Dogs’ Deaths Lead to $5,000 Reward

The Humane Society has offered a $5,000 reward to help find the killers of three dogs in the last two weeks in the Santa Rosa area.

The latest killing occurred Wednesday when a shepherd dog was found hanged from a tree by a sweatshirt, said Don Knapp, executive director of the Humane Society of Sonoma County.

“The dog was hanged alive,” he said Thursday. “The tree trunk had claw marks showing there was a struggle before it died.”

Authorities believe it took two people to lift the dog up to the tree limb, Knapp said. The animal was a type of shepherd dog in the same class as the Labrador.

“They are very gentle, very intelligent dogs,” he added.

On Feb. 20, a yellow Labrador named Griffin was shot to death in his kennel while his owner was at church. The owner had received phone calls a few months before from a person threatening to kill the dog if it didn’t stop barking.

On Feb. 21, a skinned dog was found abandoned in the bed of a pickup. An autopsy showed she was pregnant with two puppies.

Santa Rosa police do not know if there is any connection between the three killings, Knapp said, but they are taking the cases very seriously.

“It’s very unusual for our community to have this type of violence so close together,” Knapp said. There are no suspects yet, he added, although police are following leads on the identity of the dog found hanged.

The Humane Society offered the $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for any of the three killings.