OSAGE COUNTY -- A dog was found dead on the side of the road in north Osage County with signs that it was dragged by a car.
The Osage County Sheriff's Office said the dog was found by someone passing by in Hulah.
Bones were exposed in the dogs legs when it was found and it had no hair. It also had a rope tied around its neck.
Deputies believe the dog was dead and someone then tied a rope around its neck and dragged it behind a car. They believe the dog could have died of natural causes.
Susie Ownes rescues dogs in Osage County. She was called by someone passing by who found the dog. She and her partner went out to the wetlands where the dog was lying.
"The choke collar and the twine around its neck and the rope around its legs," Owens said. "It was sad. We both cried. It’s hard to talk about it."
Owens and her partner believe the dog was alive while it was being dragged and died later. After learning the sheriff's office thought otherwise, they decided to take the animal for a necropsy, which is an autospy for animals.
"I don’t know for sure, but in my heart I do not believe he was dead before he was dragged," Owens said.
She said she will never stop fighting for justice for the dog.
"I have not seen anything this bad," Owens said. "I could not imagine someone doing this. They would have to be. It would have to be a very sick individual."
The sheriff's office said they are investigating and are following leads.
The Oklahoma Alliance for Animals is offering a $5,000 reward to get the person responsible behind bars and prosecuted. Not only do they want justice, they want to end the cycle of abuse.
"One-hundred percent of serial killers started with animal abuse and that’s every one of them," Jamee Suarez, president of the Oklahoma Alliance for Animals said.
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