Is there a serial dog murderer in the HRM?

Today someone made the grisly discovery of a dead dog, who'd been hanged from a tree with an extension cord - out in Brookside, which is just outside of Halifax. The dog had just been killed in the last day or so, so it's very recent - and the SPCA is hoping someone is going to know that a dog who is beige or orange has gone missing and will contact them.

It rings really eerily for me of a case just last April of another amstaff mix that was found hanged out near Hammonds Plains (which I've pasted below) - a case that hasn't been solved - that was also an obviously owned pet, and it's made me wonder if there is an animal abuser out there who has decided that they are enjoying inflicting pain on dogs that they can get ahold of when they are able to. The dog last year was supposed to have not died immediately - it would've took them awhile to do - so this person enjoys torture.
These stories are horrible from beginning to end. Every part of the world has very bad people - and our little shangri-la is not immune to these human beings it would seem. It would be nice if we could identify this person so that our pets could be safe from him or her, but in the mean time - we should be aware that there is a person out there who might be looking for his or her next victim. Please be aware.

Here is tonight's news piece - and below is a news story from last April:



Dog left to hang was someone's pet
April 08, 2008 - 5:18 am

Police are looking for the person or persons who killed a dog by hanging it from a tree at Pockwork water shed at the end of Hammonds Plains Road.

Judith Gass is the head of investigations at the Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and she says this was not an accident.

"Plastic twine from its collar hung to a fallen tree. It appears ...the front legs have been taken off the ground and it couldn't get a grip and it hung there."

Gass said the animal's back legs could touch the ground and it choked to death.
She says she's confident someone will recognize the unneutered male dog, which is described as a beige 2-year-old amstaff mix wearing a red collar.

It's estimated the dog was tied to the tree in the last couple of days, because it is not showing any signs of decomposition

Gass adds that the animal is not thought to be a stray, it was someone's pet.
Anyone with information is asked to call the SPCA at 835-4798 or the police.

There is also a file on this case at the Petabuse.com website -


The SPCA is investigating what a spokeswoman described as a "heartbreaking" discovery Monday - a dog hanging dead from a tree in woods outside Halifax.

A man checking fencing around the Pockwock watershed in Upper Hammond Plains made the disturbing discovery.

We think somebody took the dog out there and tied it up to the tree quite high, said Judith Gass, past president of the Nova Scotia SPCA and the agency's head of investigations.

It looked like the hind legs would have been on the ground but the front legs not quite. It would have choked itself to death trying to get free.

"What a lonely, miserable way to die."

Gass said the beige and white, unneutered male dog appeared to be an American Staffordshire terrier mix. She said it was no more than two or three years old.

The SPCA released photos of the dog in hopes that someone might recognize the animal or its red collar.