Dog's Mouth Taped Shut: Viral Pictures Lead to Change.org Petition for Justice [Pictures]

Social media users united in outrage on Friday and Saturday after Katherine Lanansky, aka Katie Brown, posted a picture of her dog's mouth taped shut with heavy duty duct tape on Facebook. The enormity of people's shock and anger made the post spread like wildfire. These viral pictures have led to a change.org petition seeking justice on the poor creature's behalf and asking that police press charges against Lanansky.

The picture's caption says, "This is what happens when you don't shut up!!!" A moment later, Lanansky sent a follow up post that reads. "Don't panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasnt barked since...POINT MADE!!!" Unfortunately for her, most believe that even a moment is too long. It didn't take much time at all for the South Daytona's police department to start receiving a flood of calls about the dreadful Facebook post.

According to Lanasky's Facebook page, which is under the name Katie Brown, she lives in South Daytona, Florida. NBC reports, "South Daytona Beach police initially told NBC Connecticut that the alleged incident was believed to have happened in Florida. Earlier on they posted that she wasn't believed to be at her local residence in Florida. They said they believed she lived in Torrington, [CT]."

Since then, the Avon police department has also been inundated with calls and they have responded to the allegations, but determined the incident did not happen in Avon. Apparently the woman has not lived at her supposed Avon address for a while now. Torrington Animal Control, however, is still pursuing an investigation and passing any relevant information they find on to the proper authorities in Florida.

In an effort to calm the people who are concerned about the dog's well-being, the South Daytona Police posted the following message on their Facebook page: "We have information to indicate that the dog is OK at this time. However, the police will be contacting this person once she returns to [our] City. Rest assured that a full investigation will be done and appropriate action will be taken."

If you are interested in doing your part, you can sign the petition to help bring Katherine Lanansky to justice. It should be noted that not many more signatures will be needed. As of 6 am EST, just over 1300 more signatures were needed.