As authorities in Youngstown come close to solving one case of animal cruelty, they're beginning to investigate another.
Mahoning County Deputy Dog Warden Dave Nelson turned over evidence to city prosecutors Tuesday on two strangled puppies found at a downtown bus station Jan. 30. Nelson has spent countless hours going through security video taken by cameras at the WRTA bus station and is hoping some of the video will help solve this case.
"We've seen a few things on there. We were trying to get a close up of some pieces of evidence, and some other things we seen on there and we combined all that and sent that down to the prosecutor," Nelson said.
And while Nelson is still waiting to hear back on that case, his office has received another call from a man on Salt Springs Road who found a dog that had part of a rear leg and tail cut off.
"The dog just came right in the driveway when I was doing repairs. Came right up to us and I noticed right away that he was missing a leg and the tip of his tail was gone," said Arden Gregory, who found the injured dog.
The dog was taken to Animal Charity in Boardman. Officials there do not believe the dog's injuries were accidental.
"There are no skid marks, no bite wounds, and the way the bones are and the way the injury is, it looks like someone did this, so it was a personal assault from someone and it was probably two or three days ago. No witnesses and no one saw anything," said Talia Musolino of Animal Charity. "The way they looked at it, the tail actually has a cut mark as well on it. It looks like something that was continuously moving and the tail got in the way, so whether it was a chainsaw or an ax, actually cut the tail as well."
The female dog will undergo surgery Thursday. This is the fifth case of animal abuse the dog warden's office has received in the past few weeks.
