Macabre mystery in Barrington: Why did 3 dead dogs wash up on beach?
BARRINGTON – It's a mystery that defies easy explanation: Over the last three months, three dead dogs have washed up on beaches in town.
How did the dogs die? What eactly is going on? Is it sinister?
"We don't know," said Police Chief Michael E. Correia. "It's definitely out of the ordinary."
In the three years that Correia's been chief, this is the first time a dead dog has washed up on a beach in town, he said, adding that the police have called in the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for help. "They have the expertise we don't have."
But, so far, they don't have any answers, either.
"I'm not ready to jump to the conclusion that this was a nefarious action," said Wayne M. Kezirian, the SPCA president. "It's certain it appears to be a pattern, but we just don't know."
Where have the dead dogs been found?
All three dogs have washed up on beaches facing Narragansett Bay, according to the chief. The first was Feb. 28, at the end of Willow Way. Then, on March 11 on Barrington Beach. And then on April 8, again on Barrington Beach.
All three carcasses were stored in the freezer of a neighboring animal control operation, Correia said. The first two are still there, but the third has been transferred to the SPCA.
How are the police and animal control piecing together the mystery?
Kezirian said his agency will examine the remains to see whether a cause of death is obvious, such as some sort of fatal injury, such as a gunshot wound. If their exam doesn't yield results, the carcass will be sent to the University of Connecticut for a full necropsy, the animal equivalent of an autopsy.
Kezirian and Correia said all three dogs showed signs of decomposition that made it difficult to see at a glance what might have happened, though the chief said the animal found in April appeared to have bruising.
The police have checked reports of missing dogs in area communities to try to find the owners of the dogs, but have had no luck. None of the three had had an identifying computer microchip embedded in them.
The chief asked anyone with information to call the police at (401) 437-3930.
Kezirian said it may be as simple as the dogs died of natural causes on land, but heavy rains this year washed the carcasses into the Bay resulting in the macabre coincidence of them washing up on the beach.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Barrington probes 3 dead dogs washing up on beach
