon at around 8.45am on Monday, police said.

They have also asked for anyone with dashcam footage of the area at the time of the incident, or anyone who saw anything suspicious, to come forward.

Last month, a dog was found abandoned in a church in Lancashire along with a note saying "I'm sorry".

The Staffordshire terrier was found tied next to the altar with a message from the former owner saying they could no longer look after their pet as they had “no home or money now for him”.