Investigators in Brevard County were looking for a pet owner Friday who they say left two dogs to die of dehydration and starvation in a Grant Valkaria home.
Deputies received a call for a well-being check on the suspected residents after neighbors said they hadn’t seen them since Hurricane Matthew, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said.
When they arrived at the home, they immediately saw a seriously emaciated and visibly malnourished dog.
"Fearing for the safety of the animal, deputies recovered the endangered pet and immediately located another dog in similar condition," Sheriff Wayne Ivey said on the sheriff's office Facebook page.
The Sheriff’s Office Animal Cruelty investigator and Animal Enforcement officers responded to the scene and determined that the house had been abandoned with the dogs inside, Ivey said.
“The dogs were left unattended in a confined and deplorable area without food, and only limited water that was in rusted and dirty containers,” he said.
The dogs, believed to be about a year old, were taken to the sheriff’s office Animal Care Center to receive emergency treatment.
“While their conditions are extremely critical, it is believed that both dogs will survive with medical attention, nourishment and loving care by our staff and volunteers,” Ivey said.
The hope is that the dogs will recover and will be adopted “by a family that will actually love and treat them as they should have always been,” he said. “I am disgusted at how anyone can treat pets in this manner.
“To leave any animal in these conditions without the ability to survive is not only cruel, but unforgivable in my book.”
Ivey pointed out that there are resources for pet owners who cannot, or choose not to, take care of their animals.
He fully expected to track down the owner and “prosecute the monsters responsible for this criminal and evil act.”
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