DALLAS — A viral video out of Dallas shocked and enraged animal lovers as soon as it was posted on March 11.
Surveillance footage shows a German Shepherd dog being dumped on the side of a road, left running after its owner as the car drove away.
The video captured on Teagarden Road near Dowdy Ferry Road led to the arrest of the dog’s owner.
Dallas resident Ramiro Zuniga was arrested by Dallas Police Department’s Animal Cruelty Unit on a charge of cruelty and abandonment, a Class A misdemeanor.
According to the Dallas Police Department, investigators found Zuniga through someone who recognized him in the video, which got thousands of views on Facebook.
That video was originally posted by Dallas resident Jeremy Boss. He’s made it his mission to make sure people like Zuniga are caught by setting up hidden cameras in well-known dumping areas.
“The dog’s name is Max and he’s really well behaved,” said Boss.
Boss knows about the dog dumping problem in the Dowdy Ferry Road area of South Dallas all too well. He and a group of animal lovers operate the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission.
Started in 2015, the volunteer-based nonprofit was created by Boss in response to what he calls a perplexing decade-old animal dumping problem.
“These are roads of death,” said Boss as he walked past rotting carcasses in the same spot Max was abandoned.
“The stench from dumped animals fills the air, and it’s not just dogs,” said Boss. “The area is also a popular dumping ground for dead livestock like goats and sheep.”
In the March 11 video, a woman is heard yelling out to Zuniga as he unloads Max from his car and drives off. Kema Condor lives across the street from where Max was left and stayed with him until animal investigators arrived. She’s seen countless dogs dumped in the area since she moved into her home on Teagarden Road 13 years ago.
“I got a bowl of food and I ran out here to Max,” said Condor. “He was running up and down the street and you can see in the video he almost got hit by another car.”
Condor is also one of Boss’ volunteers with Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission. She and Boss have been friends for years and share a passion for stopping the dumping problem.
“I don’t understand how there’s even people alive that can do the things we see all the time living here,” said Condor. “People just throw animals on the side of the road like trash.”
Boss said he’s frustrated with DPD’s Animal Cruelty Unit and believes if he hadn’t posted the video on Facebook and alerted local news reporters Zuniga might have never been arrested.
“I’m done just handing footage over and waiting a year and still not having any results,” said Boss. “Every dump we get from now on, it’s going to media it’s going on my Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission Facebook page and will be circulated by whoever shares it, plain and simple.”
Boss is referencing a video his cameras captured in November of last year that he handed over to detectives. The video shows a scene very similar to Zuniga and Max’s, a man get out of his car unloads a dog and drives away.
“How come Max’s owner was arrested so quickly but another guy who dumped in the exact same location in November and he’s still roaming free?" said Boss. “We found his dog dead after it had been hit by a car. The video shows his face, his car and his plates. Why hasn’t he been arrested?”
Officer Michael Dennis with the Dallas Police Department said detectives in the Animal Cruelty Unit made 36 arrests in 2022 and currently have 52 active arrest warrants for people wanted on animal cruelty offenses.
“Detectives are looking at the videos,” said Dennis. “They’re looking to see what information we can get from it, so it’s not that nothing is being done, again it goes back to leads.”
Boss said he plans to keep capturing those leads.
Boss said Max the German Shepherd had a minor leg injury but is otherwise is doing well. He’s currently in protective custody with Dallas Animal Services and will eventually be handed over to someone who wants him.
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