CRESCENT CITY, Fla. – Putnam County Animal Control officers are asking for help finding whoever severed the spinal cord of poodle-Chihuahua mix, leaving the dog to die.
It happened last week between Thursday night and Friday morning on Jaffa Road in Crescent City. Michaelia Gonzalez contacted Animal Control after the critically injured dog wandered onto her front lawn.
“He was just walking with his two feet in front," Gonzalez said. "It looked like he was paralyzed to me. It was really bad."
Lisa Suarez, manager of Animal Control, said the dog suffered multiple puncture wounds and lacerations on its body, including a deep straight-line cut on its back.
“The severity of the one slice, from one shoulder blade to the other, was so bad and so deep that it severed its spine," Suarez said.
The dog died while getting an X-ray.
Gonzalez said the dog was abandoned by its owner, who was evicted more than week ago. Several days before the dog died, Gonzalez said it escaped from the house when she went in to feed it. The next day, it showed up at her yard, badly injured.
Neighbors said they saw two dogs attack the poodle-Chihuahua mix. That might explain the puncture wounds on its body. But that doesn’t explain the straight-line laceration that severed the dog’s spine.
No one knows who hurt the animal. Gonzalez said she contacted the owner and told her what happened.
“I sent her pictures and told her what happened to the dog and she never texted back or called me back," Gonzalez said.
Animal Control plans to file neglect charges against the owner.
“There was no effort made to get the vet care it needed," Suarez said. "Had they gone right away, this dog would have had an opportunity to survive.”
A neighbor told News4Jax that her dog also suffered a cut on its body and she wasn’t sure where the cut came from. That dog recovered.
Anyone with information about this case is strongly urged to contact Putnam County Animal Control Office at 386-329-0396.