A distraught family discovered their pet dog with his head and tail chopped off in a neighbour’s garden just hours after he went missing.
The Sanders family thought Chihuahua Rocky had escaped while they were out at around 9pm on Wednesday, March 2, and started a search of the area.
With no luck and increasingly anxious they resumed their search the next morning putting up posters and taking to social media for help to find the seven-year-old pet, the Mirror reports.
But within a few hours a neighbour opposite their home spotted a dead animal on his front lawn and called police.
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Mum Kadi Sanders told the Mirror: “After calling the police, the neighbour saw the Facebook post and got in touch with my sister Maxine.
“I’m a veterinary nurse so she called me to go round and take a look.”
(Image: Mirror / Kadi Sanders)
His head had been cleanly cut off, his little body had no puncture wounds, no bruises and no signs of attack were on the animal.
Ms Sanders, a veterinary nurse at Medivet in Enfield, said she scooped the headless animal up and took him to a vets to be scanned, hoping it wasn’t her beloved pet. A scan of his microchip revealed it was Rocky.
She told the Mirror: “There is no doubt in my mind that a person has done this.
“His head was cleanly severed from his body and so was his tail.
“In my job I see a lot of fox attacks, but he has no puncture wounds, there was no blood.”
She said the police were called to the scene in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, but have closed the case believing it was an animal on animal attack.
Ms Sanders added: “This is the act of a psychopath.
“If they have done this to an animal they could do it to a human.
“We are seriously concerned there is someone out there doing this.”
“We want anyone who can help us find out who did this so they can be prosecuted to get in touch.”
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The family has set up a Facebook page for information and has decided to get a post mortem which is currently underway at the University of Surrey.
A Hertfordshire Police spokeswoman said: “We were called at 10.07am on Thursday, March 3 to a report of a pet dog sadly found deceased.
“A thorough investigation was launched following concern that the dog may have been attacked.
“Following CCTV enquiries and veterinary expertise, officers believe that the dog was killed by a wild animal.
“The dog’s owner has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this sad time.”
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