HELP this dog!!!!

If anyone knows someone in this area please contact them

Please spread the word and cross-post. Also, if you can call the shelter, please do so and register your protest! If the shelter is indeed even remotely considering returning the dog to the original owners, this is despicable and deplorable bureaucracy.

*** Is anyone close to Lakeland, Polk County, Florida to try and get this dog adopted? If anyone wants to call and request the shelter NOT release the dog back to the owner, the number is 863-499-2600. Their hours Mon-Fri are
8 to
4.
-------------------------------------------------
Pair charged after dog dragged behind truck KEITH MORELLI of The Tampa Tribune Published: Mar 20, 2001

LAKELAND - A 1-year-old German shepherd mix was recovering Monday night after it was dragged for hundreds of yards behind a pickup truck earlier in the day. Two Lakeland men were arrested on felony animal cruelty charges.

Casey, who belongs to the son of one of the men, suffered deep lacerations and pavement burns all over its body, said Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michal Shanley. Late Monday night, it appeared Casey would survive, she said.

Shanley said Julian Rangel, 64, of 714 Tennessee Road and Domingo Rangel Sr.,
67, of 722 Tennessee Road each were charged with one count of felony animal cruelty. Both were released from the Polk County Jail after posting $1,000 bail.

Shanley said the dragging occurred at 11:10 a.m. Monday in the 700 block of Tennessee Road. The men tethered the dog, which belonged to Domingo Rangel Jr., to the rear of a 1997 Ford F150 pickup truck and began driving down the road, Shanley said.

``It began with them just bringing the dog back to the son,'' Shanley said.

But the truck ``drove fast enough so that the dog could not keep up and was being dragged,'' Shanley said.

At one point, the men stopped, got out and examined the dog, which was already too injured to stand up, Shanley said.

``They got back into the truck and kept on dragging it,'' she said. The injured animal was dragged 800 yards, she said, until neighbors intervened.

At that point, the men picked up the bleeding dog, tossed it into the bed of the truck and drove to its owner's house, a few blocks away.

Polk County Animal Services will decide whether the dog will be kept and put up for adoption or returned to the owner, Shanley said.

ANIMAL ABUSE-The ultimate act of cowardice and mental
derangement!!

Perhaps these two stellar examples of the "higher life form," the human species, presumably capable of compassion, reason and higher thought, should be held to the same standard of behavior as that applied to the canine world. Too vicious? Too antisocial? Just "mean" and "bad?" Have THEM "put down!" I never fail to be amazed AND SHOCKED at the depraved depths to which the human species can fall. I intend to call the Fla. shelter today to voice my outrage. Resident or not! This type of cruelty, toward humans as well as animals, has got to stop. Sometimes I think the world has just gone mad.

[This message has been edited by tatsxxx11 (edited March 24, 2001).]

This dog should not be returned to that enviroment even if the real owner did not commit the act. but those other people could get ahold of the dog again and finish what they started.
I don't know how anyone could do this to a innocent animal. THIS IS JUST SICK.

I cried when I read this post, how can there be such cruelty to another living being? I do believe there are monsters among us.
Hopefully the people of Florida will rise up and they will get what these people deserve.
I agree with tatsxxx11.

oh my god http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/frown.gif I'm calling the shelter as soon as I finish writing this. That story made me sick to my stomach. I will also post the message in the mailing lists I belong to.

I was just thinking how about everybody from all over the country sending an e.mail to the radio station in Tampa www.wmnf.org/
or to the television station Channel 8 Tampa www.wfla.com/
maybe if enough send objections to the dog being returned to the owner, they will publicize this enough to make the animal control think twice!

I agree with jackiesdaisy1935. I think this is sick the way people treat innocent animals and the way they think they can get away with it. Luckily we have people who care in this country. http://PetoftheDay.com/talk/mad.gif