Animals Horrifically Tortured in Florida, Michigan, and Texas and What You Can Do to Help

Please respond and forward as appropriate.

Whether cruelty-to-animals cases concern you because the victims are defenseless, sentient beings who don’t deserve to be the target of cowardly abusers or because abusers typically also target defenseless humans—or because of a combination of these factors—your letters to the prosecuting attorneys in such cases profoundly impact officials and help to ensure that justice is won.

Please send a quick note to each of the following officials asking that, if they win convictions, they work with the court to ensure that convicted animal abusers are incarcerated, ordered to undergo a thorough psychiatric evaluation and subsequent counseling at their own expense, and barred from ever again having contact with animals.

Prosecutors should receive only courteous correspondence.

Case One
Paul M. Harris, 42, of Summerfield, Florida, faces felony charges stemming from his alleged April 14 beating of one of his dogs on his 16120 S.E. 95th Ct. property. Harris is accused of bludgeoning the Great Dane with a wooden object, kicking her, punching her, and throwing tennis balls at her. An examining veterinarian found that the dog was suffering from several abrasions, a tender thorax, bruising, and ocular hemorrhaging. Two additional dogs remain in the defendant’s charge at the above-mentioned address—please ask King’s office to demand their relinquishment if Harris is convicted.

The Honorable Brad King
State Attorney, 5th Judicial Circuit
Marion County Office
19 N.W. Pine Ave.
Ocala, FL 34475
352-620-3365 (fax)
bking@jud5.flcourts.org

Case Two
Douglas Holtslander, 66, of Fenton Township, Michigan, reportedly faces felony charges stemming from his alleged March tethering of two live cats to trees in Linden. Holtslander is accused of tying the animals with 1-foot sections of wire in woods near Ralston Road in an apparent attempt to bait three nearby snare traps. The cats were found—in “real bad shape,” one investigator said—on March 5 and euthanized, according to news sources.

The Honorable David Leyton
Genesee County Prosecutor
Genesee County Courthouse, Rm. 200
900 S. Saginaw
Flint, MI 48502
810-257-3219 (fax)

Case Three
Deshawn Brown, 21, faces felony charges stemming from his alleged and ultimately fatal April 13 torture of Mercy, a puppy, in Dallas. Brown is accused of cutting and stabbing the dog before dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire in a wooded area behind an apartment complex. Mercy was reportedly found a day later, suffering burns to 60 percent of her body. Despite extensive veterinary treatment, Mercy succumbed to her injuries on April 23, according to news sources.

The Honorable Bill Hill
Dallas County District Attorney
Frank Crowley Courts Building
133 N. Industrial Blvd., L.B. 19
Dallas, TX 75207-4399
214-653-5774 (fax)

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