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Abandoned puppies lead to $10,000 reward offer
Police, Humane Society looking for two men who left dogs in Hwy. W ditch
By Bill Schanen IV; September 8, 2005
Featured by Permission from Ozaukee Press Staff

Ozaukee County – Two puppies abandoned along a Saukville highway have prompted a police investigation and the offer of a $10,000 Humane Society reward for information leading to the conviction of two suspects.

The case of the homeless puppies, which were recovering last week at the Ozaukee Humane Society in the Town of Grafton, appears filled with twists.

Although the incident was witnessed by a Kenosha man who saw the men release one of the dogs in a ditch and wrote down the license plate number of the truck they were driving, Saukville police have been unable to identify the suspects.

In addition, there are differing accounts of what happened to the dogs. Ozaukee Humane Society Shelter Manager Kim Schlote said the Kenosha man who brought one of the puppies to the shelter said he saw the animal being thrown out of a green Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

But Sgt. Jeff Goetz of the Saukville Police Department said the Kenosha man told authorities that at 2:20 p.m. Aug. 6 he saw two men stop the truck on Highway W near the northern village limits, remove a dog from a kennel, place it in the ditch and drive away.

The second dog was spotted a short time later by a sheriff’s deputy and recovered by Humane Society workers, officials said.

The dogs, Cornelia and Bean, named after the bean field she was found in, did not have significant injuries but were suffering from mange, Schlote said.

Goetz said police tracked the truck to Belgium and were told by the owner that he had lent his vehicle to someone else that the name of the man, who is allegedly from Milwaukee.

“We were pretty much stonewalled by the people in Belgium,” Goetz said. “And the witness said he saw the truck but there’s no way he could identify the men, so we don’t have a lot to go on.”

The dogs, 4-month-old pit bull-Labrador mixes, will be evaluated at the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee, then returned to the Town of Grafton shelter.

For more information about the OHS or to view a listing of animals available for adoption, please call 377-7580 or visit www.ozaukeehumane.org .