COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — Cottage Grove police are investigating what happened to eight dogs found dead near the Mississippi River Sunday.
In a post on their Facebook page, the Cottage Grove PD said an officer located the dogs around 12:30 p.m. in the tree line along Grey Cloud Island Drive near Grey Cloud Island Trail. The dogs are described as a smaller variety including a schnauzer and similar-sized white dogs which could be terrier breeds, and officers involved in the case say they ranged in age from puppies to adult dogs.
Investigators from the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley are helping Cottage Grove with the case. Strategic Communications Manager Sarah Bhimani said that in cases like this, humane investigators work with police to provide expertise on Minnesota's animal statutes, what laws may have been broken, and what charges might be filed once a perpetrator is identified.
AHS is also conducting necropsies on the dogs to determine how and when they died.
Cottage Grove police-community engagement officer Dan Schoen said according to preliminary necropsy reports, the bodies of the dogs were intact.
"Obviously it was haphazard that they were left there. But it wasn't like they were mistreated when they were discarded," he said. "It looked like somebody at least cared enough to lay them out in a nice way."
Schoen said the dogs' coats were intact, and they did not seem to have been starved. He said they also did not notice any broken bones. He said the full report will take a bit more time.
"We don't exactly know the cause of death yet, we don't know if they were sick and had already passed," Schoen said. "But it appears that they believe on the initial report that they all passed at the same time."
Schoen quickly dispelled any rumors that he had already seen on social media.
"This is definitely not some sort of crazy online ritual that people want to hype up to be something crazy," Schoen said. "What we are starting to see is evidence that this was probably one group that had taken in a bunch of dogs and couldn't care for them anymore."
Anyone who was in the area Sunday morning and saw something - specifically near the portapotty placed between a large culvert and bridge on Grey Cloud Island - is asked to call Cottage Grove police at 651-458-6052. Investigators would also like to speak with anyone missing a dog that matches the description given by police.
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