By Joe Johnson
A badly injured dog was euthanized on Sunday after it wandered onto the porch of a home in Athens, according to Athens-Clarke County police.
The Maltese-mix dog was found to have third-degree chemical burns on much of its body by a county Animal Services Department employee who responded to a call at 12:57 a.m. by someone who lived at the home where the dog was found, according to a police incident report.
The Animal Services employee informed police of the incident at 11:44 a.m., telling them that the dog was taken to the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where “it was euthanized due to its condition, according to the report.
The dog’s owner was unknown, police said, and the location where the dog was found was redacted from the police report because it had no known connection to the dog other than being the location where it was found.
The Animal Services employee who located the dog did not return a phone message seeking comment.
“As for the investigation, those are typically initiated by Animal Control and, if needed, we take over if criminal charges need to be filed, said Athens-Clarke County police Sgt. John Q. Williams.
“Occasionally we may initiate an investigation, then forward to Animal Control to complete,” said Williams, acting public information officer for his department.
The police incident indicated that the incident involved the offense of animal cruelty.