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 Florida police have opened an animal cruelty investigation into a Facebook user who posted a picture of her dog with its mouth duct-taped shut. 
 
 Katie Brown first put up the disturbing photo Friday morning, with the caption, "This is what happens when you dont shut up!!!" 
 
 It has been shared over 238,000 times as of Saturday afternoon, and police in South Daytona say they have been overwhelmed by messages and emails — receiving about 32,000 calls about the post. 
 
 South Daytona Police Dept. have opened an animal cruelty investigation into a South Florida woman who posted a picture of her dog with its mouth duct taped shut. Facebook 
 
 Brown has since written a follow-up message on Facebook: "Dont panic everyone it was only for a minute but hasnt barked since... POINT MADE!!!" 
 
 People from across the world have responded to the photo, calling for action to be taken against the pet owner. 
 
 South Daytona police confirmed to NBC News that they have opened an active animal cruelty investigation. 
 
 Brown's Facebook lists her as a South Daytona resident who attended school at Central Connecticut State University. Police have determined that Brown was out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend when she posted the photo, but they will be contacting her when she returns to the beach community. 
 
 Brown couldn't immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 The city of South Daytona said Saturday morning that they "have information to indicate that the dog is OK at this time" and thanked the public for their outpouring of concern. 
 
 "The police have all the information and have been working this case through the night," the city said on its Facebook page, adding, "Rest assured that a full investigation will be done and appropriate action will be taken." 

 SOUTH DAYTONA — Police Sunday did not yet know the location of a woman who posted a photo to Facebook of a dog with its mouth duct-taped shut. 
 
 "We still haven't been able to locate the woman to interview her at this time," Chief Ron Wright, of the South Daytona Police Department, said Sunday. 
 
 The dog's photo was posted to Facebook shortly before 10 a.m. Friday by 45-year-old Katie Brown, who listed South Daytona as her current residence. 
 
 South Daytona Lt. Dan Dietrich said Saturday investigators had learned Brown left South Daytona 12 to 18 months ago and that the dog has never lived in the city. The investigation was turned over to law enforcement in Avon, Connecticut, where Brown was supposed to be living. 
 
 However, Avon Chief of Police Mark Rinaldo wrote in a press release on Saturday that his agency had determined the incident did not take place there. The Avon Police Department talked with the occupant of the home where the abuse was alleged to have taken place and that occupant said both the dog and person of interest live in Florida. 
 
 "The Avon Police Dispatch Center has been inundated with calls from concerned citizens," the Avon chief wrote. "While we share your concern with the abuse of animals we want to assure all concerned individuals that we have fully investigated this case." 
 
 South Daytona Police want to interview Brown. 
 
 "We still believe that perhaps the incident didn't even occur in South Daytona, but we'll find out once we get ahold of her," Wright said. 
 
 Dietrich said on Saturday that Brown was headed to South Daytona to check on a rental property and visit family, but police could not reach her since her phone was off. 
 
 Brown's original Facebook posting of the photo had been shared more than 334,000 times by 10 p.m. Saturday. The post no longer appeared on Brown's page as of Sunday afternoon nor did any other photos of the dog with duct tape around it's mouth. A follow-up status, in which she explained that she removed the duct tape from the dog's mouth after a minute, remained on the page and had been shared more than 10,000 times by 6 p.m. Sunday. 
 
 Attempts to reach Brown by phone Sunday evening were unsuccessful. After her voicemail picked up and played her recorded message, the service said her voicemail box was full. 
 
 Avon was not the only agency to be flooded with calls. South Daytona police, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and the Volusia County Communications Center, where 9-1-1 calls are handled, received calls, emails, and social media messages. 
 
 "It's great that everybody's concerned for the animals and for dogs and that when they see this they want it sent to local law enforcement," Dietrich said. "Unfortunately, we are a small agency and it has literally shut our police department down."
– If Katie Brown was looking for attention when she posted a photo of a dog with its mouth duct-taped shut on Facebook, she certainly got it. The Friday morning post was shared more than 300,000 times within 36 hours and police were overwhelmed with outraged phone calls from dog lovers around the world demanding they take action, reports the Orlando Sentinel. On Facebook, Brown says she's a South Daytona resident, but police there say she was out of state, possibly in Avon, Conn., when the dog was abused, NBC News reports. The department promised on its Facebook page that it was in contact with her family members and other state agencies as part of its investigation and pleaded with the public to stop "flooding our emergency phone numbers." Cops in Avon say they were also overwhelmed with calls, while a spokesman for the sheriff's office in Volusia County, which includes South Daytona, tells the Daytona Beach News-Journal that while it is "great that everybody's concerned for the animals and for dogs," the deluge of calls and emails has "literally shut our police department down." Police in South Daytona say they've been told the dog is OK and add they're still trying to locate Brown, whose duct-tape photo had the caption, "This is what happens when you dont [sic] shut up!!!" The original post has now been deleted, but a follow-up one tells people not to "panic" because "it was only for a minute," NBC reports. (A Texas veterinarian received a similar response when she boasted of killing a cat with a bow and arrow.)