By Sarah Roebuck
Police1
TAMPA, Fla. — A trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol rescued a dog who was tied to a pole amidst the threat of Hurricane Milton.
The dog was found before the hurricane made landfall on Oct. 9 off the roadway of I-75, FHP said.
“Do NOT do this to your pets, please,” FHP said in a post on X.
During a news briefing about Hurricane Milton, Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked about the dog.
“I mean, first of all, what kind of an animal would just leave a dog chained to a pole in the middle of a hurricane?” DeSantis said. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable that somebody would do that. I’m thankful for the FHP folks out of Tampa for rescuing the dog.”
DeSantis said the dog was taken to a vet, where it received a clean bill of health.
“I hope they find the person who did it, and that person should have the book thrown at them,” DeSantis continued.
DeSantis mentioned Florida has strong animal cruelty laws and highlighted that law enforcement K-9s will be working on storm response efforts.
“We’ve got dogs that are going to be helping in the storm. These police working dogs, they’re great K-9s, so we don’t have tolerance for that in Florida. I just thought it was outrageous that somebody would do that.”
