Dog neglect - infested with maggots, parasites - Williamsburg, VA

Saturday, Jul 31, 2004

County: James City

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Moniko T. Harris

A James City County man was sentenced Thursday (Sept 23, 2004) to a month in jail for moving away and leaving his pit bull chained to a tree without any food or water.

The dog was chained up behind a house on Wickre Street, off Penniman Road, where no one could see it. Its condition was discovered after children in the woods noticed it and told a parent.

When an animal control officer responded to the scene in early August, the dog could take only a couple of steps before falling over, Tyler said. He said that Moniko Harris, the dog's owner, had moved out at the end of July but that the starvation had clearly been going on since before that.

The dog weighed about 25 pounds, half of what it should have weighed. Given food by the animal control officer, the dog vomited. It was infested with fleas, maggots, ticks, hookworm and heartworm, a veterinarian determined. The dog had to be euthanized.

The veterinarian who performed the autopsy found wood chips and pieces of plastic inside the dog's stomach, indicating that it was trying to eat anything it could to survive.

Harris was a truck driver who was out of town and thought his girlfriend was taking care of the dog, according to his lawyer, Richard Hill.

"He feels really bad about it," Hill said.

Harris pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and did not testify. He declined to talk to a reporter after the hearing, citing instructions from his attorney.

General District Court Judge Colleen Killilea sentenced Harris to six months in jail with five months suspended. With time off for good behavior, Harris could serve a couple of weeks.

Killilea also fined him $500 plus court costs, ordered him to pay $130 in restitution to Animal Control, gave him 100 hours of community service and forbade him from owning animals for two years.

Harris could have faced up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Anderson's facial expression showed she was disappointed by the sentence, although she would say publicly only that she was "surprised."

"It's absolutely not enough time. It's outrageous," said Martin Mersereau, a spokesman for PETA. "That should buy a year in jail easily," he said.

He said the laws against the abuse and neglect of animals are growing stronger every day because legislators are catching up with public sentiment. Police and prosecutors are taking the issue seriously, too, he said. But the judiciary seems to be lagging behind, he said.

He added that he didn't buy Harris' explanation.

"We know of plenty of truck drivers who do very well by their companion animals."

References

• « VA State Animal Cruelty Map
  « More cases in James City County, VA

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