MINGO JUNCTION, Ohio -- Humane Society workers are investigating after a man found a dead dog stuffed inside a bucket along the side of the road.

A man walking along Township Road 167 in Mingo Junction saw a bucket, looked inside, and made a gruesome discovery.

Inside the white 5-gallon paint bucket was a dead cocker spaniel.

It was stuffed in the bucket and left at the side of a ravine in Mingo.

Winona Vanmeter, with the Humane Society, found out about the dead dog, and told NEWS9 her office is investigating the cause of death of the animal.

Vanmeter wants anyone with any information on what happened to the dog to come forward.

"You have to wonder what people would do this to a dog,” said Vanmeter. “Dogs have feelings too. Take it to a local pound. Don't have it die in a basket.”

The dog is being sent to a lab in Columbus to determine the cause of death and to find out the sex of the animal.

The bucket will be tested for prints.

NEWS9