This enrages me

Another dog found beheaded
Humane society raises reward offer to $5,000 - BY TRACY DAVIS AND AMALIE NASH
Ann Arbor News Staff Reporters

Another decapitated dog was found in Superior Township on Wednesday, and the reward for the information leading to an arrest in the case has been upped to more than $5,000, officials with the Humane Society of Huron Valley said today.

The 40-pound female terrier mix was found lying in a ditch near Gotfredson and Vreeland roads in eastern Superior Township. Officials were alerted by a caller after news came out Wednesday of a Rottweiler found decapitated with its feet bound.

Julie Curtis, animal cruelty investigator for the humane society, said the terrier mix, clearly a family pet, fit the pattern of dead animals dumped in the area since January.

Tanya Hilgendorf, executive director of the humane society, said the second dog's body was found about two miles from where the Rottweiler was located.

Hilgendorf said humane society officials are pledging to do everything they can to stop the killings of family pets. She said the society received more than 100 calls about the case Wednesday - including tips, offers of donations to support the investigation and concerns from residents about allowing their pets outside in that area.

The humane society announced a $500 reward Tuesday, and private donations had pushed that figure to more than $5,000 by this morning.

"Obviously we're very troubled and saddened by the pain and suffering these animals are going through and the brutality of the acts,'' Hilgendorf said.

The humane society has responded to four other calls since January, but the two latest findings are the only ones where a pet was involved. In the other cases, skinned and decapitated wild animals were found in trash receptacles and alongside the roads.

The female Rottweiler was found last week alongside five skinned coyote carcasses at Harris and Geddes roads, the same location where seven other skinned wild animals have been found since January. A dead deer was lying near the terrier mix, Curtis said, but the deer carcass was so old it was impossible to tell whether it had been trapped.

Curtis said the terrier mix died two to three weeks ago. Unlike the Rottweiler, the dog's feet were not bound by duct tape.

"It was in great health, it actually would have been a little overweight,'' she said. "Clearly, again, a family dog.''

Officials said the wild animals were likely caught in snare traps and skinned by part-time trappers who sell the furs to make clothes and other items. Trapping season for those wild animals runs Oct. 15 to March 1. Curtis said the dogs may have been accidentally caught in the traps, but it was impossible to see telltale marks on the dogs' necks because they were decapitated.

Curtis said it is unclear whether the dogs were alive when they were decapitated, or whether they had already died. She said older snare traps tighten so much the animal chokes to death within minutes, while newer ones do not.

Neither dog had identification, and owners have not been found, Curtis said. The fact that their heads are missing has made identifying the pets even harder, Hilgendorf said.

Mutilating and killing a domesticated animal is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

Anyone with information on who is responsible for killing the pets is asked to call Curtis at 734-662-5585, ext. 112. Humane Society of Huron Valley website: www.hshv.org