Desert Road 'ghost dog' finally collared?

Christmas came early for one young dog when he was rescued from living rough on the Desert Road this week.

But no one knows for sure if he is the animal nicknamed the Ghost Dog that has been spotted on the Desert Road occasionally over the past year.

Good Samaritan Dayna Sawtell was coming home from Taupo when she drove round a corner and saw the dog sitting in the middle of the road, she says.

"I just slowed down and he just stood there and then moved off to the side of the road. We stopped and wondered for a while, should we pick him up or should we leave him?" She called out to him and put out her hand, though she was a bit concerned he might rip it off. "But he licked it and we put him in the car."

Miss Sawtell says she could see his backbone and his paws were raw.

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