An Arizona woman is facing animal cruelty charges following allegations that she abandoned her elderly, visually impaired dog on the roadside in Benson, United States. Karen Black, a 62-year-old woman from Phoenix, was taken into custody on Wednesday. She was charged with animal cruelty. This happened after the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office found her dog walking near a road exit in Benson, Arizona, which is about 45 miles southeast of Tucson.
According to the New York Post, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannells and his wife spotted the tiny canine walking along the exit ramp connecting I-10 and Skyline Road just before noon on August 26.
“Numerous calls and messages by CCSO Animal Control were left for the owner with no response,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
“Sheriff Dannels and his wife, Nickie, secured the shaken dog in their vehicle,” the Sheriff’s Office mentioned on Facebook, sharing a photo of the elderly dog resting on the car’s floor.
“On September 6th, at approximately 1630 hours, Sheriff Dannels and Community Outreach Supervisor Sergeant Ray McNeely attended a community event in Phoenix,” the post read. “Upon completion, they followed up on this investigation in an attempt to locate the dog owner.”
According to Fox News, on September 6, they found the dog’s owner, Karen Black, at her home in central Phoenix. At first, authorities say Black claimed she had never been in Cochise County, but she later confessed to leaving the dog on the roadside.
Black is facing charges of animal cruelty and is scheduled to appear in a Cochise County court later this month. The dog is currently in the care of a shelter and will remain there until Black’s case is resolved.