ANIMAL welfare officers are searching for the owner of a maltreated dog that was dumped outside the RSPCA home in York.

It is hoped that an answering machine message left for the dog warden at the home in the early hours of yesterday morning will provide vital clues.

Staff at the home in Landing Lane, Clifton, discovered the shivering and emaciated black and white collie tied to the fence yesterday morning when they arrived for work.

It is thought that she had been abandoned more than five hours earlier as a message, timed at 1.50am, was left by a man saying that he did not want her any more.

The recorded message has been taken by RSPCA investigators for examination.

Ruth McCabe, assistant manager of the home, said it was one of the worst cases of neglect that she had seen and she asked for the public's help in locating the owners - whom she described as "sick".

She said: "She will be all right, but she has been really badly starved, probably for weeks or months."

"She probably weighs half what she should, and she was soaking wet and shivering when we found her.

"I haven't seen a case as bad as this for a long time."

Anyone with information about the dog or her owners is asked to phone the home on 01904 654949.

Updated: 11:01 Wednesday, October 17, 2001