As Hurricane Milton approached Florida Wednesday, somebody tied a dog to a fence in for what for the pooch was chest deep water off Interstate 75 near Tampa in a spot virtually invisible to passing motorists.
Thankfully, either an eagle-eyed motorist called police, or a very alert Florida Highway Patrol Trooper spotted the dog and rescued it.
Body cam video taken by the trooper who rescued the dog shows the officer under rainy skies wading into a soggy, puddle-strewn field next to the highway to reach what appears to be an English bull terrier.
As the trooper approaches the frightened dog, it growled and barked at the trooper, who replied to the dog, "It's OK, I don't blame you."
Florida Highway Patrol posted the body cam video on social media with the caption, "Do NOT do this to your pets, please."
Yeah, no kidding!
The dog was taken to a veterinarian who gave the pooch a clean bill of health. The Highway Patrol posted a followup photo of the dog, looking understandably happier, safe in the police cruiser on a blanket, being taken to the vet.
Since it was a highway patrolman that rescued the dog, it has been named Trooper.
The dog will probably be put up for adoption, though at this point, the Leon County Florida Humane Society, where Trooper is staying, says he is not up for adoption now. Given the publicity this incident has received, I imagine this dog will find a loving forever home.
Trooper needs time to de-stress and recover, the Humane Society said on social media: "We can't imagine the situation that ended with him tied to this pole and left him without any hope. It's hard even to think about how scared he must have been as cars raced by, the water rose to his belly and the storm clouds darkened."
The Humane Society also said, contrary to false reports circulating on line, Trooper has not been reunited with family or anybody else. If whoever left Trooper tied up like that, they will certainly face charges.
Quite predictably, this incident sparked outrage everywhere.
One example: Readers of this blog know I don't exactly love Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but I'm 100 percent in agreement when he said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference:
"I hope they find the person who did it, and that person should have the book thrown at them. We've got very good laws against animal cruelty....we don't have tolerance for that in Florida. I thought it was outrageous that somebody would do that."
Whenever whoever did this to the poor dog, name them and shame them for sure!
No comments:
Post a Comment