Officials in Texas who were tracking a group of suspected illegal immigrants believe one of the fleeing individuals strangled two dogs assisting in the search on Saturday.

The collars, which contained trackers, were tightly fastened around the dogs’ necks, according to a Facebook post by the Aransas County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday.

“That could be an officer that got hurt just as easily as (these) dogs,” Aransas County Bill Mills said, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported.

The search for the potentially illegal immigrants started after an attempted traffic stop. The vehicle, however, sped away, left the roadway and traveled through a fence line, according to the post.

“The dogs were deployed to assist Aransas and Refugio County Deputies, DPS Troopers and a large contingent of Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens who had responded to assist in apprehending a group believed to number 14-16 that fled on foot from a black Ford Truck,” the post stated. “As the search continued and moved about a very large area, three more individuals were detected in a heavy thicket with two surrendering quickly and a third responded to demands to come out in Spanish telling officers ‘if you want me, come and get me’. It was at that time in this same area two canines were found dead from apparent strangulation.”

Sept. 1, 2018 in an area just north of Holiday Beach in Aransas County, two highly valued canines were destroyed by… Posted by Aransas County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, September 2, 2018

Officials believe the illegal immigrant who taunted them was responsible for the strangulation.

“While most ‘Bail Outs’ end with detentions after exhaustive searches they do not show this level of aggressive behavior,” the Facebook post said.

Joe Braman, who owns a dog kennel and is also a commissioned deputy with the Refugio County Sheriff’s Office, provided the non-aggressive, non-bite trained tracking dogs to help with the search, but not with the intention of hurting people passing by.

“I utilized the female dogs that we trained that were non-aggressive dogs on the track just in case there were children on the track,” Braman told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The post added that while the Rufugio County Sheriff’s Office has “well-trained canine units that can defend themselves,” it tries to avoid releasing them “off-leash” as far as possible.

Six individuals were detained and picked up by U.S. Customs and Immigration officials from the Aransas County Detention Center as a result of the search. Interviews with Border Patrol found they were from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. (RELATED: Thirteen Illegal Immigrants Indicted After ICE Nabbed Them, Detained Over 100 Others)

One of the detainees might have had a tattoo known for cartel association, though officials are in the processing of confirming this belief, according to the Facebook post.

Braman’s kennel also houses dogs from the Rufugio County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Caller-Times. The dogs have been used to track down Alzheimer’s and dementia patients who get lost.

The Aransas County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.

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