Video captures latest dog disposal near Dowdy Ferry Road
DALLAS — Dallas Police Department and the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission are asking for the public’s help to find the latest suspect who abandoned a dog on an infamous stretch of south Dallas road.
In surveillance footage near Dowdy Ferry Road and Teagarden Road, a man pulled up and parked around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday. He drives an older model white Chevrolet SUV. He opens the tailgate and a playful young German Shepherd mix jumps out.
Someone is yelling at her from across the street. The dog reacts, but the man ignores her and gets back in his SUV, the dog following him. But the suspect drives away, with the dog chasing Teagarden south, narrowly escaping being hit by other passing cars.
“It was a deliberate dumping and he didn’t want to get caught. And he didn’t want that dog and he made that clear,” said Jeremy Boss of the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission, whose cameras caught the incident. The nonprofit has been active in this well-known wildlife and landfill area for more than a decade and hopes their hidden cameras will help prevent crimes like this one.
“It makes me sick to see people who take the time to take their dog, drive over here and throw it out like trash, as Dowdy Ferry is known,” Boss said.
Photo credit: Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission
Luckily, neighbors who witnessed the man drop the dog and drive away were able to capture the dog and care for him until Dallas Animal Services arrived late Wednesday night. The dog, who appears to be a young German shepherd, reportedly had a minor leg injury but is otherwise fine.
Dallas police confirmed they are looking for the suspect. The crime is considered a Class A misdemeanor.
“A crime like this is one of those that are so random that we need the public’s help if they see anything suspicious like this, or if they see such an act taking place,” said Brian Martinez, Dallas Police Department spokesman.
“People who throw away dogs have no conscience,” Boss added. “Either that or they don’t have a brain.
Boss cameras captured a similar event in November that is still unsolved. The same cameras caught a man in a dark limousine also leaving behind a German shepherd. Unfortunately, Boss said, that same day, that dog was hit by a passing car and killed. He says members of his team who responded to the incident witnessed the death.
The Dallas Police Department and the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission operate multiple cameras in the Dowdy Ferry and Teagarden area. Those cameras, in perhaps their most notorious case, caught the exploits of a man named Sebastian Acosta two years ago.
Acosta was recorded retrieving two puppies from the back of his truck along the Dowdy Ferry Road. The dogs howl from the off. Surveillance video shows Acosta getting back into his truck and driving away. The video contributed to a six-year prison sentence that included convictions for animal cruelty. The dogs had been beaten to death.
“It’s one of thousands of happily told stories,” Boss said. “There are so many stories out there that aren’t being told, and these cameras help tell those stories about where these dogs come from.”
Police are asking anyone who can help identify the suspects in the recent animal dump cases at Dowdy Ferry and Teagarden Road to call the Dallas Police Department’s Animal Cruelty Division at 469-504-3394.