Up to $5,000 Reward Offered for Tips on Who Tied Malnourished Puppy to Highway Guardrail

For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2024

Contact:
Maddy Missett 202-483-7382

PETA is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction on cruelty charges of the person(s) responsible for abandoning a young German shepherd found tied with a rope to a guardrail on the side of Route 8 southbound, near Exit 25, on Sunday night. According to Woodbridge Regional Animal Control, the sweet and gentle but scared dog was “skin and bones.” Other reports stated that he had sustained burns on his paws from the hot pavement on the highway, possibly had road rash on his stomach, and was wearing a prong collar—a metal collar with spikes that dig into the animal’s neck.

No leads or suspects have been identified, so PETA is asking for the public’s help.

Credit: Woodbridge Regional Animal Control

“This puppy should have been fed and cared for, but instead, someone tied him up on the side of a highway like an old bicycle and left him there, frightened and alone,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA urges anyone with information to come forward so that the perpetrator can face consequences and be prevented from harming anyone else.”

Anyone with information related to the case should contact Woodbridge Regional Animal Control at 203-389-5991.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.