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Abused Dog Found Dead In Somerton in Belmont County

A dog that apparently had been abused was found dead in a pet carrier just off Ohio 800 in Somerton Thursday morning.

Concerned area residents and animal shelter officials hope whoever is responsible will be identified and prosecuted.

According to Belmont County Animal Shelter Director Angela Hatfield, the shelter received a call reporting the incident. A humane officer was sent out to pick up the dog’s body to take to a veterinarian for analysis.

It was determined the dog was a female chihuahua with no identification chip or tattoo. A collar was found, but it did not include identification.

“The dog was murdered. There was trauma to the mouth and neck — bruising — which is consistent with rat poison, so it is difficult to tell if it was choked or poisoned. It was hard for them to determine the cause of death because of the shape the body was in. From the pictures on Facebook, it looks like it may have been burned or skinned. There was no hair left on the body,” Hatfield said.

“After House Bill 60 passed the Ohio Legislature recently, this type of crime is now a fifth-tier felony and carries jail time. The Belmont County Animal Shelter will follow through and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,” she added.

HB 60, also known as “Goddard’s Law,” makes acts of animal cruelty that are committed knowingly felonies of the fifth degree, even on a first offense.

The dog was found by local resident Courtney Crick, who was on her way to work in Martins Ferry. She pulled off of Ohio 800 onto a side road to turn around for a work-related issue and spotted a dog carrier and a large black trash bag about 15 feet off the road.

“It was obviously left in there to die. The carrier was taped up, and it was at one point inside the trash bag. It is weird that someone actually took it back out of the trash bag. It was just horrific. Someone did this on purpose. Deranged people start with pets. The person who did this needs prosecuted. There is no reason for any animal to have to die like this. If someone knows who this dog belonged to, they need to come forward,” Crick said.

After she found the dog, Crick notified her aunt, who is an animal rights advocate.

“I called my aunt, Cheryl Stephen, because I knew she would be the one to help. She took pictures at the scene and notified the shelter, the humane society and the sheriff’s office. She loves all animals, and I knew she would know what to do,” Crick said.

Crick posted Stephen’s pictures of the scene on her Facebook page, and the photos have been shared widely on social media.

“Facebook has turned out to be a really good thing for these sorts of animal abuse cases, putting out information to solve these crimes like we never could before,” Stephen said. “I think the new law that was enacted recently is a good thing, too. I think it is a great thing that these people that abuse animals will face a felony charge.”

Stephen said three of her own dogs were shot in November and later found in three separate locations around her 84-acre property.

“The dogs were all under 20 pounds. We let them run free on our property because we have 84 acres, but they usually don’t go very far from us. It was horrible. Nothing was done about it, and we had plenty of evidence about a suspect,” she said. “If the dog found by my niece died in that crate inside of that trash bag, that is a horrible way to die and that person has no conscience. … It definitely appears that it was intentional.”

Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Anyone with information about the dog or what happened to it is asked to call the animal shelter at 740-695-4708.

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