An abandoned pitbull passed away in Florence, Los Angeles after she was sexually and physically assaulted before being abandoned at a sidewalk. The five-year-old dog, named Cargo, had been given away for free to a new owner a mere two weeks before the horrifically cruel incident.
According to eyewitnesses, two African-American men dumped Cargo in front of a house on the 200th block of West 85th street last Monday. Locals could not get in contact with city or county animal control and called nonprofit organization Ghetto Rescue Foundation to the scene.
Foundation representative Dianty Marquez told reporters that Cargo was clearly injured and suffering when she arrived at the scene to help. Cargo was immediately rushed to emergency veterinary care and died the next day.
Medical reports showed that Cargo had been raped. Besides trauma to the poor dog's vaginal area, reports revealed that Cargo suffered some sort of blunt force trauma to her chest area that caused her aorta to rupture and led to her untimely death.
Investigations into Cargo's life before her death showed that she had been spayed, microchipped and adopted by a Hispanic man from the Orange County Animal Care on July 23 during a free adoption event.
Ghetto Rescue's efforts to contact the man who adopted Cargo with the information he had left at Orange County Animal Care were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, animal welfare activists have voiced out against free or low-cost adoption drives that animal shelters at full or near-full capacity organise to get abandoned dogs into homes, in the aftermath of Cargo's heartbreaking demise.
In response to the backlash that ensued over allowing just anyone to adopt animals without background checks, Orange County Animal Care has announced that it has blacklisted the man who adopted Cargo – known as "Valerie" during her time at the shelter.
"OC Animal Care staff is aware of a situation with a dog, "Valerie," recently adopted from our shelter. Our staff and volunteers are deeply saddened to learn of her passing and the alleged circumstances involving her death. Valerie was with us for three months and was loved by many.
"Although this incident occurred outside of our jurisdiction and we are not the investigating agency, we are working with the local authorities in Los Angeles regarding this case. OC Animal Care is providing them all the information we have about Valerie and will continue to assist in their ongoing investigation.
"The OC Animal Care shelter does not discriminate against those wishing to adopt unless they are suspected of or have been convicted of animal offenses. We utilize information about investigations from our own animal control as well as other law enforcement agencies to make this determination. We take the safety of all animals in our care seriously and, as a result of the circumstances surrounding Valerie's death, the individual who adopted Valerie is now ineligible for future adoptions at our shelter.