Young pit bull found dead in garbage bag in tree

Special to The Register Citizen
By Susan Misur

ORANGE — Animal control officers are asking the public for help in finding out what happened to a young dog found dead Saturday in a garbage bag hanging from a tree near a highway.

The bag also contained bloody clothing, needles and syringes, officials said. It was hanging from a limb on the outer edge of a residential property that abuts a Wilbur Cross Parkway rest stop near Exit 56 northbound, said Paul Niedmann, chief district animal control officer for Orange, Woodbridge and Bethany.

Niedmann said no one is sure how the dog died, and he thinks someone probably tossed the garbage bag over a fence at the rest stop and into the tree.

Assistant Animal Control Officer Linda Schaff said there were puncture wounds on the dog’s shoulder, and that it’s “entirely possible” the animal, a pit bull, was involved in dog fighting rings.

The female dog was about 1 to 2 years old, with a black coat and some white on her chest, Schaff said.

“She had definitely been bred at least twice, because her nipples were huge. ... She was very thin, and sometimes that goes along with recently having puppies,” Schaff said Monday afternoon at the shelter in Woodbridge.

The resident who found the bag called police about 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Officers took pictures of the bag in the tree and left it with the resident, who buried the dog with the bag and its other contents in his yard, Schaff said.

After being called about the incident, Schaff went to pick up the dog Sunday, which is when the resident disinterred the animal and turned it over to her, Schaff said.

A veterinarian kept the dog Sunday night so it could be sent to the University of Connecticut for a necropsy and toxicology tests Monday. The veterinarian thought the dog might have been dead for a day or two, Niedmann said.

He added that Monday morning, Woodbrige Public Works Department employees called him after finding the skeleton of a dog and its collar that had been buried under leaves all winter.

“It’s ironic that I get two calls like this in two days,” he said.

Skeletal remains of an animal, believed to be a dog, also were found in New Haven’s East Rock Park last week.

Niedmann, Schaff and District Assistant Animal Control Officer Gail Evanko say they hope someone comes forward with information on the pit bull.

The Police Department has turned the case over to the animal shelter, but will investigate further if there is an indication of foul play, Assistant Police Chief Ed Koether said.

“We’re going to try to figure it out and ask the public,” Niedmann. “It’s also a health concern because there were clothes and needles with the pup, and the property owner could have gotten stuck with the needle if he touched the bag. And if the puppy began to decompose, other animals would have come.

“And then the moral part. This is man’s best friend — and this is a heck of a way to dispose of a deceased animal,” he said.

Anyone with information on the dog is asked to call the shelter at 203-389-5991.

 

Re: $2,500 reward in dead dog case

i hope they catch the sick bastards that done this to the dog

 

Thats crazy all this over a dead dog but when a young urban youth gets shot down in streets there's no news articals or rewards open and shut case what is this world coming to law enforcements needs to get their priorties in line!

 

I heard something kinda like this in Detroit recently. A dog was fought and then shot and left for dead on the freeway. Someone chased the dog down and brought him to a vet, he's in stable condition but has trouble walking.