Sonny Gilligan, 74, was sitting in the driver's seat of his parked pickup truck west of Las Cruces last week when his dog Charlie - a 120lb Rottweiler mix - got his paw stuck in the trigger of a gun.
'I leaned forward and he slipped off the seat and caught the trigger — and it shot,' Gilligan told the El Paso Times. 'It was a freak accident but it’s true, that’s what happened.'
The shotgun bullet tore through the driver's seat and into Gilligan's back, breaking several ribs and his collarbone.
Despite the serious injuries, the 74-year-old from Doña Ana County said he was lucky to have even survived.
'I was very fortunate I could get to my phone. The first responders saved my life. If they waited 10 more minutes, I would’ve died,' he said.
'I lost so much blood. I know I actually passed to the other just before getting to the hospital but they were able to revive me through CPR and bring me back.'
Gilligan was airlifted to a hospital in El Paso where he underwent multiple surgeries to repair the bullet's damage. He is expected to make a full recovery.
The hunter joked that his three dogs Charlie, Scooter and Cowboy were transported to 'animal jail' (the Animal Service Center of the Mesilla Valley) after the incident.
'It was an accident, although they tease me, asking me if [Charlie] did it on purpose,' Gilligan said.
'Truth is, he’s a big, loving dog and would never hurt anybody on purpose
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