There’s Apparently No Serial Dog Killer on the Loose in Los Angeles

In what appeared to be a particularly heinous act of animal cruelty, a dead dog was found near the shore of a Marina del Rey, Calif., beach March 16 with its collar wrapped around the handle of a shovel that had been inserted deep into the sand. The poor pup had seemingly been left there to slowly drown as the tide came in.

A couple days later, what was described as a decapitated dog was found in Ballona Creek, not far from Marina del Rey.

PETA and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offered a total of $20,000 in reward money for whoever committed these horrible acts. Fears arose that a serial dog killer was on the loose in the area.

But the decapitated dog turned out to be a bloated raccoon, whose head was still attached.

And today the Los Angeles Times reports that the dog found on the beach had actually been killed by a car, not by drowning.

Last night a homeless man showed up at the Marina del Rey police station, asking about his missing dead dog, Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Ramage told the Times.

The man said after the dog was hit by a car, he took the body to the beach to wash it in the ocean, because he wanted to have it stuffed. He attached the collar to the shovel handle so the dog’s body wouldn’t float away while he left to get some of his belongings.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” Ramage told the Times. Yep.

Meanwhile, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk doesn’t want this case closed. “It’s possible that this dog’s death was a tragic accident, but a necropsy will show whether this dog drowned or was hit by a car,” she said in a statement.

The homeless man’s story, however, seems weird enough to be true. In either case, rest in peace, poor pup.

Photo credit: Dylan