SC couple saves dog tied to train tracks left to die; Animal Control looking for the person responsible

ENOREE, S.C. (WSPA) – Spartanburg County Animal Control is working to find the person responsible after a couple said they found a dog tied to train tracks behind their home over the weekend.

The Winkelman’s live off of Highway 221 in Enoree, right near the tracks. On Saturday, Dan Winkelman said he was walking down his driveway when he heard a dog barking.

“But this dog, it sounded like you know when a dog frantically barks?’ Dan Winkelman explained. “And it was. I heard it and it was coming from an area where there isn’t a house. Where it’s just woods.”

Dan Winkelman said his curiosity got the best of him so he walked over to the tracks to investigate.

“When I looked down to the right, I saw a dog just sitting in the middle of the railroad tracks and no people around,” said Winkelman.

Winkelman said when he got closer to the dog, that’s when he noticed it wasn’t stuck, but rather trapped. He said someone tied his leash to the tracks and left him there to die.

“There’s no mistaking it. The dog did not just get it wound up there,” Winkelman said. “Those were human-tied knots. And I tried to untie it, but they were pulled so tight that I couldn’t get them undone.”

“After he came back and told me that this poor dog was tied to the tracks, of course, immediately I was irate,” said Dan Winkelman’s wife, Jennifer. “I wished we could find the person right then.”

The Winkelman’s own four dogs, so keeping the one they found wasn’t an option.

Jennifer Winkelman said she tried repetitively to surrender the dog to local animal care spots, but kept coming up short. That’s when she turned to Facebook for help, which Winkelman said was eventually successful.

However, Jennifer Winkelman said she’s now fearful of her surroundings and the thought of who could’ve possibly done something like this.

“If they felt comfortable enough about leaving this animal to die, what is their mindset?” Jennifer Winkelman asked. “And then we’re irate because we wished we had seen someone walking down that way but we didn’t. But we would’ve loved to have found this person and just at least call the cops on them. That was horrible what they did.”

Spartanburg Animal Control said they need your help finding the person responsible.

“Enoree is a nice small community and folks know folks,” said Director of Environmental Enforcement for Spartanburg County, Jamie Nelson. “So they probably got a good idea of whos dog that belonged to.”

Nelson said Animal Control is going to continue to investigate the matter.

“As well as looking back through some of our past calls and see if we can find something that matches up with the K-9 itself,” Nelson said. “Any kind of neighbors or dog running loose or complaints in that general location.”

As for the dog, the Winkelman’s said he is doing just fine.

As of Monday, he is with Operation Care in York, South Carolina where he will be microchipped and vetted before he gets put up for adoption.