It was a troubling sight — a dog with no collar, no leash, alone on rocks in a remote part of East Boston.
The dog was found Sunday wet, shaking and curled up along the Chelsea River.
"Watching a dog suffer like that is painful," said Bryan Vasquez, who made the startling discovery around 5 p.m. Sunday.
Vasquez was puzzled by how a dog ended up in an industrial park in East Boston, fearing the animal was abandoned.
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"That probably somebody came and dumped him," Vasquez said.
Vasquez, who works in the industrial park, says he wanted to comfort the chihuahua mix.
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"I had a small blanket," he said. "I tried to get close to him, but he tried to bite me."
He called Boston's Animal Care and Control division and waited until an officer arrived.
Vasquez says the dog appeared to be injured.
"He was licking his leg," he said. "When he got up, he had one leg in the air."
He watched as animal control took the dog away. Now, he wants to know who owned the dog, why he was all alone, and — since he was wet — if he had been thrown in the water.
"I feel bad if somebody dumped him," he said. "I'm a pet owner. It's something you get to love, and how are you going to do something like throw him or something?"
Animal control has not yet responded to a request for comment on what the plan is for the dog, and if there's any investigation taking place into how he ended up along the water.
On Tuesday, animal control updated their Facebook post about the incident, saying that the owner was located.
It turned out that the dog had been reported missing by his owner and was set to be reunited with him on Tuesday.
