Andrea Rosebrock 
Is there no end to the abuses and cruelties visited upon our canine companions? Every day I read stories of the horrendous atrocities enacted upon dogs and just when I think I’ve heard it all, something new crawls out of the woodwork!
From DelewareOnline
Dead dog found along NJ roadside possible drug mule, police say
By DEBORAH M. MARKO, The (Vineland N.J.) Daily Journal
Posted Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 12:52 pmVINELAND — The severe wounds inflicted on a slain German shepherd found dumped along a rural Fairfield Township road last month may have been inflicted after the dog’s death, SPCA investigators said.
That’s fueling speculation the duct-taped dog, now known as Justice, may have died as the result of drug activity.
It is becoming more common for drug dealers to use dogs as “drug mules,” forcing the animals to swallow self-contained drug packets, allowing easier transportation of the drugs.
In some cases, drug dealers can retrieve the packets from the dog’s feces. But in more brutal instances, the dogs are cut open to access the contraband.
Because Justice was apparently gutted as well as suffering tongue and rectum cuts, the SPCA is considering the drug-related death a credible theory.
The Society for the Prevention of the Cruelty to Animals is waiting on results of a more detailed autopsy. A blood and tissues analysis should determine if there were drugs in Justice’s system.
Unable to find a veterinary pathologist on the East Coast, the SPCA is getting some welcomed assistance from a Philadelphia-based pathologist, who usually works on human cases, said Bev Greco, the shelter’s executive director.
Other developments in the Justice case:
- The N.J. State Police lab is continuing to trace a fingerprint lifted from the duct tape to a suspect. Those results could come within the next two weeks.
- Donations to the Justice Fund are still coming in. The additional money will be used to establish a Crime Stoppers-type reward fund to encourage anonymous tips in specific cases that lead to the arrest and conviction of animal abusers.
- Once the autopsy of Justice is complete, Greco said, a memorial service date will be announced.
[...] Justice, as the German Shepherd who was found slain and dumped along a rural Fairfield Township road, was dubbed, was found to have been gutted while still alive autopsy results revealed. Whoever is responsible for killing Justice the German shepherd gutted the dog while the animal was still alive, according to the autopsy report delivered to the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. [...]
[...] people gathered for a touching memorial that was held for Justice, the German Shepherd that was so crully tortured and slain and found dumped along a rural Fairfield [...]