Dogs tethered in heat without water - one dies
Manchester, NH (US)Incident Date: Friday, Jun 1, 2007
County: Hillsborough
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Tiffany Jubrey
An English bulldog named Fats died of heat stroke because its owner left it outside with no water and no cover from the hot sun on a day when the temperature neared 90, police said.
The dead dog's temperature was 107.1 degrees nearly two hours after Animal Control Officer Dennis Walsh picked it up and placed it in his air-conditioned van, according to court records.
On Aug 24, owner Tiffany Jubrey, 27, 284 Merrimack St., pleaded innocent in Manchester District Court to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty.
She is accused of leaving Fats and another dog named Kane, a white and brown pit bull, outside on June 1 in a pen with an asphalt floor, without providing the pair with any water or shade.
The bulldog's brain fried, Dr. Judith LeClerc of the Veterinary Emergency Clinic, 55 Carl Drive, told Walsh.
Several neighbors called police that day to report the dead dog.
After Walsh arrived, Deshon L. Stovall, 30, a 6-foot-3, 305 pound lineman with the Manchester Wolves, showed up and said he owned the dogs. He demanded that the animal control officer leave.
Walsh refused and called dispatch to send an officer. When an officer arrived, Stovall told him the dogs were still inside the house when he left at 6:45 a.m.
Jubrey, who is Stovall's girlfriend, later told Walsh that she owned Fats and that Stovall owned the pit bull.
She allegedly admitted putting the dogs in the pen without cover or water at 8:15 a.m. when she left for work. She had no concerns about them being without shade because it was not hot when she left, Walsh wrote.
Kane was examined by a veterinarian who determined he was OK. The dog was impounded, pending the case's outcome. Walsh said he will ask the court to order that the dog not be returned to Stovall and Jubrey.
One neighbor told Walsh she could hear the dogs' panting from across the street, while other neighbors said they saw the English bulldog gasping for air.
They said they saw the dog on the ground, trying to get up. Fats' final attempt was about 2 p.m., when it tried to get up, flopped down and stayed there, Walsh wrote.
The neighbors told the animal control officer it was common for the dogs to be kept behind the house. They said they feared the pitbull, describing it as vicious and a frequent barker.
When Walsh arrived, Kane was running loose and Fats was on the ground on its side, its rigid legs extended out. Walsh said the pit bull was acting very aggressively and he was reluctant to cause it any further stress because he could see it was hot and had foamy saliva around its mouth.
The dog drank a little bit of water from a pail provided by a neighbor, but Walsh said it remained fixated on him.
A woman with a child arrived, telling Walsh that her sister was the dogs' owner. The child secured the pit bull and Walsh began hosing it with water.
The dog's aggression subsided, he wrote, and it "simply lay there and allowed me to hose it down." After a while, the dog began to drink from the puddle that formed.
Jubrey's trial is Nov. 7. She is free on $2,000 personal recognizance.
She would not comment after the court hearing. References« NH State Animal Cruelty Map
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