CA: DEAD DOG IN CRATE FOUND IN DUMPSTER
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KOVR) — A startling image is circulating on social media showing a dog left for dead at a Stockton apartment complex. Police are now taking action, but those who retrieved the pet say this is unacceptable.
It’s an image that stopped many in their tracks: a picture of a dog in its crate, thrown away in a dumpster.
“I saw the picture, I was like, wait, is this a dog?” Claudia Martinez said. “Someone said, ‘Go ahead and go and check it out to see if the pup is still there.'”
That’s exactly what she did, and she wasn’t the only one.
With an address to the Riverbank apartments in Stockton and a startling picture, two strangers, Martinez and Alexandria Galindo, rushed over to the complex with the hopes that this little animal was still alive.
“You’re driving out there with hope in your heart,” Galindo shared. “It was very, very unsettling to see it just tossed like that, like trash.”
Both Martinez and Galindo arrived and found it was too late.
“I had pulled it out and then I put it into my truck, covered it, and then All Creatures [Veterinary Emergency Clinic] on West Lane went ahead and took it from me,” Galindo explained.
The picture of the dog hit social media over the holiday weekend.
Stockton police were called and now, the department and Stockton Animal Services are working closely as part of an active animal cruelty investigation.
For these animal advocates, it’s a sign of troubling times.
“It’s happening way, way too many times,” Galindo said. “It’s not so much even just the deceased, we’re seeing that a lot more often, but it’s the constant abandonment of dogs.”
“If you can’t take care of the dog, give it to someone who can,” Martinez added. “It’s sad. It’s like a baby human in the dog’s body. They can’t say anything.”
For them, it’s past time that action needs to be taken so the voiceless can finally have a way to speak up.
“Something should be done, and has to,” Martinez said. “This has to stop. We need to put an end on this.”
“I’m hoping there’s a solution,” Galindo continued. “[We need] more extreme laws on the abandonment of dogs and the cruelty of animals…see if there’s something that we can’t go ahead and try and do to get it going on a different path.”
CBS Sacramento reached out to Stockton Animal Services and they said they did not want to comment on this incident.
The Riverbank apartment complex said they were unaware of the situation and are now looking into exactly what happened.
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