ENCRUSTED with scabs, riddled with disease, the stray dog lying at the side of the road was likely to be dead within days.But its plight touched the heart of Sam Noon who immediately decided she could not just walk on by as everyone else was doing – and wanted to help it in any way possible.

ENCRUSTED with scabs, riddled with disease, the stray dog lying at the side of the road was likely to be dead within days.

But its plight touched the heart of Sam Noon who immediately decided she could not just walk on by as everyone else was doing - and wanted to help it in any way possible.

She took the animal to a vet and paid for its care, and then flew back home where she and her family in Felixstowe raised £3,000 to have it looked after and to bring it back to Britain to start a new life.

The dog, now named Little Bo, is today in quarantine after its trip from Sri Lanka and in a few months will be released to live with Miss Noon.

"It was just such a heartbreaking sight I knew I had to do something," she said.

"She was encrusted with scabs and had skin disease, the stench made me heave - it was like rotting flesh.

"She had been hit by a vehicle and people would not touch her. I had never seen an animal or any living being in that state."

The stray mongrel was one of thousands to suffer a similar fete in the towns and villages of Sri Lanka, where poverty is so great people cannot afford to look after their animals, or to sterilise them.

After care from a vet, Little Bo's distemper was cured though she still has some nerve damage.

"You would not know it was the same dog - despite everything she has been through she has never been aggressive, she wags her tail every time she sees me," she said.

Miss Noon, 46, and her parents Harold and Rosalind, who live at Manor End, Felixstowe, set about raising the £3,000 needed to pay for the legal procedures, flight and quarantine care bills to bring Little Bo to Britain.

They held a street collection in the town and Little Bo's Fete at the local St John Ambulance Hall with a raffle supported by many people, and car boots sales.

"We just want to thank everyone who supported us, gave so generously and helped us raise the money," said Miss Noon, who lives in Derbyshire.

She is now setting up an animal welfare charity, Little Bo's Rescue Fund, to help other dogs in Sri Lanka and the country's people.

"The aim is to provide funds for sterilisation of animals and to inoculate against rabies, which will really help the people there," she said.

"Two dogs having a litter of puppies every six months, which in turn have puppies of their own, will generate 67,000 dogs on the streets of Sri Lanka's cities in just six years. The people are too poor to have their dogs sterilised - and too poor to look after them properly."

n Have you been involved in saving a malnourished or mistreated animal? Tell us your story by writing to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk