PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – Palm Beach County deputies are searching for an animal cruelty suspect who left a “neglected” Shih Tzu dog at a rescue facility outside Boca Raton.
According to Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, a volunteer found the approximately 6-year-old Shih Tzu along the fenceline of the Tri-County Animal Rescue early Wednesday morning.
Deputies said since the facility is gated and locked, it appeared someone threw the dog, which veterinary staff named “Parker,” over the fence.
“The dog could barely stand, let alone walk,” according to a news release sent by PBSO.
Employees of the rescue said Parker was covered in matted hair filled with maggots.
“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” Dr. Sandra Deluccia, a veterinarian at the facility, said. “It was terrible.”
Parker was neither microchipped nor collared. Veterinary staff said the dog appeared to have been neglected for a long period of time.
“(It was) one of the worst neglect issues that I have ever seen an animal present,” veterinarian Dr. Lindsey Naimoli said. “This is a product of just numerous years of neglect and abuse living in a deplorable facility.”
As of Friday morning, Parker was in guarded condition, and was recovering at the facility. Veterinarians Local 10 spoke with said they spent more than three hours shaving Parker’s hair and needed to perform emergency surgery.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 1-800-458-8477.
“You never want to think that a human being could do this to an animal,” Naimoli said. “To see it done, this has been many years of neglect. This person has got to be detained.”