A TINY, bald puppy dumped and left to die in a Sports Direct bag last Christmas in freezing conditions is spending the festive season this year surrounded by treats, home comforts and her loving owners.

Neglected ten-week-old pup El was discovered in woodland, starving, thirsty and covered in scabs and sores – ravaged by severe mange and parasites.

The fragile little creature was so severely ill that veterinary staff and RSPCA officers were amazed she had survived the ordeal.

El had been rescued by a couple walking in the woods near Lowfields Avenue, Ingleby Barwick on December 28, 2017, when temperatures had plummeted to minus two degrees Celsius.

The abandoned pup was taken to the Jacqui Paterson’s Veterinary Clinic in Stockton where she was named Eleven after the character from the Netflix series Stranger Things, who was also found in woodland.

Staff scrupulously bathed her, treated her with antibiotics and ensured her parasites were eradicated. Days later, she was temporarily fostered by the couple who found her struggling to survive.

RSPCA Inspector Kristina Raine, who launched an investigation into El’s abandonment, said: “These wonderful people found her and rushed her to a veterinary clinic in Stockton.

“It was absolutely freezing and, being so young and vulnerable, I’m amazing El had survived as long as she had. She was in such a state – she was freezing cold, starving hungry and had lost almost all of her fur from a nasty case of demodectic mange.

“She’d been dumped in a bag for life that had clearly been used to store Christmas decorations and she was covered in glitter, the remnants of the decorations which must have been hung on a tree and adorning a mantel piece somewhere.

“I was lost for words that someone could, just days after Christmas, dump a tiny, vulnerable puppy in the freezing weather. She’d been left to die. It’s utterly heart-breaking.”

But 12 months on, El has found her forever home with her adoring owners, Antony and Karl Simmons Sergent, from Redcar.

This year, the little crossbreed – whose coat has now fully grown back and is beautifully shiny – has experienced a very different Christmas.

Antony said: “I dread to think what Christmas was like for El last year – just days before she was discovered dumped in the woods.

“This year, our Christmas is extra special as we get to share it with El. She’s going to get very spoiled with treats and presents.”