Police in Connecticut and Florida have been inundated with messages of outrage and concern over a Facebook post showing a dog muzzled with duct tape that has gone viral on social media.
A Facebook account under a woman's name posted a photograph Friday of a dog that looks like a chocolate lab with duct table wrapped around its mouth and the message, "This is what happens when you dont (sic) shut up!!!"
The post was shared 286,359 times, as of 5:36 p.m. on Saturday and has sparked an outcry from animal lovers, including ones in Connecticut, criticizing the Facebook user who posted the image. The post and photo have not been authenticated.
A minute later, the user posted, "Don't panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasnt barked since...POINT MADE!!! (sic)"
South Daytona Beach police initially told NBC Connecticut that the alleged incident was believed to have happened in Florida. Earlier on they posted that she wasn't believed to be at her local residence in Florida. They said they believed she lived in Torrington.
South Daytona Police Lt. Dan Dietrich later said they made contact with the woman's adult son, who lives in Florida and confirmed that she is en route there and was passing through the Carolinas Saturday morning. Her son told police he hasn't heard from her since and believes she may have shut her cell phone off after getting threatening calls when her phone number began circulating online in connection to the Facebook post.
Dietrich said the woman's son told police she moved to Connecticut over a year ago and has been living in Avon with a boyfriend, possibly a fiancé. She doesn't own any vehicles registered in Florida but does have rental properties in the state, Dietrich said. The legal name of the woman they are looking to speak with is different than the one listed on the Facebook account.
South Daytona police don't plan on taking any further action until they can speak with the woman believed to be behind the Facebook post and check on her dog's well-being, as well as any other animals she may have.
Daytona animal control officials reported receiving tens of thousands of calls about the Facebook post, including calls from Canada and Australia.
South Daytona police, a department that covers a jurisdiction of four square miles, had to bring in 20 percent of their off-duty workforce to handle the high volume of calls about the Facebook photo of the dog. The volume of calls about the alleged incident crashed their entire switchboard at one point.
"Please help us out by not flooding our emergency phone numbers, which may impact other emergency calls. We appreciate your concerns," city of South Daytona officials said.
Most recently, city of South Daytona officials posted on Facebook that the woman in question hasn't lived there for about one and a half years despite the fact that the Facebook page under her name says she lives there.
Avon police dispatchers have been bombarded with numerous calls about animal abuse over the holiday weekend as messages circulate on social media saying the Facebook user lives in Avon. They were still receiving so many calls about it in the evening that they had to call in an extra dispatcher.
Avon Police Chief Mark Rinaldo said the "report of the abuse has been distributed via Facebook."
However, police responded to the "home of the alleged abuse and determined that the case did not occur in Avon" They also said that the woman in question no longer lives in Avon and hasn't for awhile. It's unclear if that just pertains to legal residences. Many of the callers informed police that they were told to contact them.
"While we share your concern with the abuse of animals we want to assure all concerned individuals that we have fully investigated this case," Rinaldo said.
Avon police said they are done investigating at this time and have contacted Florida authorities about the case because they believe she lives there.
Meanwhile, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office in Florida reported being "inundated with hundreds of Facebook messages" from across the country and world at its communications center.
"Please rest assured that we're aware of the photo and, as the dispatch center for all of Volusia County, have notified the appropriate local police department of the incident," the sheriff's office said. "We appreciate your concern for the welfare of all the members of our community! We've attempted to respond to as many individual messages as we can, but we hope this post will help put minds at ease in case we didn't reply to every last one. Have a great night and rest of your Thanksgiving weekend!"
The Facebook post has also been brought to the attention of Torrington Animal Control officials in Connecticut, who said there is an animal cruelty investigation underway after being inundated with messages about the situation.
"Be assured that there is an active animal cruelty investigation in progress. We are taking this very seriously. Please don’t send further emails or messages as our email system is overwhelmed. We thank you for your help," Torrington Animal Control officials said on Facebook. ".... Thank you everyone for sending us info and links to help the Chocolate Lab. We are actively investigating this case and searching for the individual involved."
Just before 3 p.m., Torrington Animal Control posted an update on Facebook, stating, "At this time our inbox is not currently working so please bear with us as we try to read through all of your messages. We are still diligently working on tracking down the owner who posted that dreadful picture to Facebook earlier this morning but it appears that she is no longer residing in Avon ... or Connecticut for that matter. All new, and pertinent information that we get is being immediately forward to Daytona PD as that is where the suspect is believed to be living/heading.
Thank you all for your concern for this animal."
The Facebook account lists the woman as self-employed and a former Central Connecticut State University student, but that has not been confirmed.
A www.change.org petition is circulating, asking Torrington, Avon and South Daytona police to charge the woman with animal abuse. It has garnered 12,687 supporters since its creation early Saturday morning.
South Daytona police said that if they verify the duct-tape incident with the dog occurred, then they would contact the police in the town where it occurred.
"We just want to get eyes on her first and figure this whole situation out," Dietrich said.
NBC Connecticut is not currently naming the woman in question because there are no charges against her at this time and the Facebook account and photo haven't been independently authenticated.
Photo Credit: Facebook
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