3 dogs dead after break-in at Arkansas animal shelter, director says

The director of the Humane Society of the Delta said three of the shelter’s dogs died after a break-in Wednesday night.

Beth Florek said her staff members found one dog dead and two others injured in an outdoor pen when they arrived at the Helena-West Helena shelter Thursday morning. The two injured dogs were later euthanized after their injuries were deemed too severe, Florek said.

She said she and her staff members believe someone broke into the pen to teach outside dogs how to fight, resulting in the three deaths. She said the dogs that died were all pit bull mixes, and two other dogs of different breeds in the pen were left alone.

A Phillips County sheriff’s deputy, who declined to provide his name, said someone broke into the shelter and let some of the dogs loose, but he would not confirm there was dogfighting involved.

Florek said her staff members who discovered the dogs couldn’t figure out how the animals had fought on their own.

“They knew that somebody else had had a hand in it,” she said.

One of the dogs that died had been recently adopted.

“It would have gone to its new home on Monday,” Florek said. “So that family was devastated when they heard the news.”

A similar incident occurred three years ago, Florek said. The shelter’s staff members saw signs of fighting and found “dead and dying dogs all over the property.” After that, the shelter started to sequester the pit bulls and pit bull mixes in an indoor pen.

The shelter didn’t have the usual space inside this week, Florek said, so three pit bull mixes were moved to an outdoor pen at the rear of the shelter’s property.

She added that the cash-strapped shelter is in the process of buying a security system for the outdoor pens that could’ve prevented the break-in. “That was going to be our next purchase.”

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