Massachusetts

Police Investigating After Dog Found Dead in Woods

A dog was found dead in a wooded area on the Norton/Attleboro border.

Police are investigating after a dog was found dead in a wooded area on the Norton/Attleboro border in Massachusetts on Thursday.

The dog's owners are heartbroken and want answers.

"We were devastated. I didn't believe it," Taylor Henriques said.

Steven and Taylor Henriques are mourning after the body of their three-year-old hound, Bo, was discovered.

They had posted lost dog signs in the area saying the dog escaped on December 4 at 8:30 a.m.

"He's an escape artist. He waits for every opportunity to run out the door. That's what he did, and he was gone a lot longer than usual," Steven Henriques said.

They knew something had happened, but they didn't know what.

"I honestly thought either the coyotes got him, something like that. But nothing like this," Taylor Henriques said.

Bo's body, they say, was found by a family friend in a deep wooded area just off of Old Dean Street.

The owners say Bo had been impaled by a stick, but something about the scene where he was found was off.

"As we were carrying him back, I actually heard a pop. It sounded like something came through his ribs. I felt his back and I found the round that was lodged in him," Steven Henriques said.

He says he found a bullet in one of the dog's wounds. He also says the dog's collar was gone, and, he believes, only a human could have taken it off of him.

The Henriques think that hunters were involved, and they want answers.

"Who did it and why they couldn't care to fess to it... it's ridiculous. We're glad we found him, but obviously not that we found him in this state," Taylor Henriques said.

A necropsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

According to police, they responded to a report of a dog that was found dead in the woods off of Old Dean Street. The call was made by the dog's owner.

The owner carried the dog out of the woods where police were waiting.

Police say they observed a laceration on the dog's body. 

According to the Animal Rescue League, they were contacted when the dog was brought to Tufts Medical Center in Walpole. 

The Medical Center in Walpole suggested that the dog be sent to Tufts in Grafton for a necropsy.

Later in the day, the owner reported to Norton Animal Control that he discovered a bullet in one of the dog's wounds, police said.

The incident remains under investigation and Norton Police are being assisted by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Animal Cruelty Division, Environmental Police, and Norton Animal Control.

Taylor Henriques said Monday that rewards being offered had ecliped $3,000.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police.

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