A female pit bull was found tied to a fence near the Garden State Parkway entrance on Summit Avenue in Bloomfield Tuesday night, left behind with no collar, no identification tags, and no microchip to trace her back to an owner. The Bloomfield Animal Shelter is now asking the public for any information about where she came from and how she ended up there.
According to the shelter, staff discovered the dog the night of September 8, tied to the fence with nothing to identify her, as first reported by Daily Voice. Anyone with information is asked to call the shelter at 973-748-0194. The shelter, officially named the John A. Bukowski Shelter for Animals, operates as a municipal no-kill facility at 61 Bukowski Place, managed directly by the Township of Bloomfield, according to Petfinder.
A Dog With No Way To Be Traced
Without a collar, tag, or microchip, the pit bull arrived at the shelter as essentially a blank slate to investigators. New Jersey state law requires all dogs seven months or older to be licensed annually through their home municipality and to wear a metal registration tag at all times, per the New Jersey Department of Health. The Department of Health outlines these licensing and registration requirements for dogs.
The person who left the dog tied to the fence on Summit Avenue has not been identified. New Jersey law provides penalties for certain animal-cruelty offenses, according to Justia Law.
Not The First Time Near This Stretch Of Highway
The Parkway corridor running through this part of New Jersey has seen darker cases of animal abandonment before. In February 2025, New Jersey State Police opened an animal cruelty investigation after maintenance workers found four deceased pit bull mix dogs dumped in dog food bags off the Garden State Parkway near Aberdeen Township, close to milepost 119.4 in a marshy area, as reported by NJ 101.5.
The Bloomfield shelter has also dealt with abandonment cases. The facility has also faced security issues, including an August 2025 burglary in which an unidentified man entered the shelter after hours and stole three dogs, according to a Bloomfield Police Department blotter post.
A Regional Safety Net Under Strain
The Borough of Caldwell contracts with Bloomfield for animal-control issues, per the Borough of Caldwell, which directs its own residents to Bloomfield animal control for local animal emergencies.
The Bloomfield shelter is handling the pit bull's case. The shelter's involvement in the case is described above.
Abandonment cases involving dogs dumped in public places have drawn prosecution elsewhere in the state. In January 2025, a Middlesex County man was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after abandoning a dog in a dumpster during sub-freezing temperatures in Old Bridge; that dog was evaluated by shelter technicians and survived in good health, according to 92.7 WOBM. A WRNJ Radio report also discusses proposed legislation targeting animal abuse and abandonment, according to WRNJ Radio.
For now, the identity of whoever left the pit bull tied to the Summit Avenue fence remains unknown, and the Bloomfield Animal Shelter is relying on the public to help fill in the gaps. Anyone with information about the dog's origin or how she came to be abandoned near the Parkway entrance is urged to contact the shelter directly.
