The MSPCA and police are investigating after a 10-year-old girl found her puppy hanging from a tree in the family's Winchendon yard with a rope around its neck.Watch a reportAllyson Clark said she let her dog, a 14-week-old Beagle named Snoopy, out of her Western Avenue home Monday afternoon.Clark said her daughter, Katelyn, went outside about 25 minutes later and found the dead dog hanging from a tree."I saw him where there is a bird feeder almost on the ground, and, like, Snoopy was hanging right here," Katelyn said. "The rope was tied to his collar and he was just hanging there.""And it was tied in so many knots that my daughter had to physically take him out of his collar and lay him on the ground," Clark said.The family called police. A neighbor told Clark she saw a man she mistakenly thought was her son skulking around the house. The man has been seen before, leaving cigarette butts in the area."Nobody smokes in my house," Clark said.Katelyn is having a hard time sleeping."I try to think of good things that he did instead of like what I saw," she said.Clark said she knows no reason why someone would target the dog."He's a part of us. We loved him. He has a family that loves him and somebody came out and killed him and they are a murderer," Clark said.Anyone with information is urged to call the Winchendon Police Department at 978-297-1212. The family is offering a $500 reward for information in the case.

The MSPCA and police are investigating after a 10-year-old girl found her puppy hanging from a tree in the family's Winchendon yard with a rope around its neck.

Watch a report


Allyson Clark said she let her dog, a 14-week-old Beagle named Snoopy, out of her Western Avenue home Monday afternoon.

Clark said her daughter, Katelyn, went outside about 25 minutes later and found the dead dog hanging from a tree.

"I saw him where there is a bird feeder almost on the ground, and, like, Snoopy was hanging right here," Katelyn said. "The rope was tied to his collar and he was just hanging there."

"And it was tied in so many knots that my daughter had to physically take him out of his collar and lay him on the ground," Clark said.

The family called police.

A neighbor told Clark she saw a man she mistakenly thought was her son skulking around the house. The man has been seen before, leaving cigarette butts in the area.

"Nobody smokes in my house," Clark said.

Katelyn is having a hard time sleeping.

"I try to think of good things that he did instead of like what I saw," she said.

Clark said she knows no reason why someone would target the dog.

"He's a part of us. We loved him. He has a family that loves him and somebody came out and killed him and they are a murderer," Clark said.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Winchendon Police Department at 978-297-1212. The family is offering a $500 reward for information in the case.