How can people be so cruel?

This morning on my way to work, I saw a dog on the side of the road. It looked to be a pit bull puppy chained to a fence. I had seen the dog in the same place earlier in the week. She looked a little thin but there were people working in a field nearby so I assumed she was theirs. I continued on my way to work but thought about her the entire drive. I called SH to see if he would do me a favor and drive over to where I saw her, just to see if she was still there and whether or not she was chained. He called me back and said he drove through several times, but no dog.

On my way home, I slowed down when I approached that area and rolled down the window to get a better look. There she was. Hiding under some overgrown bushes she cowered. I called "puppy puppy" and she lit up. She knew I was trying to be sweet but was still completelly afraid of me. I told her I would return and continued home. The SH had just arrived home with our 2 dogbabies and I told him that I found her and had to do something for her. We rounded up the dogbabes and off we went. Now I might add that we didn't really have a plan. We were just going to see if she was still there. She was. She responded to sweet talk and crawled out from under the bush she was hiding under. She seemed friendly but still very skittish. SH started checking her out and aside from being obviously underfed, her ears were INFESTED with ticks. One of her ears had an abcess somewhere deep. SH would pull out a tick and she would yelp and yelp. She eventually understood that SH was helping her and you could see the appreciation in her eyes. Ok, so we know where a starving, tick-encrusted, black and white lab mix puppy is located. Now what? We can't take another animal. We are bursting at the seams as it is. What do we do? We decided to bring her home (getting her there was another story altogether), put her in the pen and see what we can figure out. If anything, she will have a nice meal and plenty of water. SH has arranged for her to visit our veterinarian tomorrow. I guess her fate will be decided then. She may be too far gone. She may just need some medication. There isn't a pound here in Podunk, Alabama so I may have to take her to where I know there is a no-kill shelter.

What pisses me the fuck off is why on earth would someone do this to an animal? Just dump it out of a car like a bag of trash. It broke my heart to see her there KNOWING she wouldn't survive too much longer. There is no telling how long she has been there. How long ago it was that some douchebag decided to throw away a 5 month old dog. This dog is so adorable I couldn't imagine anyone not liking her. She is a sweetheart and I know a little boy would adore her. If only we can find that right little boy.

Update: She made it through the night! We took her to the vet a little while ago. They are going to clean her up, check her out and if possible give her all her immunizations. If they can't find a home for her, I have offered to take her to the nearest no-kill shelter. Here are a few pics of her. Again, if anyone in the Montgomery or surrounding area is interested in her,let me know and we may be able to arrange something.