Warning: Images in this article may be disturbing to some readers.
The New Brunswick SPCA is investigating after the bodies of four dogs were removed from the front porch of a home in Bass River, N.B., Monday morning.
SPCA and RCMP vehicles arrived at the house around 10 a.m.
Dakota Kelly, an animal rights advocate who rescues dogs in the area, said his girlfriend spotted the dogs on Sunday.
“It’s not often you hear of four dead dogs on a step, so I went down to check it out,” said Kelly.
Kelly said he could see the bodies of what appeared to be four dead beagles from the road.
He spoke face-to-face with the owner of the dogs to try and find out what happened.
“He said all four had been struck by a transport,” said Kelly. “There was no physical injury on the four dogs. There was no blood. The limbs were straight.”
Kelly then called the police who referred the matter to the SPCA.
Kelly was across the street Monday morning and said he witnessed the dogs being removed from the porch and placed in bags by members of the SPCA.
He’s hoping to find out what the cause of death was and is curious why the homeowner left the dogs on his front porch.
“He said they’ve been there for more than two weeks. He personally said himself that they had been there since around Christmas time,” said Kelly.
Nicole Thebeau runs the Kent County Animal Rescue in nearby Richibucto.
She posted a photo of the four dead dogs on her Facebook page on Sunday and received hundreds of comments.
She too went to see for herself and confronted the owner wanting to know why they were there.
“The story he gave me was that these dogs had been hit by a transport about a kilometre away from his house and that he picked them up in the ditch and brought them back to his patio to give them a proper burial,” said Thebeau.
Thebeau said she then went up to the dogs to get a better look at them.
“There’s no marks on them. There’s no blood, there’s nothing,” said Thebeau. “If a transport was to hit a dog, which I’ve seen a few times, it doesn’t look like that.”
After rescuing animals in the Kent County area for 18 years, Thebeau said she was heartbroken to see the dogs.
“I was devastated and even more so when I walked right up on his patio,” said Thebeau. “At first, I was hoping they were teddy bears or something, but no, they’re dogs. I don’t know what happened, but I want answers.”
Richibucto RCMP Sgt. Guillaume Belanger said the matter is under investigation by the New Brunswick SPCA.
“They have their own way to lay charges if they wanted,” said Belanger. “We also have a file with the RCMP, but we will wait for the New Brunswick SPCA investigation before going further with it.”
Tony Porter, the chief animal protection officer with the New Brunswick SPCA, said the investigation is in the early stages.
“We would like people to be patient as possible and we will get to the bottom of what occurred,” said Porter.
Porter said it’s undetermined just how long the dogs had been on the front porch, and he isn’t sure how long the investigation would take.
The owner of the dogs did speak briefly with CTV News but declined to do an interview.
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