Police are searching for the woman who outraged thousands of people online with a Facebook picture.
A woman named Katie Brown is at the center of the controversy. Her profile says she's from South Daytona. She posted a photo of a dog with its mouth duct-taped shut.
The caption along with the picture reads:
"This is what happens when you dont shut up!!!"
In a comment, Brown also said:
"Don't panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasn't barked since...point made!"
Both the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and South Daytona Police Facebook pages are littered with copies of the pictures and calls for police action. They've gotten so many, in fact, that South Daytona police had to call in six or seven extra officers to handle calls and emails, costing the department quite a bit in overtime money.
However -- it appears the incident never happened in South Daytona. And the dog doesn't even live here.
The city posted this update on its official website Saturday:
Police have determined that this person was out of state for the holiday weekend. It appears that the photo was taken at that location. 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. The department is also in contact with out of state officials. Rest assured that a full investigation will be done and appropriate action will be taken. Again, thank you for the outpouring of concern and sharing of information, please do not contact the department to notify them of this situation as it may hamper other emergency calls.
As of 10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015, Brown's post had almost 338,000 shares.
Police said Brown is out of state. We went to the home but no one answered, and her voicemail is full. Police also say they cannot get hold of her. We were there are police went to check on the home.
Prior to this incident there were no accusations or complaints of animal abuse.