A DOG is recovering from a dislocated hip, after being thrown from a moving car.

The ten-year-old Jack Russell was found while wandering around a housing estate in Tow Law, County Durham, on Monday night.

Residents reported seeing the animal being thrown from a vehicle.

The dog, which already had arthritis, sustained a dislocated hip and is now being cared for by Trisha Robinson, from Evenwood.

She said: "He was in terrible pain when we picked him up. He is a very old Jack Russell. We don't know if the owners lost him and some yobbos picked him up and then chucked him away. But he looks scruffy, as though he's been a stray for a while. If we could find his owner, or an alternative, that would be fantastic."

It is one of the latest incidents in the past few months in which an animal has been abandoned

In October, a six-week-old puppy was dumped in a dustbin in Thornaby, Teesside, and a kitten was pushed through the letterbox of a house in Easington Colliery, east Durham,

Anyone who thinks the Jack Russell - which has a distinctive leather collar - is their dog, is asked to contact Trisha on 07765 776363.

l The Northern Echo's award-winning Animal Watch campaign was set up to highlight the region's appalling record of animal cruelty.