WHITESTOWN, N.Y. (WKTV) - Whitestown Police are investigating an animal cruelty case after finding two dead dogs along railroad tracks.

Their owner claims someone found his missing dogs, brought them to the Whitestown CSX Railroad tracks, and shot them, leaving them to be run over by the next train.

The two Pitbull-Shepherd mixes had been missing from their Utica home since February 18.

Whitestown Police were brought to the tracks after a railroad worker reported spotting two dead dogs there. Officers found that they were the missing dogs, each with a gunshot wound to their head. They're now trying to figure out who would do such a crime.

"Right now we don't have anything, so we're just wondering if anyone saw any vehicles or people on the railroad tracks at that time or heard the gunshot, looked out the window and saw something," said Sergeant Mark Sojda. "We photographed the area, stuff like that. Right now, we're basically looking for...an eyewitness is what we'll need in this case."

Through the Missing Pets section of wktv.com, officers were able to link the dogs to their owner, who is now going through heartbreak, realizing that they are gone.

"They would jump up on you and hug you, they would put their arms around your neck and snuggle up beside your cheek," said their owner, Sam Abbott.

He positively identified the dogs as his for officers on Tuesday.

"One was on one side of the tracks, the other was about 100 yards down on the other side of the tracks and they had both been shot, said Abbott. "I collapsed. I couldn't breathe. They're like my children."

When asked, Abbott says he has no idea who would do such a thing to his dogs.

"I think somebody did it just for sport, and the sad part is, somebody who would do that to two lovable puppies like that would do it to a human," said Abbott.

Police are asking if anyone saw or heard anything in the area of the Whitestown CSX tracks in the early morning hours on Wednesday, February 20, to call Whitestown Police at 315-736-1298.