Severed dog heads found in South L.A. trash bin

Los Angeles police officials said Wednesday that they were searching for the person or people who killed two dogs and placed their severed heads in a South Los Angeles dumpster.

A citizen found the remains of a chocolate Labrador retriever and tan German Shepherd mix about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Slauson and South Vermont avenues and immediately called police.

It was not immediately clear if the dogs were from the immediate area or were discarded there, authorities say.

The heads of the canines appeared to have been severed with what investigators believed was "a very sharp object," said LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith.

Smith said: "If they could do this to defenseless animals, who knows what they are capable of."

The case is being investigated by the LAPD's Animal Cruelty Task Force with help from the city's Department of Animal Services.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the LAPD's 24-hour crime hotline at 877-LAPD-247.

--Andrew Blankstein (Twitter.com/anblanx)