Dog abandoned in Texas sparks outrage, investigation (Image via WFAA screengrab)
Animal rescuers are demanding answers and cops are investigating leads after a video earlier this week caught a man abandoning a German Shepherd on the side of the road and stepping on the gas, leaving the discarded dog to give chase into traffic.
To the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission (DFAC), which was established in 2015, this incident is emblematic of a long-standing problem on Dowdy Ferry Road.
Just a 15-minute drive or so away from downtown Dallas, the “remote stretch of wilderness,” as it was described in a 2016 Dallas Morning News story, “has long been down in the dumps.” Over the years, the land surrounding that stretch of road became the final resting place of human and animal corpses alike.
DFAC animal advocate and rescuer Jeremy Boss’ group has “found hundreds of abused, tortured and ultimately murdered dogs thrown in garbage bags and tossed on the side of the road on and near Dowdy Ferry Road,” according to the nonprofit organization’s website. “This section of Dowdy Ferry Road has become an illegal dumping ground for people’s trash and sadly dogs and other animals alive or dead.”
In comments to local ABC affiliate WFAA, Boss said his group’s cameras were rolling when the male driver of a white Chevrolet SUV dumped the German Shepherd “like trash” on Wednesday evening.
“It makes me sick to my stomach when I see people that will take the time to take their dog, drive out here, and throw it out like trash like Dowdy Ferry is known for,” he reportedly said.
The video quite clearly showed the driver deliberately removing the dog from the rear of the vehicle and abandoning it by Dowdy Ferry Road and Teagarden Road — even as witnesses yelled at him.
Unlike in many other cases on Dowdy Ferry Road, however, this one had a positive ending.
The German Shepherd mix briefly ran after the white SUV into oncoming traffic but was rescued by the aforementioned witnesses.
The rescuers and the rescued dog (image via WFAA screengrab)
The Dallas Police Department confirmed to Law&Crime that an “unknown suspect” abandoned the dog around 6:04 p.m. on Wednesday.
The dog abandonment suspect is pictured as witnesses yell at him (Image via WFAA screengrab)
“The unknown suspect pulled up in a white SUV and went to the back of his vehicle, opened the back door and pulled a dog (possibly German Shepard) out of the back and set it on the ground,” police said. “The Suspect then got back into the vehicle and drove away from the location. Animal control responded and recovered the dog in good condition.”
The investigation is ongoing, cops said.
Texas law on cruelty to non-livestock animals, such as a dog, says that abandonment of the creature — i.e., “abandoning an animal in the person’s custody without making reasonable arrangements for assumption of custody by another person” — is a Class A misdemeanor offense. An abandonment charge can be a felony if the perpetrator is a repeat offender, the law notes.
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