The VIPD’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit is is investigating the death of a dog that took place Jan. 3 in the area of Estate Tipperary.
According to police at around 6:30 p.m. the 911 emergency call center received a report that someone had killed her dog. Units from the department’s C Command were dispatched. At the scene, officers met with the complainant who said she had discovered her dog lying on the back yard gasping for air. By the time she went inside the home to contact her mother, the dog had died.
At the time it was believed that the dog had been poisoned, but the officers discovered a small puncture wound on the dog’s side.
The dog was transported to the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center, where a necropsy was arranged and conducted. Animal shelter technicians took X-rays of the dog which showed two small metal objects lodged inside its body.
It was also discovered that one of the projectiles penetrated a major blood artery, called the “Vena Cava,” which caused severe internal bleeding, causing death.
This case is classified as first degree animal abuse. Under V.I. law any person found guilty of maliciously or unnecessarily killing, torturing, maiming, mutilating, disfiguring, wounding, administing any poison to, or inflicting unjustifiable pain on any animal could be charged with a felony punishable by not more than three years in prison and fined not less than $1,000.
The Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit is asking anyone in the Estate Tipperary area or anyone that has information regarding this case to call 911 or submit a tip by calling the anonymous tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI, at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.p3tips.com.
