Pay de Limon which means lemon in English was found bleeding in a rubbish dumpster after the thugs practiced torture techniques on him.
Horrified residents in Fresnillo, Mexico City, gave him first aid and managed to rush him to a vet at Milagros Caninos, an association that rehabilitates dogs that have suffered extreme abuse.
After months of love and affection, Lemon Pie is now walking again after the shelter raised £3,500 to pay for prosthetic limbs.
Drug gangs in Mexico are involved in a bloody war in which mutilations and beheadings are common. Lemon Pie is believed to have fallen victim to them after being grabbed by a gang that wanted to perfect their butchery “skills”.
A spokesperson for Milagros Caninos said: “Pay de Limon had the misfortune of running into an organised crime group and they used him to practise cutting off each one of his (front) paws, like they do when they cut fingers off human beings that have been kidnapped.”
Lemon Pie’s prosthetic limbs were made by a company in the United States.
