Bag of dead puppies dumped near mailbox in Texas town

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas neighborhood wants answers after someone dumped a bag of dead puppies right next to their community mailbox.

The Burnet County Sheriff's Office said it is investigating the case.

“Inside this plastic bag were several decomposed puppies. They were decomposed to the point where it was impossible to really determine what type of dog it was,” said Capt. Michael Sorenson of BCSO Support Services.

“I hope they didn’t suffer”

Miranda Lowry and her family were the first to discover the trash bag.

“The flies were just crazy,” Lowry said. “There was a swarm.”

While driving through her neighborhood, Lowry said her family saw the bag in their community mailbox in Burnet. The smell was so strong, she said, that they immediately knew something was wrong.

“We were just planning to check it out and then go put it in our community dumpster that we have about a half mile down the road,” Lowry said. “But at that point I was like, 'No, don't joke about it.' “

The Burnet County Sheriff's Office responded after she called 911. When she found out what was inside, it broke her heart.

“Something like this is really heartbreaking,” she said.

Lowry added that animals have been dumped in the same location at least once before.

“It was a bunch of cats, kittens (back then),” said Lowry, whose family took in one of the kittens. “They were about six months old.”

Now, she says, she will never be able to look at a trash bag the same way again.

“Every time I see a trash bag on the side of the road, I'll ask myself, 'Hey, should we go check it out?'” Lowry said.

She also asked her homeowners association to install cameras near the mailbox, to prevent this type of situation from happening again.

What are the penalties for this?

The BCSO said this type of crime carries serious consequences.

“This is a horrible offense. If we were able to locate the person who did this, we could charge them with a criminal offense for animal cruelty,” Sorenson said.

Animal cruelty is also a Class A minimum misdemeanor, punishable by fines and prison time.