Animal Control

On Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014, a Dolton, Ill., police officer made a gruesome discovery at Dolton Animal Hospital. When the officer arrived to drop off a stray dog he had just picked up he discovered four dead dogs in the facility.

Upon arrival, the officer smelled a foul odor and after investigating, he found four dead dogs in the building’s unfinished basement. The deceased animals were all in different stages of decomposition.

No one will ever know how Philia (or Phelia), a lost dog from Austin, Texas, ended up in Illinois’s McHenry County Animal Control, but thanks to Lost Dog of Illinois (LDOI), Lost Dogs of Texas (LDOT), Delta Airlines, and Home Again microchip company, the travelling canine is back home.

On August 18, 2014, Tim Clifton, director of Animal Control in Clarksville, Tenn., rescued a tiny dog dumped in a garbage container. At first Clifton couldn’t identify the dog’s breed because the Yorkshire terrier was covered in blood, grease and trash. Nevertheless, the small pet was rushed to a vet clinic where his life was saved.

On August 21, 2014, a Pit bull mix gave California drivers an evening to remember. The pooch was running loose on the 710 Freeway and Los Angeles area commuters joined forces to rescue the dog, avoiding a tragic accident.

On August 15, 2014, firefighters from Contra Costa County in California, rescued a female Pit Bull trapped in a holding basin at the West County Wastewater District treatment plant.

A call came in at 10:30 a.m. from a plant employee reporting the pet in distress. Firefighters were dispatched to the plant located on Garden Tract Road, and a rescue mission was set in motion.

It is hard to believe that someone would throw away a dog and the pet’s belongings in the trash, as if the four-legged friend was a useless piece of furniture. In Palma de Mallorca, Spain, someone did just that. A male black dog, believed to be a Yorkshire mix, was found inside a garbage container with his bed and all.

On July 24, 2014, a half starved, female, mastiff dog was rescued from Hawk Island Park in Lansing, Mich., after the dog was spotted by early morning walkers. Ingham County Animal Control rescued the pet and with the help of the community, the once abandoned and emaciated dog is now on her road to recovery.