NORTH ST. LOUIS, MO. (KPLR) – Investigators with the Humane Society`s Animal Cruelty Task Force want to know whether it was a terrible accident or a horrible crime. A Boxer puppy that appeared to be 5-months old had burns down the left side of its body.
The Humane Society of Missouri is offering a $ 2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction if in fact a crime was committed.
The Boxer has been named Sonny, as in famed boxer Sonny Liston.
St. Louis alderman Jeffrey Boyd and his wife spotted the dog near Hamilton and Martin Luther King Drive on Tuesday. Boyd`s wife called for help.
‘It looked hungry, just unkempt and not cared for,’ described Boyd. ‘It was a shame.’
The dog was also spotted on Saturday but by the time investigators arrived it was nowhere to be found. Based on the injuries, investigators believe the puppy was burned sometime on Friday.
One possibility is that acid was thrown on the dog or it could have been involved in a fire.
Either way the Humane Society wants to know what happened. The burns left an especially disturbing sight on Sonny`s left side.
‘I could see it every day and it still bothers me,’ said Mike Perkins, Humane Society`s director of its Animal Cruelty Task Force. ‘If they can do this to an animal they can do it to a person.’
Both Perkins and Boyd encourage anyone witnessing animal abuse to call the police.
Anyone with information in this case can contact the Humane Society`s Animal Cruelty Task Force at (314) 647-4400.
