Staff at animal shelter find abandoned German shepherd tied to a pole
Abandoning a dog is not only a bad thing to do to your pet, it is also against the law in many places. So, when staff at the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts found an older German shepherd tied up outside their facility, they quickly notified the police who are now treating the case as a crime.
Abandoned outside a local shelter
Let tied up outside the shelter at 2 a.m., the dog, which shelter staff has named Alice, is six to eight years old. In addition to being slightly overweight, shelter staff also think Alice might have been neglected before being left outside the shelter. When found she was tied up to a pole near a bench in front of the facility.
“The whole situation is very sad, obviously, that someone would tie the dog to the front door of the shelter, which says volumes,” Bob Citrullo, the executive director of the animal shelter, told WCVB. “Obviously, it’s illegal, No. 1, but no one even cared enough to get the dog the help that it needed.”
As for Alice, she will have to wait to get adopted until shelter staff can determine her temperament and history.
Possible charges for the person abandoning Alice
The person who abandoned Alice was luckily caught on film. Video shows him driving up in a minivan and leaving the poor dog tied up outside before driving off. The suspect faces more than just being called a bad pet owner. Pet abandonment is against the law in many states, though not all states consider it a felony like Massachusetts does.
“Our object here, at the police department, is to find out who tied the dog to a bench at 2 o’clock in the morning, which was very dangerous. This whole area up here is loaded with coyotes,” said Don Famico, of Salem Police Animal Control. “This could have gone sour real quick.”
Dog abandonment laws in the U.S.
In many areas of the U.S., it is against the law to abandon a pet. And while not all states consider the crime a felony, many currently do. Not only is it wrong, but it also endangers the animal and places an undue burden on animal shelters across the country.
How you can help
Fortunately, someone found Alice and was able to get her the help she needed before it was too late. The unfortunate side of this is the many animals who are abandoned by their owners and that do not end up in shelters. Instead, they live as strays on the street where they end up starving, or even worse, dying in some cases.
For more on the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, MA, to adopt an animal, or to donate, visit the organization’s Facebook page.
If you have information about Alice and her owner, call Salem Police Animal Control at 978-744-0171 ext. 50121 to help authorities find the person responsible for this heinous act. The video below has more on Alice’s heartbreaking story.
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