The Helen Woodward Animal Center provided a $5,000 benefit Tuesday to anybody who can recognize an individual who abandoned a dog outside the center’s closed Companion Animal Hospital in Rancho Santa Fe on Monday night.
Security video footage revealed a man parking his car in the shopping center surrounding to the center and leading the dog down a course towards the center just to abandon it. The location of the dog now are unidentified, and the Woodward Center is requesting for help in finding the animal.
“In that time, the individual seems to wait to make sure that all employee vehicles have left the property and that no one will catch him abandoning the precious dog, who trustingly follows the man as he beckons the canine through the parking lot,” a declaration from the center checks out.
The dog is using a harness however is left let loose and uncrated with just a bed and a couple of toys, it can then be seen roaming the property up until it vanishes.
“The dog looks to be a brownish color, fluffy, and medium-sized,” explained Laura Smith, the Woodward Center worker who initially saw the security video footage. “The gait of the dog makes it look a bit older, possibly a senior but it’s hard to tell.”
It is unlawful in San Diego for any private to abandon an animal. In part, the law states, “No person shall abandon any domestic animal without care on any public or private property. Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
“I think the most distressing thing is how much the dog seems to trust the man who is getting ready to abandon it and how stunned it seems as this man drives off leaving it behind,” Smith said. “It just breaks my heart.”
“We are assuming that the individual may have felt that leaving it near the animal hospital might give it a bit more of a chance of being found,” said Helen Woodward Animal Services Director Kendall Schulz. “But there isn’t a good way to abandon an animal and leaving it uncrated is cruel and means that the dog was subjected to cars racing down the dark road and being attacked by coyotes that roam the area.”
An worker from the center did report seeing the dog near the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Station on El Apajo Road at around 8:20 p.m. Efforts to capture the dog were not successful and caused the dog leaving the location.
The neighborhood is asked to call the Woodward Center’s adoption department with ideas at 858-756-4117, ext. 1, check out www.animalcenter.org or come by at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe.
City News Service added to this short article.
