Dog found dead with its mouth taped shut in North Fort Myers

A Cape Coral woman said she found a dog dead with its mouth taped shut on the side of a road.

Tammie Read discovered the dog in North Fort Myers on Monday along NE 24th Avenue near Garden Boulevard.

Read said the dog was 17 years old, and it was heartbreaking to find it in the state it had been left in. She was out looking for a missing dog when she came across it on the side of the road.

“It clearly was a case of animal cruelty,” Read said. “As I was coming around the bend there coming back down 24th, I saw a buzzard, two of them about 20 feet off the side of the road.”

That’s when she pulled over to look at what was going on.

“And when I did, oh, my God, when I did, I just couldn’t imagine someone doing what they did to that dog,” Read said. “The snout was wrapped. It was just horrible.”

“What would possess you to find some animal and say, ‘Well, I think I’m going to duct tape its mouth shut?” Read said.

Read immediately called police and animal control.

“Clearly, the dog suffered,” Read said.

She wants whoever did this behind bars.

“Yes, I hope they find them. Are you kidding me? I mean it could be your animal or my animal next,” Read said. “If they could do that to an animal, they could do it to a child. They could do it to anybody.”