Bridgeport police say what they thought was a suspicious package turned out to be a dead animal in a bag.

Police believe the large dog they found in a trash bag Tuesday night was most likely someone's pet.

They say a neighbor called about a foul smell in the woods across from their house on Woodrow Avenue around 8 p.m.

Police say they were able to identify the remains in the bag right away.

"There's always a concern that it could be human remains inside the bag and until we ruled that out we treated it as a crime scene," says Capt. Brian Fitzgerald. "But we quickly ruled out that it wasn't a human inside the bag and that it was an animal instead." 

Authorities say some shelters will take a dead animal if an owner is not able to properly dispose of their pet.