Body of dog that was found dumped in wheelie bin in Fleetwood washes up on bank of River Wyre

The body of a dog that was callously dumped in a wheelie bin in Fleetwood has washed up on the river bed at Little Singleton two weeks after it was buried in a shallow grave on a nearby beach.
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The Staffordshire bull terrier, which was found wrapped in a bundle of bath mats and tape outside a house on Victoria Street on May 18, was found on a muddy bank of the River Wyre near Windy Harbour Holiday Park on Friday, June 3.

Volunteers from pet rescue charity Homeward Bound carried out a microchip scan which traced the animal back to the property where it had been found by worried neighbours, who had decided to search the yard after hearing the dog barking ‘in distress’.

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There they found an empty dog cage and the body of the dog, believed to be called Frankie, dumped in a wheelie bin.

The River Wyre, where the body of a dead dog was found on Friday. Photo: Kelvin StuttardThe River Wyre, where the body of a dead dog was found on Friday. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard
The River Wyre, where the body of a dead dog was found on Friday. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

On May 19, Fleetwood police attended the property, by which time the corpse had been removed from the wheelie bin and reportedly buried on Fleetwood beach.

They said: "After an investigation, we believe the dog died of natural causes and it has now been buried.The second dog at the property was checked on by officers and appeared to be happy and healthy. There were no signs of abuse seen. The address was also checked and again nothing of concern found.”

An empty cage was found on the propertyAn empty cage was found on the property
An empty cage was found on the property

Frankie’s remains have now been taken to Wyre Council’s cold storage, where they will be picked up by the RSPCA for examination later on.

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A Wyre Council spokesman said: “I can confirm that following initial call out by local charity Homeward Bound, our officers assisted and are now keeping the dog’s remains safe.”

Homeward Bound founder Wendy Mulela said: “Our Homeward Bound volunteer went out to a report of a deceased dog washed up on the river bed at Singleton. Unfortunately, our volunteer sustained an injury whilst retrieving the dog out of the muddy ravine, but she still managed to collect the dog’s body so that we could allow the owner to say goodbye.

“The dog was chipped, but with out of date details, so we have been trying to trace the owner through other means and found her on Facebook, though no answer to my messages yet.

The dog, called Frankie, was found dead in a binThe dog, called Frankie, was found dead in a bin
The dog, called Frankie, was found dead in a bin

"During the search, we discovered that the dog is in fact the same dog that was posted about on Facebook on May 19 when the dog was found in a bin.

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“Clearly, this poor dog was once again not disposed of properly.”

She added that plans are now being arranged to have Frankie cremated following a post-mortem, so that the poor dog is finally allowed to ‘rest in peace’ after twice being denied a proper burial.

She said: “We were concerned about the state of the body, so we arranged with Wyre Council for them to put the body into their cold storage. Quite a few people in Fleetwood are wanting to give the dog a private cremation, and there’s some talk of fundraising.

“The RSPCA has been notified, and if it’s appropriate, bearing in mind it has been in water for two weeks, they will do a post-mortem.”

A spokesman for the RSPCA said: "A body of a dog has been found washed up - which was clearly distressing for those involved. The RSPCA is investigating this incident.”