The Chester County SPCA and detectives with the Coatesville Police Department are looking for the public's help to find who might do something so cruel to a small dog.
The incident was discovered about 3:00am Saturday morning. Police first thought it was a small trash fire in the 300 block of Coates Street in Coatesville, but then firefighters discovered the charred remains of a small dog.
"In the 8 years that I've been here, I've never seen something so horrific," said SPCA Investigator Craig Baxter. "How can somebody do this to a small animal? It's just beyond my belief."
The SPCA is not releasing the actual photos of the dog because they are said to be too disturbing.
Action News has learned the dog was a family's companion; a rare breed that was a graduation gift.
Police and the SPCA have been in contact with a young woman who fears the dog at the center of the apparent animal cruelty case was her pet.
Aigner Brown shared a facebook photo of Prince, or Woogie, a 4 year old Yorkshire/ Poodle cross called a Yorky-Poo. She said her little dog bolted Friday afternoon from the family's Coatesville home.
"Some guys were working on the house, and I guess they didn't realize that the dog had run out," said Brown.
"This dog was dumped in the middle of nowhere and burned on the street. We don't know if the dog was alive at the time it was burned or if was killed prior to and just dumped for whatever reason and just covered up what happened," said Detective Kevin Campbell of the Coatesville Police.
Investigators hope a post mortem examination will tell them if the dog was burned alive or was dead before the fire.
Brown is afraid the burned dog is her "Woogie". She will meet with the SPCA to see if that can be determined.
"To me, he was like my baby," said Brown. "I don't have kids; he was my kid."
This incident is similar to a discovery in Philadelphia on May 22nd when police and SPCA staffers came across a pit bull that had been burned.
A spokesperson with the Chester county SPCA says Saturday's case will be a priority.
"If this turns out to be a criminal act, let me tell you, we are going to go out there, and we are going to do everything we can with the Coatesville Police Department to bring this person to justice," said Rich Britton.
It is a disturbing case, and police are hoping that someone saw something that could help them solve this crime.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Chester County SPCA at 610-692-6113 or the Coatesville Police at 610-384-0300.
Links:
http://www.coatesville.org/police-department
http://www.ccspca.org/
