Tips into dog’s death sought

Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden confirmed Monday afternoon his office would be asking questions of the public about the death of a dog, found Sunday just off County Road 3575, in the Whippoorwill area near Hulah Lake.

Animal rescue volunteer Susie Owens said the Oklahoma Animal Alliance is offering a $5,000 reward for information into what appeared to be the dragging death of a dog. She described the dog as apparently a Lab-Pit mix, perhaps a year or so old.

“We need to get it out there,” Owens said. “If anybody knows anything, they need to call the Sheriff’s Office.”

She said the dog had a choke chain and a blue rope around its neck and a red rope around one of its feet.

Virden said the difficult thing about the case will be making a determination whether someone dragged the dog to death, or whether someone whose dog had already died dragged it somewhere to get rid of it. He said that evidence from the dog’s body led him to believe it could have been a case of someone trying to dispose of a dog that had already died.

That would still constitute a misdemeanor case of unlawful disposal of the dog’s body, he said.

Virden said his office would be working the area, seeking to find any possible witnesses to what happened.

Owens said the dog’s body was left in a public place, where motorists routinely pull off the road.