LANSFORD -- A disturbing find on the side of a road: officials believe a dog dumped in Carbon County had been there for weeks. Now, officials are trying to figure out who’s responsible.
Someone called Lansford Police to report the gruesome find. A large dog was stuffed in a trash bag and tossed on the side of the road. Officials believe it was already dead, but now they’re looking for who dumped it.
A few pieces of the trash bag remain just off West Abbott Street in Lansford. The smell lingers, too. This is where someone stumbled on the grisly scene and called police.
"Apparently somebody had placed a dead dog inside two garbage bags and left it about 10 or 12 feet from the roadway,” said Carbon County Animal Shelter Director Tom Connors.
Connors helped clean up the dog’s remains. Connors believes it was a Rottweiler-Shepherd mix, brown and black in color, and was dead before it was dumped.
"From looking at the dog, it may have been there for a week or so. I don't think we'll ever determine what happened to the dog,” said Connors.
Carrie Marrero of Lansford says she noticed a stench when she drove by.
"A rot, a dead animal (smell), it kind of lingered, I would say. It didn't get stronger, but it lingered for quite a while,” said Marrero.
The dog that was dumped just up the road from Panther Valley's football stadium had no microchip and no collar, but police, and Carbon County's K-9 Officer, are still trying to track down who's responsible.
"It's heartbreaking because you should treat your dog's body the same way you would treat a human's body. It deserves respect from the beginning of life to the end of life,” said Connors.
George Sassaman, 91, lives just about a block away. He thinks the owner didn’t know what to do.
"Unless you take them to the vet and they cremate them for you, but then that costs money,” said Sassaman.
Officials in Carbon County say six other dogs were abandoned over the last two months. They’re calling for stricter laws and answers.
"Some answers would be nice, some answers would be nice, and some prayers for that dog's soul would be nice also,” said Connors.
According to state law, dogs and other domestic animals can be disposed of only one of three ways: burial, cremation, or processing. All local water and air quality regulations must be followed. This dog is now being cremated by a vet.
Anyone with information on who dumped it is asked to call Lansford Police.
