Animal control investigating dead dog hanging from tree

Home News staff

Published Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 | 12:51 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 | 3:01 p.m.

Clark County Animal Control officers are investigating the death of a dog that was found hanging from a tree at Lone Mountain Park, which is near Lone Mountain Road and the Las Vegas Beltway.

Animal Control received a call at 7:21 a.m. Monday about the dog. Jennifer Knight, a spokeswoman for Clark County, said Animal Control dispatched an officer, but the officer had several other live animal calls to take care of before arriving at the park at 8:53 a.m. When the officer arrived, the dog was gone. The dog was described in various reports as a blue heeler or a border collie.

Jennifer Robinson, the office manager at Centennial Hills Animal Hospital, said the people who found the dog brought it to the hospital. Robinson said the situation was gruesome. The dog was found hanging with a rope tied around its neck several times, Robinson said.

"There was no way it could have been an accident with the amount of times the rope was around the dog's neck," she said.

The hospital has not conducted tests to determine if the dog was dead before the hanging.

Because the dog was brought in dead, it is not possible to determine how much the dog weighed before it died, but Robinson said a rough estimate would be around 40 pounds.

Because the dog was gone when the officer arrived, Animal Control has not determined what happened but is continuing to look into the situation, Knight said. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Clark County's Code Enforcement Office at 455-7710.

The animal hospital has offered to cremate the dog for free once investigations are completed.

The dog was scanned for a microchip at the animal hospital. No identification of the dog has been found.

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this report.