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'Dog dumping' in Bay Area
Evyn Moon reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is looking for who tossed three puppies from a car, leaving them for dead on a Tampa Street.
Only two dogs survived. One puppy was hit by a car.
This is called "dog dumping" and locals are seeing it more and more across the Tampa Bay Area. Some small town roads are infamous for it.
Friday’s incident in Tampa follows a similar situation just last week, when a mom dog and her two babies survived multiple nights after being dumped on a dirt road in Wimauma. They were found extremely emaciated.
Four of the six-week-old puppies were found dead.
The McNeely Farmily Rescue in Plant City, who now cares for these dogs, says they are trying to come up with solutions to catch these ‘dumpers’.
"People dump there because it’s a quiet, country road with no surveillance. Dark, country roads are target areas where people take their animals and dump them," April McNeely explained. "We are trying to make changes, trying to get cameras put up there. We need high-tech cameras so that we can catch them at night with night vision."
The Humane Society of Tampa Bay said after the incident on Friday there needs to be harsher punishments when people are caught for this animal abuse.
READ: 'Oldest dog ever,' Bobi, stripped of title by Guinness World Records after death
"A lot of times, people either aren’t caught, or when they are, it is a minimal fine or something like that. They absolutely need to be held a lot more accountable," said Regan Blessinger with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.
In 2019, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act was passed into law to try to combat this issue. If violated, the penalty can now include a fine and a prison term of up to seven years. Unfortunately, many bad owners aren’t caught.
The McNeely Farmily Rescue is working with local police to try to get night vision cameras out on roads infamous for dog dumping. They hope that will lead to more arrests.
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