Dog locked in box, thrown into pond

At the bottom of the article the person from the Cape Breton SPCA/Animal Control said that the person who dumped the dog said that the person could have just brought the dog to the SPCA and they wouldn't have been turned away - unlike here at Metro where they don't take owner surrenders - that's one thing about Cape Breton (and why they have such a high intake) - they do take anything that comes through their doors. The problem with them is that they also kill almost everything that comes through their doors.

Dog locked in box, thrown into pond
Hunters in Cape Breton find pooch, turn him over to SPCA
By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG Staff Reporter

There’s one lucky dog in Cape Breton right now.

A little terrier escaped a watery grave Monday, thanks to two hunters in the woods of Edwardsville.

"They thought they heard a splash and then they heard a dog cry, so they went over to this pond and there was a box in the pond," said Ken Manning, an animal cruelty investigator with the Cape Breton SPCA.

As the men got closer, "they could hear the dog, so they got a stick and they pulled the box out of the pond and then they called us."

The dog had already clawed and chewed a hole in the side of the plywood box when the hunters retrieved it from the water, Mr. Manning said. But the men couldn’t free the dog because the box was screwed shut and neither man had a screwdriver.

The SPCA, which also does animal control for Cape Breton Regional Municipality, picked up the dog in the box and took it to the shelter, where it was freed from its would-be coffin.

"He’s traumatized," Mr. Manning said of the pooch. "The first day or so, he was really scared and snappy but now he’s OK, you can pat him and everything and walk him on a leash."

The dog is a male, has white and grey wiry fur and a blue collar with no name tag. He stands 30 to 35 centimetres high and "weighs less than a bag of potatoes," Mr. Manning said.

The dog didn’t appear to be injured but was missing a bit of fur on his back, though that could be due to a flea allergy, he said.

The SPCA is now looking for anyone who knows the dog, its owner or the origin of the box. "The box is well-made," Mr. Manning said. "It’s done by someone that knows carpentry."


The plywood box was about 35 centimetres wide, 35 centimetres deep and 60 centimetres high. Grooves were cut into the plywood to ensure a tight fit at the corners. It also had some kind of character on the box, possibly Lisa Simpson from the cartoon The Simpsons.
It also had a word scrawled across the top. Mr. Manning, who was speaking from his Sydney home Friday night, said it meant "for life," and was possibly spelled "joggqom."

The two hunters who found the dog came by the Sydney shelter earlier this week to see how he was doing, Mr. Manning said.

The dog is not up on the shelter’s adoption floor, because he’s being held as evidence for the time being.

Those responsible for the pup could face charges under the Criminal Code for causing unnecessary suffering and further charges under the Nova Scotia Animal Protection Act. "This was done deliberately," Mr. Manning said. "And there was no need of it because the shelter is there. If they brought the animal in and they didn’t have any money to leave the animal, we wouldn’t refuse them."