Fort Lauderdale police investigate report of felony animal neglect in deaths of puppies
MIAMI - A cell phone video shows a man walking off with two dead French bulldog puppies, with two adult dogs following, one of them appearing somewhat unsteady.
"He just wrapped the two deceased puppies up in a blanket of sorts, wrapped them up, cradled them to his car, dumped them in there," said a witness who does not want to be identified.
He said when he got to the garage of the Quantum apartments in Flagler Village in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, he saw two dead puppies on the ground and two adult dogs sitting in the open trunk of a car.
"The gentleman identified himself as a breeder and I don't know why he was there. If he was just visiting or selling puppies or whatnot,' he said.
He tells us the man with the dogs said he left them in the car.
"He did disclose that he had left the dogs in the car, car off, windows up for a duration long enough to, unfortunately, kill the puppies," the witness said.
We have blurred the pictures of the men who were there with the dogs because police are still looking into this, but detectives did release a statement saying they are, "investigating a report of felony animal neglect."
They went on to say, "the person who reported it was able to provide us with information regarding vehicles and drivers that were possibly involved."
A man left with the dogs before police arrived.
The witness tells CBS News Miami, he wished he could have done something to save the dogs, but said there's a lesson here for anyone with pets.
"It's not worth the risk to leave them in a car and go into a store and get caught up for a couple of minutes or missing an elevator. Those two minutes can be the difference between living and dying for these animals," he warned.
Police tell us as they need all the information they can get. They're urging anyone who saw what happened or knows anything to call police.