Cruelty Charge Against Florida Dog Abuser Is Upgraded to a Felony

April 2001

Florida residents contacted us in February after hearing a local radio show during which a caller had bragged about killing his dog. The man stated that the dog had bitten his son, who had apparently been kicking her. The caller bragged that after dropping his child at the doctor, he returned to the house to drown the animal in the bathtub. “As soon as [she] did what [she] did, [she] knew that it was wrong,” claimed the man. “[She] knew because [she] peed on the floor, [her] ears went back, and [she] asked for forgiveness.” The dog, Dundee, had been the family’s companion for seven years.

PETA learned that the man had been charged with a misdemeanor of animal cruelty for the vicious attack. However, upon researching Florida law, it became clear that the felony statute would clearly apply. The state’s attorney refused to discuss this case with us but quickly upgraded charges against the man after being flooded with hundreds of letters from activists who saw this story on our Web site.