The RSPCA is appealing for information about a family of French bulldogs who were found dead in a bag floating in a river, with suspicions that they had potentially been deliberately drowned.
A member of the public made the heartbreaking discovery last Wednesday (23 August) on a canal by Aire Valley Marina in Leeds.
RSPCA animal rescue officer (ARO) Emmeline Myall attended and was saddened to see two adult dogs – a male and female – and three puppies, who were around four weeks old, shoved inside the zipped-up Sports Direct bag There was also a brick inside the bag, leading the RSPCA to believe that the family of dogs were deliberately drowned.
ARO Emmeline said: “It is absolutely awful to think what these poor dogs went through. They didn’t appear to be in ill health which makes us, very sadly, believe that they were intentionally drowned. The fact that there were five dogs in this one bag leads us to believe that someone was trying to get rid of them all in one go.
“This is an awful act of animal cruelty and we are urging anyone who has any information to get in touch with us so we can find out what happened to these poor dogs.”
People with information can contact the RSPCA’s appeals line on 0300 123 8018, quoting reference 01139689.
The sad incident comes as this week the charity released figures which showed reports about cruelty to dogs increased by 7% in 2022, compared to 2021 – with intentional harm to dogs on the rise too.
The charity has launched its Cancel Out Cruelty campaign to raise awareness and to raise money to allow the RSPCA’s frontline officers to continue rescuing animals in need.
