Dog found starving, infested with maggots
Panama City, FL (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Jul 25, 2008
County: Bay

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Phillip Hall

A Panama City man was charged with animal cruelty Tuesday after officers and animal control found a maggot-infested, starving dog behind a Panama City home.

Phillip Hall, 29, of 2503 Drummond Ave., called Animal Control last month looking for the dog, Panama City police officers wrote in an incident report. Hall told investigators the dog belonged to his father and that he had been looking after the animal for the last month since his father was put in a hospital.

Bay County Animal Control and Panama City police officers discovered the dog July 25, chained up behind a home on East Seventh Street. The large black mixture of Chow and Shepard had "maggots and flies" crawling around its mouth, eyes, penis and rectum, officers wrote in an incident report. There was filthy water near the dog, but officers stated that even if the dog had been strong enough to make it to the water, it probably was unsafe to drink.

"There was no food anywhere near the dog," officers wrote in an incident report. It was taking small, shallow breaths and did not respond to humans when officers approached.

The dog was taken to a nearby animal hospital, but veterinarians there said the dog would be dead within a few hours and decided to put it to sleep, officials said.

"The dog starved to death," said Jim Crosby, the director of Bay County Animal Control. The animal's fur was matted with dirt and feces, he added.

"The dog was humanely euthanized because of its horrible condition," Crosby said.

Hall was "upset" the dog had been removed and put to sleep, officers wrote, and denied that the dog had been in poor condition when it was taken from the house.

"He claimed to us that the dog was fine 30 minutes before we picked it up," Crosby said. "Extreme starvation that does not happen in a few minutes."

Since Hall admitted to being responsible for the dog's care, he was charged with one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty.

Attempts to reach Hall were not successful Wednesday.

"It's not that I think this person was trying to kill this dog, but the person failed to meet the proper standards of care," Crosby said. "It is more benign neglect than intentional torture. I don't think this guy said, �I'm going to starve this dog and watch him die.'"

Hall faces up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted as charged, Crosby said.

"Contact us at animal control or contact the local police and we will follow up on" cases of animal abuse, Crosby said. "If someone is mistreating an animal, we're not going to tolerate that."

References

• « FL State Animal Cruelty Map

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