Dog starved to death, thrown over fence
Edinburgh, SC (UK)Incident Date: Saturday, Jan 8, 2011
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
ANIMAL welfare officers are appealing for information after a dog was starved to death and thrown over a fence.
The body of the Staffordshire bull terrier was found in Edinburgh yesterday morning, in what the Scottish SPCA said was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty it had investigated.
The dog, discovered by a local resident in a garden on Whitson Road, weighed 8.7 kgs, less than half the weight he should have been.
The Scottish SPCA's chief inspector Paul Anderson described the case as "horrendous".
He said: "We haven't carried out a post mortem yet but the immediate indications are this poor dog starved to death and hadn't been dead long.
"The dog weighed only 8.75kgs, less than half the weight he should have been.
"He had very little muscle left on his body and was so emaciated it's as though skin had been pulled over his bones.
"Sadly, he'll have been in a great deal of pain as when a body starves to death its organs begin to fail.
"The dog also had pressure sores and smelled strongly of urine, which suggests he'd been kept in squalid conditions.
"The dog was found in a front garden next to some bushes and as there are no gaps big enough for him to have crawled through it seems likely he was thrown over the fence when he was either dead or dying.
"We can't be sure how long he'd been there but the information we have suggests he was dumped when it was dark, either on Friday night or in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"He was around ten years old, dark brindle, quite small for a Staffie and had no identification tag or microchip. We're asking the public for help identifying who is responsible for causing him such terrible suffering."
The Scottish SPCA can be contacted on 03000 999 999. If you have information on this case, please contact:
Scottish SPCA
03000 999 999
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