DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Peppler Agency in Harper Woods is offering a $2,000 reward for tips that could help identify the person who left a deceased puppy in a trash bin outside of a rescue.
The staff at Detroit Dog Rescue on Grand River Ave. in Detroit said they found the weeks old brindle pit bull in their back alley in a red Rubbermaid bin Thursday morning. They say the animal had obviously been tortured and showed signs of neglect too.
"Not only had he been tortured. His little life, 10-12 weeks, he was barely fed. His nails were overgrown. He had sores. He was covered in feces," said Kristina Rinaldi with Detroit Dog Rescue.
Rinaldi posted a blurred image of the animal to the shelter's Facebook page Friday morning in hopes of bringing attention to the amount of animal abuse she says her staffers are seeing. She says she has since contacted law enforcement who are helping to review surveillance video from DDR and neighboring businesses. Rinaldi says they are not sharing the video at this time because they are not sure if the person who is potentially shown dumping the dog is the same person who committed the abuse or if it was someone who found the dog elsewhere and thought the shelter was the best place to dispose of it.
"He wasn’t garbage and he was discarded like garbage but he deserved a name and he deserves to be remembered. We’re going to put a plaque up in the shelter and it’s really sad but he wasn’t garbage to us," said Rinaldi.
The shelter named the dog Halo. They're now planning a memorial service for the animal which community members can donate funds toward supporting.
Rinaldi says the worst part is the incident is, this isn’t the first time she’s seen something like this and it’s usually a sign of even worse things happening around the abuse.
"I’ve been on all kinds of raids and homicides and what you see is where there’s animal abuse, there’s human trafficking, there’s narcotics. There are all kinds of things that are much, much worse that are impacting the community. I’d love to see animal abuse taken more seriously because I think it’s we’d help more people," said Rinaldi.
Rinaldi says it is critical to her that the person responsible for the abuse is held accountable.
"I have a lot of grace for people. A lot of people, their story will break your heart but, in a case like this there’s just no excuse. This is definitely a monster. This is somebody who shouldn’t be out there," said Rinaldi.
Anyone with information can report it to directly to the Wayne County Sheriff's office or submit and anonymous report on DDR's website under the help line option or by calling (313) 458-8014. The city says the person who committed the abuse is likely facing a felony charge.
