PETA Demands Job Reassignment for Accused Dog-Killing Animal Control Officer

Stamford Animal Control Officer Still on the Job After Admission of Inflicting Injuries That Killed Tiny Dog

For Immediate Release:
January 22, 2013

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

Stamford, Texas -- After learning that Stamford animal control officer Christopher Cerda is still on the job despite his reported admission that he "spanked" and "back hand[ed]" his then-girlfriend's 8-pound Yorkshire terrier in a fit of rage before leaving the dog outside without water in temperatures above 100 degrees, PETA has posted an action alert on its website asking visitors to contact Stamford officials and demand that Cerda be reassigned to non-animal duties. The 2-year-old dog, Alyssa, who had sustained traumatic injuries and was suffering from heat stress and dehydration, died as a result of her injuries, which were allegedly inflicted by Cerda on August 3, 2012.

"Animal control officers are trusted to treat animals with compassion and enforce animal protection laws—not violate them," says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. "The fact that an admitted animal abuser is still working with animals every day is as unfathomable as hiring a child abuser to teach a kindergarten class."

Alyssa was found drooling, bleeding from the rectum, lethargic, and disoriented and was rushed to an animal hospital. She died within hours. After Cerda's girlfriend, Alyssa's guardian and the only witness, backed out of testifying against him, the prosecutor's office wrote in an official document that the "[s]ubject probably did it but evidence is insufficient."

PETA has also learned that Cerda failed a polygraph test conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division.

For more information, please visit PETA.org. To view PETA's brand-new public service announcement featuring Olympic boxer and Texas native Marlen Esparza urging people to "knock out cruelty to animals," please click here.