The image of the 60-pound dog, surrounded by piles of snow, as it suffered through the final day of its life, leaves responsible pet owners like Dennis Steibert bewildered.
"I don't know how people can be so heartless to do that. I don't know,” Steibert said. “I could never do that. I've had dogs my whole life."
Police said a worker at Hazlo International Foods in Highlandtown discovered the animal behind the supermarket Thursday morning and called authorities.
"At that time, we found the dog wrapped in a trash bag lying in the snow. The dog was alive at that point,” said Det. Jeremy Silbert with the Baltimore City Police Department. “Animal Control took the dog from the scene to provide the necessary medical treatment."
Veterinarians at the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter or BARCS found the shepherd mix unresponsive and hemorrhaging, and its body temperature had dropped so low, they couldn't bring it back up.
Just an hour after it was discovered, they decided to euthanize it to end its suffering.
"This is a horrible case, and we're really asking for the public's help,” Silbert said. “We want to find out who put the dog there. Why the dog was put there. Obviously there are some other signs of malnutrition and abuse in this case. So we're really hoping the community will step up and help us locate the person or persons responsible for this."
Animal Control responds to calls like this all of the time, event though BARCS is what's called an open-admission shelter where anyone can drop off their pet...whether it's sick, injured or suffering---for any reason, and they will not turn them away.
They're located at 301 Stockholm Street just south of M&T Bank Stadium.
