4 dogs found dead
CLEARFIELD TWP — The bodies of four slain dogs were discovered off McGrady Hollow Road Sunday afternoon.
Township resident Nick Curzi was walking along the road with his 6-year-old son Rocco when they came upon the gruesome discovery.
The duo's stroll started off on a positive note. Rocco wanted to collect cans for recycling so he could raise extra spending money for a family trip.
The father and son were about 1.5 miles from their home when an odor was detected. Nick Curzi then spotted a carcass on the bank by a runoff stream.
“I thought it was one dog,” he said.
However, he soon saw a second body by a drainage pipe and a third in the water. The remains of a fourth were in a black bag.
“It's not something you want to be with your 6-year-old for,” Curzi said.
He contacted the authorities and various agencies, but none immediately came to the scene.
“Nobody could do anything because they weren't live dogs,” Curzi said.
Butler state police eventually investigated the scene Tuesday afternoon.
Debbie Urmann of Shaler Township, a volunteer with both One Dog at a Time in Lewistown in Mifflin County and Frankie's Friends Cat Rescue in New Kensington, learned about the dogs the Curzis found browsing the Internet.
Urmann, a former humane officer, stopped at the site Monday night.
According to Urmann, at least two of the dogs were the apparent victims of foul play.
“It appears to me the dogs were shot,” she said.
Urmann said Tuesday the condition of the dog on the bank was telling.“It was not in the water (but) the head was decomposed,” she said. “The rest of the body was intact.”Urmann said the head's deterioration could have been caused by a trauma such as a gunshot.Another dog appeared to have a hole in the back of its head.The dogs by the drainage pipe and in the water were pit bulls. The breeds of the other two were not established.Urmann said the fourth dog was a puppy based on the size of the bones.“I saw the bag in the water,” she said. “There were skeletal remains.”When Urmann lifted up the bag, the bones unexpectedly dropped into the stream and washed away.She took the remains to veterinarian Dr. Becky Morrow to determine what happened to the three dogs available for animal autopsies, which are called necropsies.Urmann, who assisted Morrow, said this morning they determined the cause of death for each dog, but those results are confidential due to the police investigation.“We got a lot of evidence,” she said.Urmann said it's unclear if the dogs were even left by the same person.“It's a total mystery right now,” she said.Urmann said the body of another pit bull, owned by Clearfield resident John Compton, was found earlier this month with a gunshot wound to the head.Police are asking anyone who is either missing any dogs or has information about the McGrady Hollow Road case contact them at 724-284-8100.
