Woman arrested for leaving blind, old dog on side of Arizona highway

An Arizona woman was arrested after her elderly blind dog was found walking along a highway last month by the county’s sheriff.

Karen Black, 62, of Phoenix was arrested Wednesday and charged with cruelty to animals after the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office discovered her dog walking along an exit ramp in Benson, Ariz, approximately 45 miles southeast of Tucson.

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 Aug. 26.

“Sheriff Dannels and his wife, Nickie secured the shaken dog in their vehicle,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post accompanied by a photo of the older pooch on the floor of a car.

A county animal control officer picked up the unnamed dog and discovered it was chipped, with its last owner listed as a resident of Maricopa County.

The agency said it made multiple attempts to contact the owner, but their messages and calls were not answered.

It took over a week before a well-timed event in the state’s capital allowed the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office to make a visit to Black’s last known address.

“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.”

Black was home, and when questioned about the dog she at first denied ever being in Cochise County, but caved and admitted she had abandoned the dog on the highway.

She also confessed that she failed to “notify law enforcement and ignored our attempts to reach out to her,” the sheriff’s office added.

Black was subsequently arrested and charged with the criminal offense. She is expected back in Cochise County court later this month.

The dog was placed at a local animal shelter while Black’s criminal case is ongoing.

Last month a woman left her 7-year-old French bulldog in a parking lot at Pittsburgh International Airport because she couldn’t bring the dog along to her final destination without a crate.

Allison Gaiser was charged with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty along with animal neglect and abandonment violations after police tracked her down using the dog’s microchip.