More than £1,000 has been raised for a dog who requires medical care after being hit by what Hitchin owners believe to be a car or a train.
Black labrador Tikka was getting ready to spend the weekend with new owners, Kristina Snareskiene, Dan Ramsey and their four children on Friday last week, when she became spooked at ran away as they were getting out of the car.
The family, as well as friends, neighbours and even strangers, took to the streets of Hitchin to search for Tikka.
She was found the next day close to railway lines, having suffered serious injuries. The family don't know if she was hit by a train or a car, but she was quickly taken to the Queen Mother Animal Hospital in Hatfield where she has remained since.
Kristina told the Comet: "It's been quite a nightmare to say the least. She's been moved from intensive care now and we will know soon if she will need an operation for the fractures in her pelvis.
"She's out of danger now and she is stable, it's not life threatening. When we first brought her in she had internal bleeding and didn't have enough oxygen. Luckily, now all of these worries have been ruled out."
Kristina and Dan were initially expecting to have to pay around £7,000 for the treatment - but now that Tikka is out of danger, the expected cost has lowered. If she had to have her operation for her fractured pelvis, the total cost will reach £5,500.
Neighour Kerri Halsey set up the Go Fund Me page as they realised without adaquate insurance they could not afford treatment, and were left with the options of putting Tikka to sleep or handing her over to the RSPCA.
After the page went live, Dan took to Facebook thank those who had donated, and tell people a little more about Tikka.
He said: "She is shy of strangers and hasn't bonded with us yet. We brought her back to the house for a trial weekend so she could get used to us. I was trying to put the lead on her to get her out of the car and she bolted past me and jumped over a five-foot fence.
"With a huge estimated bill to pay, we didn't have that kind of money, no insurance set up, I went home defeated and all hope was lost.
"Not long after I saw that one of our lovely neighbours had set up the page raise the funds to save her, this gave us great hope and it was very emotional to see!"
To help Tikka, go to gofundme.com/f/dz4jnc-help-save-tikka.
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