BERLIN  - A German woman found a frozen dead dog when she opened the refrigerator freezer compartment in her new apartment in the southwestern town of Trossingen, police said Saturday.

The previous tenant later told police in the town near Stuttgart that his greyhound pup had died of natural causes several months earlier but he did not have time to give it a proper burial before moving out of the apartment.

Police said the man faces prosecution for violating the "Tierkoerperbeseitigungsgesetz" (animal cadaver removal law).