Eastpointe police investigate after dog found abandoned at grocery store

Eastpointe police are seeking the public's help in tracking down a woman who may have information about a severely neglected and abandoned dog found outside a grocery store over the weekend.

Police were called to the Aldi on Nine Mile Road on Saturday. Theodore, as they named him, had been left in a crate with nothing. The doodle mix was found with matted fur. They say his paws are stained from standing in his own urine for too long while being covered in fleas and ticks.

"You know I don't understand why people neglect the voiceless," said animal control Supervisor Ashley Sanchez.

"The dog was fearful, all out of sorts, that can happen, the dog doesn't know what's going on, he doesn't know these strangers."

Sanchez says the dog looks to be around a year old and, from the looks of it, he has never been to the vet or groomed before.

Police say businesses in the area have no surveillance video to prove who put him there, but a note left on Theo's cage, police say, may be key to finding who did this to him.

"On the note on the other side of that was a Walmart receipt that was dated and stamped that same day, prior to us finding the dog," said Sanchez.

Police say they want to talk to a woman who was seen on camera leaving a Walmart, as they believe she might have information about what happened. Sanchez says the abuse appears to have been going on for a while.

"The emaciated part, the underweight that does take days, that takes weeks or a month or two," said Sanchez.

In the meantime, Sanchez and her team are working to get Theo ready for adoption, but he still has a little way to go.

"He still has some confidence issues, some stranger danger issues, but we are working on it," said Sanchez.

The person found responsible could face charges of abandonment and neglect. Anyone with information is asked to call Eastpointe police.