A disturbing picture depicting animal cruelty is making its way to the web.
The Brewster County Sheriff's Office needs your help tracking down the heartless culprits.
It's another sign of how social media is helping law enforcement crack down on cases of animal cruelty.
The Brewster County Sheriffs Office posted the picture on their Facebook page. Although it surfaced a while ago, they have no idea where it originated from and now they're turning to social media to get to the bottom of this picture and other cases like it.
It's an unthinkable crime that many can't even begin to imagine.
"We've been getting a lot of postings about it," Sr. Deputy, Mauricio Cordova, said. "People are pretty upset over it."
Cordova is talking about a picture that shows two young men hanging a puppy by its neck and making derogatory gestures to the camera.
We're told the picture has been floating around the Internet for some time now but there's no confirmation the pair have ever been found.
"We have people that look at our page," Deputy Cordova said. "We thought well somebody might recognize it even if they're not from Texas."
But deputies aren't just turning to Facebook for this case. They're also using it for cases in their County.
"It's picking up. We have people that comment on stories or sometimes they'll send us a message about what they believe to be animal cruelty," Deputy Cordova said.
Beth Armstrong said it's a similar story over at the Lone Star Animal Sanctuary in Midland.
"We have a lot of people call us and report abuse cases and people to us," Armstrong said.
Two puppies were recently found in a dumpster in Midland and eleven more puppies were brought in a earlier this month. They're only about four weeks old.
"Their mom was found shot in the county and a very nice family took them in and brought them to us," Armstrong said.
Both Deputy Cordova and Armstrong say it's something that happens way too often in West Texas.
"The most that we get are about dogs or horses so we do get our fair share of it," Deputy Cordova said.
But they're hoping social media will bring justice for this animal and all others alike.
"Social media is huge right now and so you're talking Facebook, you're talking YoutTube, all those things," Armstrong said. "Somebody has to know these guys out there."
The Brewster County Sheriff's Office is encouraging anyone to take a look at their page to offer any tips on this case or on any other animal abuse cases in the county.
