Vicky Fletcher, Yolo County’s longtime chief animal services officer, has seen more than her share of animal torture cases. But the discovery of a bound and possibly suffocated dog near Woodland last week ranks among the worst.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s up there at a 9 or 10,” Fletcher said Tuesday as authorities continued to search for whoever killed the male pit bull and dumped its body near a freeway onramp.
A motorist discovered the dog at about 1:30 p.m. Friday on County Road 22 near the northbound Interstate 5 onramp east of Woodland, the still-warm carcass wrapped in a taped-up roll of carpeting.
Someone had put a plastic bag over the dog’s head and secured it with tape, and both the front and back legs had been taped together as well.
“This dog would have put up quite a fight,” Fletcher said.
The dog, which was not neutered and had no identification tags or microchip, appeared to be about 8 or 9 years old, with a gray-brown coat, white chest and white toes. Fletcher described him as “well-fed and well-muscled,” but he had cropped ears “which were not professionally done.”
Although a report from the forensic pathologist who examined the animal is not yet complete, Fletcher said the dog likely died of suffocation and had what appeared to be open bite wounds from another dog on one of his front legs. The injuries may have been infected but probably would have been treatable.
While it’s unclear whether the animal was killed because of those wounds, Fletcher said there are options for people to humanely surrender an injured animal.
“We’ll take the animal in, and if we can help it, we would. If we can’t, then we would put it down humanely,” Fletcher said. “We waive the fees for people in these circumstances all the time.
“The dog didn’t have to die that way.”
Animal Services, a division of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office, is seeking the public’s help to solve this crime. Anyone with information is urged to call Animal Services at 530-668-5237 during normal business hours, or leave an anonymous tip at 530-668-5248 or via the Sheriff’s Office website, www.yolocountysheriff.com.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene