Five stray dogs brought to shelter with mysterious burns on their backs

TAMPA - When you're a dog waiting at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay for someone to take you home, your cuteness can be your ticket to a new life. Holmes' kisses will melt your heart but the pit bull’s back will make you cringe.

"I've seen it in another state when I did a cruelty investigation. It certainly looks like some type of chemical burn. Our vets can't be sure," said Executive Director Sherry Silk, talking about the healing wounds down Holmes’ back.

The dog’s strange injury piqued animal investigator's interest when the stray was picked-up in June. They wondered what happened to him and did someone hurt him on purpose.

Then while Holmes healed slowly in his kennel, something else happened that made investigators dig deeper into this case.

"The second one we thought, this is kinda strange, two, right away? And then three, and then four, and then five. Yeah, we really think that something is going on," said Silk.

"There's a total of five in the last seven weeks that have come up like this. We can't guarantee that someone is abusing them but there's something not right here and we intend to find out what it is," said Connie Johnson with Florida Big Dog Rescue.

Johnson says all five strays including a chocolate miniature pincher puppy named "Crowley" have what appear to be chemical burns on their backs. Two were picked-up by animal control from the Apollo Beach area and another two from a nearby Tampa neighborhood. Investigators say the coincidences are hard to ignore.

"Somebody might know something and if they do, we wanna have them call and we'll offer a reward," Silk says.

Johnson's been rescuing abused or neglected dogs for 20-years. But she says injuries like these, you never get used to.

"It's never something where you can go to be that same night and close your eyes and go right to sleep. You see it every single night."