WEST LEBANON — An injured dog that was found chained to a telephone pole is recovering at the Upper Valley Humane Society as police are interviewing a “person of interest” in regard to how the dog came to be chained to the pole and left alone.
Lebanon police put out an alert to ask for the public’s help in identifying the animal’s owner after they received a call on Saturday night about a dog near the underpass on Glen Road close to the skate park.
When responding officers arrived, they found the dog, a pitbull mix named Bowser estimated to be about 2 years old, chained to the pole with a laceration to its neck and the top of its head, Lebanon Police Chief Phil Roberts told the Valley News.
Officers notified Small Animal Veterinary Emergency & Specialty, or SAVES, of the head injury and brought the dog to the humane society, where RayLynn Bradigan, UVHS executive director, said he received sutures for the wound, antibiotics, tubes to drain the pus and “bed rest.”
“He has a head wound but otherwise he’s in the best of spirits and a super-happy dog,” Bradigan said shortly before Bowser went outdoors for a break in the sun at the shelter’s hospital and kennel off Interstate 89 in Enfield on Tuesday afternoon.
Bowser “just came out of adolescence” and has a “very sweet” disposition, Bradigan said, noting the dog “clearly had been well cared for.”
To help identify the owner, Lebanon police put out social media images of an older male with a white beard and wearing a hat as he grasped a leash attached to what appeared to be the same dog that was taken by a surveillance camera at Upper Valley Plaza on Route 12A a few days earlier.
The man, who police identified as a “person of interest,” was located in West Lebanon at the Irving/Circle K convenience store at the corner of North Main Street and Bridge Street early Tuesday morning. He is cooperating with police, Robertson said.
The Lebanon Police Department’s Facebook post seeking the public’s help in identifying the man walking the dog drew more than 268 comments as of Tuesday afternoon, many of them expressing outrage at what happened to the dog and vilifying the man in the surveillance video images .
Although he declined to discuss details of the incident because it remains under active investigation, Roberts on Tuesday cautioned against people leaping to hasty conclusions.
“Hopefully (it) turns out there is no criminal aspect, but somebody tied this injured dog to a post without notifying anyone,” Roberts said.
Numerous commenters on the police’s Facebook post about Bowser expressed an interest in adopting him. .
“There’s a lot of interest in social media, but not a lot of follow-through, to be honest. People have strong feelings on Facebook,” she said.
The question is moot for now, in any case, until police confirm the identity of Bowser’s owner and the circumstances that led to the dog being chained to the telephone pole.
Still, Bradigan, who began work at UVHS three months ago, said she is grateful for the interest because “comments, likes and shares helps to raise awareness with what we do and is going on here.”
“A lot of people have the misimpression that UVHS is well-off because we’re in the Upper Valley. But I inherited a $200,000 deficit the day I got here,” Bradigan said.
Indeed, Bradigan said that raising the public’s awareness of the UVHS is a key priority of her job right now, along with opening up volunteer opportunities.
