10 dogs, mostly pit bulls, found dead in trash bags in Robeson County

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said Saturday in a Facebook post that the dogs' discovery is under investigation. He said the black trash bags containing the dogs' bodies had been discarded in a ditch.

The bags were found during a community cleanup event organized by first responders. Volunteers collected more than 1,500 bags of trash and 200 tires.

"Over 200 tires were picked up, several refrigerators and stoves and even a brand new 65” large screen TV still in the box was recovered on a roadside," Wilkins wrote. "Sadly and under current investigation was the discovery of 10 dogs (mostly but not all pit-bulls) wrapped in trash bags and thrown alongside a ditch bank. The black bags pictured in the water is them but we won’t display the dogs themselves."

Wilkins said the dogs' bodies had deteriorated too badly to determine their cause of death.