GENEROUS and kind-hearted residents donated almost £6,500 in days so a young dog could have a life-saving amputation after being trapped in a snare in the wind, rain and snow.

Owner Jenny Holgate of Rectory Lane in Bramshott took one-year-old Labrador Nelly home yesterday after the operation the previous day.

Nelly’s emotional owner said: "The village and the wider community have been amazing, simply amazing.

"Their response was so very generous - I can’t thank them enough.

"I’m just so happy she’s home now. It’s incredible when you think her operation was only about 24 hours ago."

Nelly disappeared from the field Jenny keeps horses in on Saturday, November 27, and a frantic search for her began.

And after enduring some of the worst freezing cold weather with wind, rain and snow, she was found eight days later bravely trying to make her way home.

By then her injured leg was badly infected, she was struggling to keep going and was emaciated and anaemic.

It’s unknown how long Nelly, who turned one during her ordeal, was in the snare, but it could have been up to six days.

But when she was found near Bramshott she was dragging her rear leg along the floor, was barely able to stand and weighed just 11 kilos.

Jenny was told another day and night in the wild would have probably killed her.

The vet also said Nelly needed immediate surgery on her leg.

But Jenny didn’t have dog insurance, so on December 6 Richard Hallam of Grayshott Dog Care launched a desperate online funding drive.

The first donation on the Gofundme web page was £20.

And in a very short space of time, 268 more donations were made, ranging in amounts from £5 to £200.

Jenny said: "The past few days or so have been a real emotional roller coaster.

"After spending days trapped in what the vet believes was a snare, and then trying to make her way home, all she wants to do now is eat.

"She looks at me all the time as though to say ’just keep feeding me’."