MOULTRIE, Ga. — Three Colquitt Countians are trying to save the life of a puppy that was burned before being dumped in the woods.

Joyce Brown told The Observer Thursday that her landlord had found three puppies in the woods off Magnolia Avenue. Two females were unhurt but the one male had been burned. All are about six to nine weeks old, she estimated.

“They were scared to death of people and I can understand why,” Brown said.

A neighbor’s son and his family took the two females, but Brown and two neighbors are taking turns dealing with the health needs of the injured puppy. In the worst spot, she said, the skin rolled up and exposed the flesh underneath. Her biggest concern is infection.

“Today is the first day he really started paying attention to what was around him,” Brown said on Thursday.

She said she’d been in touch with the Humane Society of Moultrie as they try to nurse the pup back to health.

Brown brought the incident to the attention of The Observer because she wanted to get a message out for people to be aware of things happening in their neighborhood. That awareness, she said, will help discourage people from coming into a neighborhood to do questionable things.

“You don’t know if it’s a dog they’re going to drop off or a kid they’re going to pick up,” she said. “You don’t know any more.”

She said in her neighborhood, neighbors had banded together. When a vehicle they didn’t know came in, residents would group up beside the road to see who it was and what was happening.

“You’ve got to protect your neighborhood,” she said. “The police can’t be there all the time.”