Authorities looking for man seen heaving dog over cell tower fence

Riverside County Animal Services is seeking an arrest warrant for a man who they say was caught on camera throwing his dog over the fence of a cell tower and abandoning him.

The surveillance footage captured Dec. 15 shows a man in a hooded sweatshirt standing near a fenced cell tower along with an 8-year-old pit bull mix, formerly named KO.

The man can be seen picking up the dog and tossing him over the fence.

The dog’s body brushes against razor wire atop the fence before his body flips and he lands hard on his paws.

KO can then be seen sniffing at the gate as the man walks away.

The dog was found less than two hours later by maintenance workers, who contacted Riverside Animal Services and provided the dog with water.

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The agency said it would be seeking an arrest warrant for the owner on suspicion of willful abandonment of an animal.

“This person needs to be held accountable for such a horrible act of willful abandonment,” Animal Services Commander Josh Sisler said in a news release. “We are confident the man in the video is the owner of the dog. It is just shocking to see this act.

“It’s a small miracle the dog did not suffer serious injuries from the razor wire or from such a high drop,” Sisler said. (The video here includes a warning about its content.)

Animals services have identified who they believe was KO’s owner using the dog’s microchip but have so far been unsuccessful in finding him.

As for the dog, he is being cared for at the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter and has since been renamed Ken.

He is available for adoption.