Terrier dog 'deliberately decapitated' before being dumped in East Yorkshire ditch
A dog is thought to have been “deliberately decapitated” before being dumped in a ditch in East Yorkshire.
The decomposing remains of a headless dog were found last Saturday (10 May) in a bag by a member of the public in a rural area near Broomfleet at the junction of Common Road and Wallingfen Lane.
The brown dog had been wrapped in a black plastic bag and left in shallow water.
His head appeared to have been cleanly cut off and skin around the shoulder area was also missing, possibly in an attempt to remove the microchip.
After an initial call to police, the RSPCA was contacted because of the suspicious circumstances.
The body was taken out of the ditch by the finder in a bucket and handed to RSPCA Inspector Natalie Hill.
Believed to be a terrier or a Staffordshire bull terrier type dog, he was medium in size with a long tail and a small white patch of fur on his chest. The RSPCA said it had not been possible to establish a cause of death.
Inspector Hill said: “It must have been so upsetting to find a dog’s body in these distressing circumstances and we’re very grateful to the member of the public for reporting the incident.
“We think the head had been deliberately removed because of the clean nature of the cut and the fact the body was inside a bag meant it would have been less likely to have been predated by other wildlife.
"The missing skin around the shoulder area could indicate that an attempt had also been made by someone to deliberately remove the microchip.
“There were no obvious signs of other injuries but we’re extremely concerned about how and why this poor dog was found like this and we’d appeal to anyone who has first-hand information about this incident to get in touch.”
Anyone with information which could help the RSPCA’s investigation is urged to contact the charity's appeals line on 0300 123 0346 quoting incident number 01516137.