A $5,000 reward was being offered on Monday for information leading to the person or people responsible for skinning and stabbing a dog several times and abandoning his dead body in a park in Simi Valley.
Police were called to Foothill Park on Labor Day where an attendant found the dead dog that had been mutilated near Ardenwood Avenue and Charing Street.
The dog, named Pepper, was an 8-year-old Jack Russel Terrier. The Humane Society announced Monday it was putting up the $5,000 reward.
Pepper's owner, a woman only identified as Denise, fondly remembered her dog.
"He was a sweet, sweet dog that unfortunately would run up to anybody that just kneeled down for him. He would run up to them with a wagging tail, kissing them," she said.
Police took the dog to the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo where a necropsy was performed. The necropsy revealed the dog was killed by blunt force trauma to the neck, then skinned and stabbed post-mortem.
"Somebody who can do the things that he did to my dog is capable of much bigger things. In my heart I always believe he enjoyed what he did."
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"I think people with small kids should be aware also, because I don't think he's going to stop," she said.
Eric Sakach, a senior law enforcement specialist for the Humane Society, described the dog mutilation as a "grisly and heinous act of violence."
"The person or persons responsible for this extreme act of violence needs to be caught."
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Bryan Bray at 805-383-4717, Aaron Ortega at 805-388-4329 or Simi Valley Police at 805-527-2911.
