His rescuers say that Fergus is like all golden retrievers- he’s loving and as the Los Angeles Times reports he “just wanted to be held.” But the 1- to 2-year-old stray suffered a gruesome and atrocious attack that no dog should endure, and when he was found in the southern California city of Lancaster earlier this month, he had third-degree burns down his back. Veterinarians believe that someone had poured gasoline or lighter fluid on him and set the golden retriever on fire.

“It’s evil,” Barbara Gale of the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue group told NBC4. “It breaks your heart. … What did dogs ever do to anyone except bring love and joy? That’s what they’re on Earth for.”

In Lancaster and neighboring Kern County a total of five dogs have been found with burns in the past two months, the Los Angeles Times reports. All of the injuries similar were in size, which has led authorities to believe that the attacks might be connected.

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“With this number of animals in a short period of time, it’s not something we see regularly at all,”Derek Brown, deputy director of L.A. County animal control told the Los Angeles Times.

According to the Times, four of the five dogs were pit bulls. County veterinarians were unable to determine what exactly caused the burns. All the dogs suffered but two were injured so badly they had to be euthanized.

So far authorities don’t know who burned Fergus or the other four dogs but a $4,500 reward has been posted for information leading to an arrest. “We’re really trying to figure out who’s doing this and hopefully we can get some leads from the community.” Brown told the Times.

According to the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue, Fergus was treated at Animal Medical Center of Southern California and his third-degree burns caused nerve damage the Times reported. To help fund his recovery the rescue group has setup a Go Fund Me page.

“When you think you’ve seen it all, you are always proven wrong,” members of the rescue group told CBS LA. “The inhumanity of humans is unbearable at times.”

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