Dog abandoned in Palos Park

PALOS PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- Police are looking for the person who abandoned a dog on the side of the road in south suburban Palos Park overnight.

Kevin Murphy saw the dog let out of a dark blue SUV on Old Creek Road just west of Wolf Road around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. He says the SUV is possible a Toyota Highlander. Murphy says he saw the female drive stop for a moment, open the door and dump the dog.

He says the dog tried to follow the car, running and barking.

"The dog did chase the car and then it ran back and forth on the neighbor's property and ironically a couple minutes later my parents had come home from dinner and the dog chased them up the driveway," Murphy says. "It was just a friendly dog.

The dog did not appear to be injured and has no tracking chip. Police are now searching for the person who did this. It is a crime to abandon an animal in Illinois.

"We're gonna see if there are any cameras posted on the driveways that could possible catch a plate," said Officer Diana Campbell.

Police found the white and brown pit bull mix and took the animal to the Animal Welfare League in nearby Chicago Ridge.

"Most of think of our animals as part of our family," said Linda Estrada, director of the Animal Welfare League. "Well, some people just think they're disposable."

The Animal Welfare League says currently 20 percent of the animals it is caring for are abandoned.

"We get abandonment all the time, where people leave them in apartment buildings, garages," Estrada says. "You know sometimes you get them and they're still alive, and sometimes you don't."

Anyone with information regarding this dog should contact Palos Park police at (708) 671-3700 or the dispatch center at (708) 448-2191.

If residents have pets they cannot take care of, they should surrender the animals to the police department or to an animal shelter.