Dog found emaciated, left out in snowstorm
Sheboygan, WI (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Dec 9, 2008
County: Sheboygan

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Abuser names unreleased

A 29-year-old Sheboygan man was charged today with three misdemeanors for allegedly abandoning an emaciated pit bull outside in a snowstorm.

The man is accused of tying the dog to a stake in an alley near his north-side home at 10 a.m. Tuesday, in the middle of a storm that dropped 10 inches of snow on the city. He could face up to 27 months in jail if convicted of failure to provide proper food to confined animals, intentional abandonment of an animal and bail jumping.

The pit bull was rescued shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday when a neighbor saw the man tie the dog outside and leave, according to a criminal complaint. The neighbor contacted the Sheboygan County Humane Society, which rescued the dog and later contacted police.

The complaint said the dog was barely able to stand. Shelter manager Carey Payne said the dog had a body score of 1 on the shelter's assessment scale, which ranges from 1 to 9 and should be 4 or 5 for a healthy dog. Police reported the dog had some frostbite, but a veterinarian believes the injuries are pressure sores, likely from being kept in a confined area with little room to move, Payne said.

"She basically just had skin draped over her skeleton," Payne said. "There was no body fat on her, hardly any muscle on her."

The female dog weighs 26 pounds, just more than half what an adult pit bull should, police said. It is recovering at the Humane Society, where workers have named her Olive.

"She's doing really good. She's eating a lot," Payne said. "She has to eat about six times per day so she builds the food back up in her system."

In an interview with police, the suspect said the dog belonged to a friend whom he had not seen for a month, according to the complaint.

The suspect said he left the dog in the alley assuming someone else would notice it and contact authorities or the Humane Society, the complaint said. Asked why he didn't take the dog to the Humane Society himself, the man told police he didn't want to put the dog in his car.

The suspect made an initial appearance in Sheboygan County Circuit Court today [Dec 10, 2008] and was released after posting a $100 cash bond.

The incident is the second animal neglect case reported in Sheboygan in a six-day span.

A 59-year-old woman was arrested Thursday and is due in court Dec. 22 for allegedly leaving her morbidly obese dog frozen to the sidewalk overnight in single-digit temperatures. That dog, an elderly border collie mix named Jiffy, is also recovering at the Humane Society. Jiffy had a body score of 9.

Payne said the two cases have increased donations to the Humane Society, but although more than 100 people have called or e-mailed offering to adopt Jiffy, overall adoptions have not increased.

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