PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman taking her usual bike route in Parkland came across a horrific scene after she found a dead dog wrapped in plastic and tape.
Stephanie, who didn’t give a last name, thought at first that the body she saw looked like a human on the grass near Nob Hill Road and Hillsboro Boulevard, Sunday afternoon.
“So I’m riding my bike from about where those trucks are, and I could see something in the middle, sort of off the road, like two feet off the road,” she said. “It had to be in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning because I do this route every day on my bike, and I did not see that here, the day before.”
Instead, she came across the lifeless body of a dog that had been discarded in the worst condition.
“It looked like the size of a 60 to 70-pound dog wrapped in a garbage bag with a towel wrapped around his torso and duct tape over his snout, over his legs, over the back of him,” said Stephanie. “Someone just dumped him on the side of the road like garbage.”
Broward Sheriff’s Office said the dog was clearly dead upon discovery and that its front and back legs were tied together.
Investigators also discovered blood and injuries to the canine’s head.
“It’s disgusting. I just have no words. It’s disgusting. I don’t know what human being would do that,” said Stephanie.
Broward County Animal Control transported the dog to the Coral Springs Animal Hospital for a necropsy.
Meanwhile, residents in the area like Maria Montalbano found out about the dog on social media.
“Oh, I was devastated, heartbroken,” Montalbano said. “I couldn’t sleep all night. I was sick to my stomach, and so were a lot of the people in our communities all around here in Parkland. Everybody’s writing and posting about it.”
Officials now hope the public can help figure out how the dog ended up like this and alongside the road.
“We’ve got to find out who it is, so they can’t do it to any other dogs or anyone,” said Montalbano.
The condition of the dog before it was wrapped in plastic and tape and then discarded remains unknown.
If you have any information on what happened to the dog, call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $3,000 reward.
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