Dog frozen to death Rice, MN (US) Incident Date: Wednesday, Jan 31, 2007 County: Benton Local Map: available Disposition: Convicted Charges: Misdemeanor Abuser/Suspect: Michael Fiedler Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 11370 Classification: Neglect / Abandonment Animal: dog (non pit-bull) View more cases in MN (US) Login to Watch this Case

The mayor of Rice pleaded not guilty on May 1, 2007 morning to a misdemeanor charge that he didn't provide adequate shelter for his dog, which froze to death outside his home in February.

Michael "Mitch" Fiedler faces a petty misdemeanor charge of providing an improper dog house for his wire-haired hunting dog, according to a citation filed in Benton County District Court. The dog froze to death in early February, when temperatures were well below zero.

A Rice police officer went to Fiedler's house after receiving a complaint and saw Fiedler's dog dead in the yard.

The dog's house, which was described as a plastic animal travel kennel, was tipped on its side. The officer noted that the temperature was 15 degrees below zero with a windchill of about minus 30.

Another officer returned to Fiedler's house the same day and saw that the dog had been removed from the yard.

The officer looked inside the travel kennel and noted that it was covered in frozen feces and did not have any bedding inside it, according to the court citation.

A Benton County investigator interviewed a neighbor, who said he heard the dog howling on the evening before it died, and said the plastic kennel was the only shelter the dog had.

Fiedler told an investigator that the dog had suffered seizures previously and that he thought a seizure was what caused his dog to die, according to the citation.

Fielder told the investigator that he put straw inside the plastic kennel, but that the dog would push the straw out of the kennel so Fiedler had begun to use wood shavings to cover the kennel floor.

Fiedler's next court hearing is scheduled for May 21.

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References

St. Cloud Times - May 2, 2007

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