Police 'Infuriated' as Dogs Being Tied Up, Thrown in Pond to Drown

Police in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, are seeking help from the public after several dogs were deliberately weighed down and thrown in a local pond to drown.

City police shared a Crime Stoppers video to social media on Wednesday, asking the public for assistance in solving the cruel and "absolutely infuriating" crimes taking place at the city's Edwards Park. In the video, Master Sergeant Jennifer Wardlow says that police were recently contacted about the incidents and asked for help by the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division.

"It's a terrible case," Wardlow says. "There have been dogs that have been drowned at Edwards Park ... The first dog was discovered on January 19. The investigators are not certain at this point when they were actually thrown in there, but we do know that they were discovered in this past month."

In a voiceover, Wardlow then says that an additional drowned dog was discovered as police were making the video, "bringing the total number killed in this horrible manner to four."

"These dogs have been tied to either a cinder block or a brick, something heavy, to weigh the dogs down, obviously so they can throw them in there and die," she adds.

The officer goes on to say that investigators had not gotten "any good leads" on the case and hoped that people who live in the area might have noticed something that "didn't seem right" or was "suspicious."

"Whoever is doing this is just taking these dogs to the pier, there at the pond in the park, and simply throwing them off the pier weighted down," Wardlow says as the video ends.

Those with information on the drownings are urged to submit tips, which can be anonymous, at okccrimetips.com or by calling (405) 235-7300.

Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers offers a reward of up to $1,000 for tips that lead to an arrest or charges filed in felony cases.

Animal cruelty is a felony in Oklahoma, punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years and a $5,000 fine.

Newsweek has reached out to Oklahoma City Animal Welfare for comment.

While mercifully rare, incidents of cruelty involving dogs being deliberately drowned have been reported in the past.

A woman in Florida was charged with animal cruelty in August, accused of drowning her pet chihuahua in a swimming pool and later live-streaming images of the dead dog's decomposing body.

Four months earlier, a man in Indiana faced similar felony charges, accused of drowning two puppies he had adopted from an animal shelter in a bathtub.

In July 2021, police in British Columbia, Canada, discovered that a dog had been tied to an anchor and left to drown in a local lake, describing the incident as "an overt act of animal cruelty."