A family is heartbroken after a beloved pet dog was found with its head and tail chopped off. The shocking discovery was made in a neighbouring garden - just hours after the animal had escaped from its home.
Kadi Sanders said Chihuahua Rocky had got out at around 9pm on Wednesday, March 2, and the family started to search for him. With no luck in the dark they agreed to resume their vigil at first light and put up a missing poster on community Facebook groups asking neighbours to keep an eye out for the missing seven-year-old pet.
But the following morning, a neighbour opposite in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, called the police after spotting a dead animal on his front lawn. Ms Sanders told the Mirror : "After calling the police, the neighbour saw the Facebook post and got in touch with my sister Maxine. I'm a veterinary nurse so she called me to go round and take a look."
Emma, 25, made the awful discovery of Rocky's headless and tail-less body. But there was no sign of any attack.
The tail was also cut cleanly away, and was later found discarded in a nearby bush, but Rocky's head has never been found. Ms Sanders scooped the headless animal up and rushed him to a nearby vets to be scanned, hoping it wasn't the beloved pet.
But a scan of his microchip revealed it was Rocky. She said: "There is no doubt in my mind that a person has done this. His head was cleanly severed from his body and so was his tail. In my job I see a lot of fox attacks, but he has no puncture wounds, there was no blood."
She said the police were called but have closed the case believing it was an animal on animal attack. Ms Sanders added: "This is the act of a psychopath.
"If they have done this to an animal they could do it to a human. We are seriously concerned there is someone out there doing this. We want anyone who can help us find out who did this so they can be prosecuted to get in touch."
The family has set up a Facebook page for information and decided to have a post mortem performed, which is currently under way at the University of Surrey. However, police are convinced the death was caused in an attack by another animal.
A Hertfordshire Police spokeswoman said: "We were called at 10.07am on Thursday, March 3 to a report of a pet dog sadly found deceased. A thorough investigation was launched following concern that the dog may have been attacked.
"Following CCTV enquiries and veterinary expertise, officers believe that the dog was killed by a wild animal. The dog’s owner has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this sad time."
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