Horribly neglected dogs found in Mill Creek Park

YOUNGSTOWN

Two dogs underwent surgery Wednesday after they were found wandering in Mill Creek Park — one with a chain embedded in its neck.

Mill Creek police found the dogs on Golf Drive inside the park after someone called the Mahoning County Dog Warden’s office early Wednesday.

The dogs are male and female. One is a lab-shepherd mix and the other is believed to be a chow-lab mix. The female was dragging the chain that was wrapped around her neck.

Rick Tunison, kennel manager and technician, estimated that the chain weighed at least 20 pounds.

“If we had had a couple more hot days, we would have been looking at maggots eating the dog from the inside,” he said.

Friends of Fido, a non-profit group that works with the pound, paid for both dogs’ surgeries. The bill was expected to top $2,000.

The Youngstown-based organization runs on donations and money generated through fundraisers. It can be reached through its Facebook page.

Tunison said both dogs were sweet and friendly. Authorities believe they may have been brought to the park and dumped by their owner.

The dogs were taken to the pound by Mill Creek park police. “The female hopped out of the car, licked me and jumped right into her crate,” Tunison said. “The male? Well, he was all just kisses and tail wags.”

The male dog had marks on its neck, indicating that its collar had also been embedded.

The stench from the necrotic flesh was so bad that the pound workers could smell it upon approaching the police crusiers.

If the owner is found, Tunison said the dogs will not be returned. Animal cruelty is a first-degree misdemeanor.

The vet where the dogs were taken named them Glacier and Newport, after two lakes in the park.

Tunison said that it takes months for a chain to get to that extent of embedding.