The remains of approximately 30 dogs and cats and a domestic lizard were found abandoned on the side of an entrance ramp to the Hutchinson River Parkway Thursday morning in Harrison, police say.
The dead animals were discovered by transportation maintenance officials at about 9:15 a.m on the northbound entrance to the parkway from Westchester Avenue's westbound lane. Police say the animals were inside of about 20 different garbage bags.
The area is being treated as a crime scene, said Sergeant Edward Reich of the Westchester County General Investigations Unit.
It is likely the animals were dumped at different times, as the remains had various levels of decomposition. The placement of the bags also varied, leaving police to believe whoever dumped the animals did so on several different occasions.
"It could have been anywhere from up to a year to today," said Reich. "Some had been in that location for a long time because they already had over brush."
Each of the bags was found only a few feet from the ramp in an 80-foot area.
"It's hard to tell if they were thrown from a moving car, it looks like they were placed there," Reich said.
The lizard found is a Monitor Lizard, an animal not native to the United States but domesticated here, police say.
Police don't know how the animals died, they are conducting necropsies, which are animal autopsies, on five of the more recently deceased animals in an effort to find out, Reich said.
Westchester County Police are investigating the incident along with the SPCA. Anyone with any information about the incident is urged to call 1-800-898-8477 or e-mail tips@wccops.com.
