A few weeks ago, the apparent shooting of a stray dog sparked a small frenzy in Athmar Park. It was the talk of the neighborhood, and the news resulted in a good Samaritan building a yard-sized trap to catch the sneaky "ninja".
We caught up with Lt. Josh Rolfe, who heads Denver Animal Protection, for an update.
They've officially named the dog Solo Vino, a moniker bestowed on him by neighbors while he was loose. (The name is intended to mean "he came alone" in Spanish, though Vino Solo would be a more accurate translation.)
He was treated by the shelter's vet, who removed "two metal pieces" from his mouth and reported a litany of injuries to his teeth and jaw.
"It's going to be complicated to work through the medical issues," Rolfe told us.
Still, Solo Vino was in stable condition and in good spirits. (Editor's note: Solo Vino would also be a good name for a wine store.)
This one instance captured the public's attention, but it's a drop in a growing bucket.
Rolfe and his colleagues have been talking about troubling trends for pet wellbeing since the pandemic. In 2021, they were "begging for help" from the public to deal with a flow of surrendered and abandoned pets, possibly linked to the pandemic.
Lots of people adopted animals during lockdowns, and veterinary officials wondered if the economy or lifestyle changes (after things began to reopen) were behind that unfortunate trend.
When we spoke to Rolfe last week, he said Solo Vino's alleged shooting points to another troubling data point.
"Animal welfare investigations, both cruelty and neglect of animals, is a large portion of our work," he said. "It feels like, in the last few years, it's been an ever-increasing portion of our work."
Denver Animal Protection provided us with data on their investigations, which shows they answered more calls overall in 2023 than they had since 2019, though it's not been a linear uptick.
These investigations are broken down into two categories, "neglect" and "cruelty." Cases of neglect have remained fairly consistent since 2019, at an average of 200 cases per month.
Cases of cruelty, though, have increased. June and July of 2023 represented the highest concentration of these investigations since 2019 — a little over 200 in each of those months compared to an average of 75 cases per month in 2019. Last July ranks third in this data, with 182 cruelty investigations.
Cruelty cases include those when dogs are left in hot cars, when animals are trapped or illegally chained down, when they're beaten or when they're forced to fight, among other things.
Like before, Rolfe is looking at our post-COVID economy as a possible explanation.
"It's very difficult for people right now to afford everything, and it is very hard to make a decision between feeding your kids or feeding your pet or paying your rent," he told us.
Solo Vino's case is still under investigation.
Rolfe said both Denver Animal Protection and Denver Police are looking into the matter.
If they do find a suspect, the next step will be to weigh that person's story with other available evidence.
"It might lead towards a charge for somebody. There's also the potential that there might be no charges if somebody felt they were legitimately acting in self-defense," he said.
Rolfe added that self-defense legal standards for cases involving animals are similar to cases of human-on-human violence. Things are a little trickier when the injured party is a dog who can't speak for himself.
"We just try to take everything into account, like: does the story make sense?" he said.
That's assuming they can find any explanation at all.
"Leads are fairly slim," Rolfe told us.
