COLUMBUS, Ohio — Elizabeth Kanzeg and her husband made a disturbing discovery in their backyard on Thursday morning.
Someone had dumped a large bag containing a dead dog by their trash cans overnight.
“I have been really anxious about it just thinking about this poor dog. It is really upsetting to imagine the circumstances that could have led up to this,” she said.
Kanzeg called Columbus police who told her they could not move the dog, but someone would be there soon.
“Everybody kept saying someone would come pick up the body of this dead dog, we will take it away, the right people will be contacted and the next day nothing happened, the next day nothing happened,” Kanzeg said. “Meanwhile the body of this poor dog is just rotting in my yard and I can smell it and I have to keep my windows closed and it is just really disturbing. I have been really upset about it.”
Kanzeg made a report to 311, but the next day, it was closed, without any comment or follow-up.
She called again and made another report, but heard nothing back. Desperate for the dog to be removed, she called 10TV.
“I just feel helpless like nobody is trying to have justice or help us and I am just trying to do the right thing and get to the bottom of this. I am really hoping something can be done,” she said.
While a 10TV crew was interviewing Kanzeg about the issue, a city garbage collector came by for regular pickup.
He could not remove the dog himself but made a call to his supervisor. The Refuse Collection’s deceased animal truck came by within the hour to pick up the dog.
“It was very kind of that public servant to speak with us and get to the bottom of this. Like everyone else, he recognized how disturbing this was,” Kanzeg said.
Kanzeg, while glad to have a solution, wondered what would have happened if she had not coincidentally run into the garbage collector.
10TV took her concerns to Department of Neighborhoods Deputy Director Todd Dieffenderfer.
He said it is likely Kanzeg’s 311 report had been closed because a report filed by the responding CPD officer was still open. However, no one offered that explanation to Kanzeg and she had no way of knowing if anyone was working on her report.
Dieffenderfer said 311 is short-staffed and the wait time for a response from 311 can vary. He said people waiting on a response can call again or submit another request.
The 311 call center coordinates getting requests to the proper agencies that can handle them.
The Department of Public Service confirmed it had received the request to remove the dead dog from Kanzeg’s alley and said it required the use of a specific truck that only runs on certain days.
“It is a different truck than our regular automated trash trucks servicing residents’ trash containers every week. Our refuse truck driver saw the deceased dog on his regular weekly collection route today and checked with his supervisor about completing pickup today using a separate type of refuse equipment to physically pick up the deceased dog,” the spokesperson said.
It is unclear if the dog was scheduled to be picked up, had the garbage collector not taken action on it.
A spokesperson for the Columbus Division of Police said the department will not continue to investigate the case of the dead dog.