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Dog dumping incident caught on camera
Evan Axelbank reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Surveillance cameras captured the moment a 2-year-old pit bull mix was abandoned in Tampa near the corner of MacDill Avenue and Azeele Street.
The video from Dr. Geoffrey Kwitko's parking lot showed a car driving up at around 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday. That's when the driver is seen getting out of the car with the dog and leaving it there before driving away.
"By the time I came out, the car was gone, the dog was gone," said Kwitko. "But Janeen just drove up, and she said she saw the dog walking down MacDill. So I said, 'well, let's go find the dog.'"
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The dog made it about a block, but it took an hour for Dr. Kwitko and co-worker Janeen Ibrahim to make the unwanted pit bull feel wanted again.
"My faith in humanity is getting less and less every day. When you see stuff like that," said Kwitko.
"I felt awful," said Ibrahim. "That is just an awful thing to do to an animal."
The sixty pound pit bull mix was taken to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay on Thursday. The pit bull is now named Goldie for her eye color.
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"It felt really good, because we could give this dog new purpose," said Ibrahim.
Sherry Silk, the director of the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, is seeing a spike in the number of dogs that are either being illegally abandoned or surrendered by families.
Also on Thursday, someone driving along I-275 saw two dogs trapped in an aqueduct. They are half their ideal weight, and one of them can't even stand.
"I can't imagine to be that insensitive to pets that you've had that you think it's okay to do that," said Silk. "It is never, ever okay to do that."
The Humane Society suspects Goldie's owner let her go, because she was being used as a breeder and was no longer wanted. She is in good health and will be adoptable soon.
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Dr. Kwitko is speaking out in hopes of stopping anyone else from doing this, and that someone will recognize the car.
"Dropping it off in the middle of the street, the dog's taking his chances," said Kwitko.
The penalty for abandoning an animal is a misdemeanor and could land a $5,000 fine and potentially prison.
"This really sweet dog," said Ibrahim. "[It was] really, really scared. Really sweet. Tender. Loving."
A report has been filed with Hillsborough County Animal Control.