Dead dog found in cooler floating in Sound

A Smithtown bay constable found a dead dog inside a soft-sided cooler floating Thursday evening in the Long Island Sound.

Now, officials are trying to determine how it got there -- and are asking anyone with information regarding the incident to call the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at 631-382-7722. All calls will remain confidential.

SPCA chief Roy Gross said the dog was a brown female pit bull, approximately 2 or 3 years old, and weighed about 40 pounds. It had a blue nylon leash, but no collar tags.

There were no visible signs of trauma or scarring.

The pit bull was found in the blue soft-sided cooler just after 6 p.m. Thursday about 1/4-mile west of Cranes Neck in an area north of the Sunken Meadow State Park.

The constable who found the cooler transported it to the town dock in Nissequogue and called the SPCA, Gross said. He said the cooler also bore no markings or indications of ownership.