Authorities are looking into a disturbing situation after the bodies of 20 animals, thought to be “dogs,” have washed ashore on an island in Washington state in under two weeks.
The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reported that on March 26, deputies were called to Guemes Island, situated about 135 miles north of Seattle, where beachgoers discovered six deceased animals. Officials say.
Animal control officers later found five additional carcasses along the shore.
Two days later, another dead dog was located in La Conner Strait, according to police.
The troubling count increased further on April 2, when eight more carcasses were retrieved from Guemes Island, bringing the grim total to 20, as noted by local news.
Chief Olivia Cole of Skagit County Fire District 17 described the finding as a haunting mystery that left her feeling both tears and rage.
“I had heard they were carried in by the tide, so I expected maybe three or four,” she commented. “But in the end, we found ten.”
Cole reported that all the animals appeared to have been skinned and lacked their front legs, with some having orange twine around their necks.
While officials haven’t confirmed if the animals are domestic dogs or related species like wolves or coyotes, Cole insists, “it’s clear they’re all dogs.”
“If you look closely, it’s not a coyote,” she explained to a local station. “Most coyotes lack white and black fur unless they’re hybrids.”
The ten carcasses that Cole submitted to the sheriff’s office will go to a local veterinarian for necropsy and DNA tests, she added. They were collected from the island’s southwest shore.
Cole suspects the carcasses didn’t originate where found, likely being washed up from the southeastern coast days earlier.
She speculated that they might have been tossed from a boat, perhaps with cinder blocks. “The way they landed on our shores suggests they came in at different times,” Cole noted.
Guemes Island, roughly 135 miles north of Seattle, has a historical link to dogs, with its nickname “Isle of the Dogs” stemming from centuries back.
Native American tribes that resided in the area referred to it as Kwen Kwengira, which translates to “many dogs,” due to the woolly dogs they cultivated and sheared. Later, during the early 1900s, settlers named it “Dog Island” because of the wild Salish wool dogs that roamed the area.
Cole, who also grooms dogs as a hobby, expressed her shock over this incident, something she had never encountered in her public safety career.
“There’s a nefarious person out there. We need to uncover what’s happening,” she remarked.
The investigation is still underway, and anyone with insights into this situation or anyone who finds more remains is encouraged to reach out to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.
